6 gal electric hot water heater upgrade
Have a 18 ft Jayco and hot water heater went out. Wanting to see if anyone has ever replaced the original with a smaller electric one. Don’t really like the use of propane for anything inside.
Forum Discussion
GDS-3950BH wrote:
Mattsosby wrote:
Have a 18 ft Jayco and hot water heater went out. Wanting to see if anyone has ever replaced the original with a smaller electric one. Don’t really like the use of propane for anything inside.
If you know you're always going to have electricity why not. I assume you mean a conventional 6 gallon electric heater. It is certainly cheaper than an RV water heater.
A lot of misinformation in this thread. An RV water heater on electric does not take hours to recover, it takes 1 hour (1400 watt element). A conventional residential heater takes less than an hour (1650 watts).
An add in element for an RV heater is an option but will take more than 2 hours or so to recover (675 watts), and if its a Suburban removing the anode rod to install one is not a good idea.
What GDS said is SPOT on. I was going to replace mine with the 6 gallon electric. You have to make sure you have the space needed to do this. With the water lines coming out of the top I didn't have enough space to make it happen. Make sure you do the measuring.
Brian- just don't turn the propane on...keep it simple.
no reason to be afraid of propane but don't use it. - If you choose to go only electric, don't come back to this forum complaining about lack of Hot Water.
- Our first 5th wheel trailer was a new 1984 Aljo with a 6 gal water heater on LP only. I installed a Hott Rod element in the heater and wired a switch. It took around 35-40 min for hot water.
We had the trailer for 8 years and no issues. Mattsosby wrote:
Have a 18 ft Jayco and hot water heater went out. Wanting to see if anyone has ever replaced the original with a smaller electric one. Don’t really like the use of propane for anything inside.
If you know you're always going to have electricity why not. I assume you mean a conventional 6 gallon electric heater. It is certainly cheaper than an RV water heater.
A lot of misinformation in this thread. An RV water heater on electric does not take hours to recover, it takes 1 hour (1400 watt element). A conventional residential heater takes less than an hour (1650 watts).
An add in element for an RV heater is an option but will take more than 2 hours or so to recover (675 watts), and if its a Suburban removing the anode rod to install one is not a good idea.- You can probably add an electric heater to your existing WH via the drain plug.
If the propane part is the only problem, it could be a cheap fix for you. - We have a dual propane/electric water heater. You can use either, or both for faster recovery.
Personally I always use the electric options, because I am paying for the electricity in my camp fees. No reason to burn my propane.
In have never popped the 30 amp breaker and our 6gal. water heater is sufficient for our needs.
When we do camp without electricity we run the propane. As mentioned the air intake and exhaust are both vented external to the living space. - If you do decide to go electric only, get a ten gallon unit.
- Cooking, heating water and warming the trailer all by electricity all the time? That’s very different.
- Get a dual propane/electric WH, then don't turn on the propane burner.
