Hot water heater... turn off & on??? gas or electric???

No need to. Its thermostatically controlled. I take 2 weeks to Florida once a year, its on electric the whole time.

Your water heater certainly won't "wear out" just because you leave it on all the time, whether gas or electric or both but the biggest downside to running it on electric is the load could under some circumstances pull a breaker, in the trailer itself, at the campsite power post, or even the campground distribution box. Easy to do - A/C is running pulling perhaps 14 amps, you've got the water heater running on electric pulling say 10 amps but you "forget" and decide to run the microwave oven, suddenly increasing your total draw well beyond the 30 amp rating of your campsite. Personally, I try to remember to turn the water heater off during the day when we're just not using hot water but it's likewise easy to forget to turn back on again. Not a big deal if you have to wait 20 mins or so for water hot enough to wash dishes but ask yourself this - are you willing to risk your wife jumping into the shower only to be greeted with cold water because YOU earlier forgot to turn the water heater on?! :E If you value your life there's something to be said for just leaving the water heater on all the time while you're camping. :W

Electric when available. Propane when power is weak usually during peak summer heat and a full park.

On 30A it's on gas. On 50A it's on electric.

Ours is in our bedroom so if on gas, I turn it off on night as its noisy.

On gas, using it will eventually crud the burner but it should be good for hundreds of hours.

I leave it on during the day, but turn it off after dishes and showers. I think that it is considerate to do so for your neighbors, especially if you're packed in close.

When camping, it's on electric all the time. Of course, we do State Park camping, not metered camping too. At home, I use propane and leave it on also. But if not using it at home, I drain the tank. Fill it and fire up if using it and leave the propane on until done.

My camper is 30 amp and never had problems popping a breaker with the water heater on electric. Only once, the breaker inside the camper blew, one of the 15 amp breakers when I plugged in 2 electric griddles at the same time and my wife turned on her electric coffee pot, same circuit as the television.

Water heater is on it's own circuit. As long as we don't exceed 30 amps total, never a problem running the water heater on electric.

If I had an electric one I'd leave it on because I'm not paying for the electricity.
I only have gas. I'm cheap. I only turn it on right before it's needed.

Boy, I don't know. What you are basically asking is do you use less BTU's leaving it on, or by reheating up all that cold water.

I would think it is cheaper to leave it on. After all you don't turn the water heater in your house on and off ?

There are a lot of people here a lot smarter then me. I look forward to their answers .

I leave the gas burner and the electric element on all the time. We never run out of hot water that way. If I'm at a site with a shortage of electricity I'll shut off the electric element. Other than that, it comes on when we leave the house and goes off when we get back home or stop for gasoline.

I don't care about the cost. When you spend 45K for tow vehicle, 30K for a trailer, $100 for a tank of gas why sweat a dimes worth of electricity or propane?

Since we normally conserve while stretching our energy out camping, we will keep our water heater off until about a half hour before a planned usage. Now if we were in our rig all the time, and plugged in to elec., we would probably just leave it on.