6 gal electric hot water heater upgrade

Why are you scared to use propane?

Water heater does not vent into or use inside air for combustion, therefore is rather safe to use.

Your stove would be the greatest danger but simply cracking one or two windows and running the range hood vent fan (provided it is vented to the outside) can make cooking inside rather safe to do so.

Running your furnace is pretty much the same as you water heater, the air used for combustion is drawn from outside and is sent right back outside because the combustion chamber is sealed from the inside air and the combustion byproducts are not going to directly enter your RV.

Your idea of electric only is a fools paradise, a typical RVs electrical system is 120V at 30A which is 3600W of power.

3600W is roughly 12,283 BTU/hr.

Your RV gas water heater burner can supply 40,000 BTU/hr

Pretty much will take 4 times longer AND you will not have a quick recovery time (would take hours before you have hot water again.

Not to mention that would take ALL of your electric available and would have to shut off everything in your RV.

Now, if you are considering "instant" electric water heaters, most small point of use 120V ones will not deliver much in results and you will be disappointed. Instant tankless electric water heaters have a small temperature rise and that gets smaller the faster you run water through it.

Replace your RV tank gas water heater with the same model and brand and don't bother going down the electric only bunny trail..

Get a dual propane/electric WH, then don't turn on the propane burner.

Cooking, heating water and warming the trailer all by electricity all the time? That’s very different.

If you do decide to go electric only, get a ten gallon unit.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you choose to go only electric, don't come back to this forum complaining about lack of Hot Water.

just don't turn the propane on...keep it simple.

no reason to be afraid of propane but don't use it.