Refrigerator & water heaters

Hi Steve,

I sometimes have mine on--but on the electric setting. I do monitor the battery voltage and if it hits 12.7 I turn off the water heater until the voltage recovers. I find a duty cycle of about 10 minutes on to 20 minutes off works well for me.

stevemorris wrote:
another related question, does anybody leave the hw heater on(propane of course) when on the road?

we don't, never seen the need to. plus I understand(maybe incorrectly) that you cant or shouldnt

I wouldn't leave the water tank or heater full of water - that's a recipe for growing some nasty stuff. Drain when not in use. When I'm traveling I run the water heater and fridge on gas, and yes, I leave them on when I'm getting diesel.

The fridge should be fine left on if you want to leave items in it. I generally shut ours off although I do run the AC at a minimal level to keep it from getting super hot in the trailer. I have a dedicated 50 amp plug on the backside of my house and a dedicated 30 amp plug in my shop so I'm all set in terms of plenty of electricity.

another related question, does anybody leave the hw heater on(propane of course) when on the road?

we don't, never seen the need to. plus I understand(maybe incorrectly) that you cant or shouldnt

tropical_ron wrote:
... hot water off completely. No sense wasting energy if not going to use hot water.

Ditto, leaving it on gas, when not needing hot water is a huge waste of propane. Same for Electric at home, when parked and not being used.

I don't even leave my water heater on when I'm camping and away from the RV.

When we are not traveling, we keep our trailer in a seasonal campsite; fridge stays on 7/24, hw heater turned off when we are not staying at the trailer.

I am just a weekend camper.


I only have a gas water heater and I shut it off between my weekend trips to save gas.

I shut the fridge down too. Although I try to keep it level it seems to me that running it more of the time could lead to the blockage in the tubes that kills these types of fridges.

If my trips were only 2-3 days apart I would leave the fridge on. Sometimes when I am absolutely certain they are only 5 days apart I leave it on. (Besides it is extra work to unpack and repack it.) But, if I'm not sure when the next trip will be or if it is more then 5 days I shut it down. Clean, dry it, and prop the door open.

(Never forget and leave the door shut and the fridge off. You would be surprised how fast and how much mold can grow in there. lol)

Hi,

You can leave both on but there will be costs.

The fridge uses 5.7 KWH per day if the door is not opened and the ambient temperatures are around 20 c (68 f)

The water heater may cyle once every 4 hours and run for 15 minutes. Typically they are 1200 watts so it may use 1.8 Kwh.

Together that totals about 7.5 Kwh.

My local electrical costs are 12.5 cents per Kwh, so that is about $0.94 cents per day.

Personally I turn both the fridge and water heater off between trips.

Read your owners manual for your wh. It may suggest you drain it between trips. If you have an anode rod then perhaps you should do this...

"To extend anode life, drain water from tank whenever RV is not being used. Avoid any extended time of non use with water in tank."

Read your owners manual for your wh. It may suggest you drain it between trips. If you have an anode rod then perhaps you should do this...

"To extend anode life, drain water from tank whenever RV is not being used. Avoid any extended time of non use with water in tank."

I agree with (most) of above. I leave the fridge on if planning another trip fairly soon. If no immediate plans, then I turn off the fridge since ice will build up in the freezer.

I never leave the water heater on between trips. Just no real reason to. The water heats very quickly when you do turn power on. The fridge takes much longer to cool down after having been off for a while.