Water heater recovery time?

Kayteg1 wrote:
We do have not-metered electricity at the park, so anticipating it, I added electric element to my gas WH.

I read that some owners, to get fast recovery turn the electric at gas at the same time, but how much that actually helps?

And in the process voided any warranty you may have left on your water heater - if you care. ;)

Unfortunately you haven't told us just which aftermarket heating element you installed but the most common is the Hott Rod XP which is rated @ 450 watts & 675 watts respectively for the 6 & 10 gal versions. Not only do Atwood & Suburban both void warranty on their water heaters if any of these aftermarket heating elements are used but there's also no way (as you've discovered) that a Hott Rod (or similar) will heat water anywhere near as quickly as will the manufacturer elements which are rated around 1400 watts.

Our current Coachmen has an Atwood gas/electric 6 gal water heater that unquestionably offers a quicker recovery time than the Suburban 6 gal we had in a previous trailer, even on gas alone. Normally I run it on gas only, thereby avoiding the additional load of the electric heating element that can under some circumstances trip the campsite breaker, but occasionally do turn it on so we can both shower one after the other as doing so does substantially shorten recovery time. Otherwise, the amount of gas used for normal operation is minimal and IMO not worth worrying about, especially if I remember to turn it off during the day when we're not using hot water anyway.

JMO, but if your goal is quickest recovery time you want an Atwood gas / electric model water heater as no aftermarket solution is going to work anywhere near as effectively.