Showering with 10 gallon water heater

[rblake39]

We are buying a fifth wheel to full time in. My GF just asked me to time her shower at our house to see how long it took her. 8 minutes. She's concerned she wont get a fully hot shower in the RV for a full 8 minutes. Is 10 gallons enough? I noticed she really doesn't care if I have enough hot water after her though...lol. I just explained to her she may have to turn it off then lather up, then wet her hair and turn it off etc.

[wannavolunteerF]

I want to say it is not absolutely necessary to take a NAVY shower. I have a 6 gallon WH and have the oxygenics shower head. I turn propane on just before I get in shower (electric was already on). I leave the water running while I shower and manage to not run out of hot water. Over the holidays, I only had cool water one day (temps were much lower that morning). I do usually adjust to cooler as I prefer a cooler final rinse. As far as wasting water, I don't think I used too much. I have a 32 gal grey tank and it finally filled on the fourth morning. Probably had a gallon or two of water standing in the tub as I finished. So maybe 8 gallons a shower. I did no cooking and only bedtime and morning hand and face washing, as I stayed in house during the day (or was away from house and TT).

[Rick_Jay]

jnharley wrote:
I never turn on the cold water when showering so turning it off at the faucet works for me,

What are you, part lobster?!?!?! 🙂 LOL Yikes, you obviously don't have the same heating elements/thermostats most of us have in our RVs. Our water heater has one temperature setting: Freakin' hot!!!!

But on the plus side, we've never run out of hot water. We have a 10 gallon water heater that heats with gas and/or electric. We all take the navy showers. I try to get the family to do the same even in the house with limited success (boys are good, girls...not so much).

A bit of a rant: With all of the "green energy" and "conservation" information being disseminated, I'm really surprised there isn't more emphasis on people taking "navy showers" all of the time. Especially in those areas of the country where water is scarce. When I hear of people taking 5, 10, 15 minute and longer showers, I can't imagine what they're doing under the water all that time. In our house, if I hear the shower water running longer than 5 minutes I go downstairs and shut off the hot water. They learn real quick to keep things moving. 🙂 Rant off.

~Rick

[Bobbo]

jnharley wrote:
I just turn the water off at the faucet. Too difficult for me to get the shut off turned with soapy hands. I never turn on the cold water when showering so turning it off at the faucet works for me,

I would be in the emergency room with scalds! The water in my RV is WAY too hot to not use cold water.

[wbwood]

amandasgramma wrote:
Get a shower head that has a 'turn off" valve. I get in, wet myself down, click that button (water is off at the nozzle, not the valves) and soap up, then turn water on and rinse off. Two of us take showers in tandem, have never run out of water. I've even gone in to do dishes almost immediately after showering. 🙂 🙂

Ditto...learn to conserve water. Not only better for the environment, but makes things easier on you. Hot water will last. And less often that you will have to dump the gray tank.

[dieharder]

Shot-N-Az wrote:

bob213 wrote:


4 of us can shower with a 6 gallon WH and have no problems.

How in the world do you fit that many people into that tiny shower?

Had to know that was coming....

[WeBeFulltimers]

Get a fiver with a 12 gallon water heater. That's what our Montana has and Suburban now offers a 16 gallon one too. We full time and simply stagger our shower times by just a few minutes and never come up short of hot water.

[jnharley]

I just turn the water off at the faucet. Too difficult for me to get the shut off turned with soapy hands. I never turn on the cold water when showering so turning it off at the faucet works for me,

[2012Coleman]

I didn't read all 4 pages, so it may have been mentioned, but if she wants to take a long shower, tell her she can use the camp ground facilities.

[cpaulsen]

We use a 10 gallon water heater on electric.....and never run out of hot water. We also use an Oxygenic shower head and have never used the propane with the electric. And a lot of times we take long showers. And checking my water output....the shower uses 1 1/2 gallons per minute.

[Shot-N-Az]

bob213 wrote:


4 of us can shower with a 6 gallon WH and have no problems.

How in the world do you fit that many people into that tiny shower?

[Veebyes]

Sheesh! How much water does one need for a shower? Get wet, turn it off. Rinse off, takes a little longer, turn it off. Doubt if the whole operation uses more than a few gallons.

10gal, maybe 8gal, water heater here. Dry camping, turn propane on for 15-20 minutes. Certainly no more than 30 minutes then turn it off. Do dishes, both have showers & not run out of hot water.

Guess the difference is both of us were raised conserving water. No city water, no well water where we live. The water we have falls on our homes roof, runs into a tank under the house, from there we have our own pressure system to pump it through the house. Just like an RV really. It is rain water or no water. You learn not to waste real fast.

[eichacsj]

4 gpm! holly cow you must have upgraded your plumbing in the RV. My TT has a 1 gpm flow in the shower so you can still get the water just not as strong. 10 gal tank will stay hot all you want. May want to consider water conservation on a boon-docking trip and do military showers to conserve water.

[Sprink-Fitter]

Clay L wrote:
As an aside - after taking navy showers for 12 years it actually took a little time to get used not doing that when we left the road and bought a house.

You can still take a navy shower at home, can't you?

[Lantley]

A 10 gallons heater produces plenty of hot water. If at a FHU site we take long showers. No Navy showers for us. We can all take showers back to back without issue.
Essentially are 10 gallon heater operates like a tankless simply because we do not run out of hot water under normal conditions

[mowermech]

Allworth wrote:
Why would you assume that Florida Gray Water rules are less strict than Montana?

I "assume" nothing.

"Perhaps emptying the gray water tank won't be a problem there."

Note the "PERHAPS"
Perhaps there are more available dump stations there.
I notice from reading these forums that many people back East have waste water totes. Apparently many (if not most) back country campgrounds back there have a dump station. Here they usually don't and a waste water tote is useless. There is no place to empty it.
Florida rules can not be more strict than the rules in Montana. Here, emptying waste water from an RV onto the ground is forbidden, everywhere, all the time. It would be difficult to be more strict than that! Of course, there are always those who disregard the rules.