10 Gal hot water heater.

I am still wayne_tw wrote:
30 minutes is not long enough! The actual time it takes to heat 10 gallons depends on the temperature of the water in the tank, outside temperature, and flame adjustment. If you are connected to shore power, why even use the propane?

My thoughts exactly! We have been full timing for almost a year now. We have a 12 gallon hot water tank. We have two 7 gallon propane bottles on the 5th and I last filled them last July in Newport, Oregon. I just switched to my second tank so I have used 7 gallons in about 10 months!

Use electricity when you can!

Brian

Wow! Thanks again I never thought about cleaning the water heater! Good weekend project.

hershey wrote:
Suggest you turn the unit off. Remove the drain plug on the unit. The water drained should come out clean. If there is a lot of scale coming out with the water you may have to buy a cleaning wand that hooks to a garden hose and you insert it into the drain opening and wash out the scale and calcium deposits from the tank.
If there is a lot of scale and deposits in the unit, that might be the reason for its lengthy heating time. My 10 gallon unit will heat water in about 10 to 15 minutes on gas. Takes much longer on electricity. As you can see from the above posts, the heating time does vary a lot.

Your wh should, at minimum, be flushed at least once a year with a cleaning wand from camping world or camco. The ideal way to do this would be to put in 1 gal of generic white vinegar per 15 gals of water into the fresh water tank, run each cold/hot water outlet until you smell vinegar, allow the wh to fill. Let sit for 4-6 hrs then drain the fresh tank and wh. Then use the wand to flush the junk from the wh , then refill the system with fresh water. Performing proper maintenance on your rv will noticeably reduce problems later.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/water-heater-tank-rinser/49070

Suggest you turn the unit off. Remove the drain plug on the unit. The water drained should come out clean. If there is a lot of scale coming out with the water you may have to buy a cleaning wand that hooks to a garden hose and you insert it into the drain opening and wash out the scale and calcium deposits from the tank.
If there is a lot of scale and deposits in the unit, that might be the reason for its lengthy heating time. My 10 gallon unit will heat water in about 10 to 15 minutes on gas. Takes much longer on electricity. As you can see from the above posts, the heating time does vary a lot.

MinnCamper wrote:
Thank you everyone! It looks like I may be a bit impatient with the water heater. Next time out I will give it 45 mins or so. Have a great day.

Don't set any time limit. Let it go until it shuts off! It could take an hour depending on incoming water temp and ambient temperature. Remember a watched pot never boils.

Thank you everyone! It looks like I may be a bit impatient with the water heater. Next time out I will give it 45 mins or so. Have a great day.

If it gets too hot the HIGH Temp t-stat should shut it down BEFORE the "T&P" valve releases.

Initial fill with cold water can take 40 minutes or more depending on temp of water.

Normal t-stat should open at 130-140*F
HIGH (ECO) t-stat should open at 170-180*F
PRV should open at 210*F/150#

Separate t-stats on Suburban for electric and propane
Normal & high for 12V DC (propane)
Normal & high for 110V AC (electric)

Normal for propane MAY be bad or not tight against tank
OR you just didn't wait long enough for propane to shut down.

Turn off electric.......run some hot water out (adding more cold) until water temp is warm (needs to be at 110*F for t-stat to close)
Then fire it up on propane again and see how long it fires.
If HIGH t-stat opens you can not refire propane again until you reset HIGH t-stat

30 minutes is not long enough! The actual time it takes to heat 10 gallons depends on the temperature of the water in the tank, outside temperature, and flame adjustment. If you are connected to shore power, why even use the propane?

Takes about 45 min with ours on propane.

If it gets too hot the "T&P" valve should release.