Hot Water Heater

When left on, my water heater kicks on at 120 deg F and off at 140 deg F. That 120 deg water is sure hot enough in my opinion, to make it a "hot water heater" at that point, since it's making hot water hotter. :R

Turn it on on arrival and leave it on until you leave. I like hot water when I need it. Unless you are boon docking, it is not worth the effort to save a few pennies on propane.

Oh and it is a water heater. Why would you want to heat water that is already hot.

Ken

I guess if you leave it on all the time, it really is a "hot water heater".

If I am in a park with good electric supply I may leave mine on elec all the time and use the LP when shower time comes for quicker recovery and then sometimes I only turn it on when needed. It makes no difference IMO.

Chris Bryant wrote:
Entropy always wins.

All water is hot, unless it is at absolute zero.

It really will not matter one way or the other.

You forgot to add, "to me".

Chris Bryant wrote:
All water is hot, unless it is at absolute zero.

I could live with 'mildly hot water heater.'

As long as we're getting into semantics, my favorite is "income coming in."

Entropy always wins.

All water is hot, unless it is at absolute zero.

It really will not matter one way or the other.

From a Physicist's point of view, the amount of heat that must be replaced, if you ignore the hot water that is removed from the tank, is dependent on the difference in temperature of the water and the temperature of the surrounding air.

If the heater is left on, the heat loss over time stays pretty well constant. If the heater is turned off when not in use, the water cools and the heat loss is less.

So, the amount of propane used to replace the heat loss is less when the water is allowed to cool for a period of time, even counting the propane necessary to reheat the cooler water.

Have to smile everytime somebody talks about a hot water heater.

What is the point of having something that heats hot water? The appliance is a WATER HEATER. It takes in cold water & makes it HOT. It does not heat water that is already HOT.

Look on the box of any of these appliances. It will be lableled WATER HEATER.

We turn ours on when we want hot water and otherwise leave it off.

The water heater is both small and not especially well insulated, so leaving it on all the time only burns up extra propane as that heat gets wasted sitting around waiting on somebody to call for hot water.

So we turn it on while fixing breakfast, and about the time we're done eating the tank is hot and we switch it off before starting to do the dishes. That way the heat we paid for gets used for those dishes, and only a tank full of cold water sits around until we turn it back on while fixing supper. We'll leave it on while doing the dishes, but then half-way through the last shower, somebody will turn it off again, so once more, only cold water sits overnight losing heat.

But I have no quarrel with anyone who wants to waste their own money leaving it on all the time because it's too much work to flip that switch 4 times a day.