Leaving hot water tank turned on

[das]

This past weekend, we left our hot water tank turned on all weekend. Our old TT just had a gas hot water tank but the new one has both gas/electric. Was much easier to leave the electric element on instead of using up my gas and turning it off and back on when we need it. Who leaves their tank turned on all the time?

[reed_cundiff]

We turn on the water heater (either from solar/batteries combo or propane depending on insolation) as hot water is required. We place a container under the tap and let it fill until the water is hot. We use that water for tea/coffee/cooking or just put it back into the freshwater tank via siphon hose.

We are generally boondocking when not mootchdocking (staying in the backyards/mountain sites of our kids. We seldom boondock less than two weeks and then only come in to wash clothes, replenish foodstuffs, and drain tanks. See a lot of wildlife with solar autonomy aka no use of generator in two years.
Reed and Elaine

[mich800]

Had I known how dangerous this RV thing would be I would never got my family into this. Refrigerator fires, exploding water heaters, self destructing china tires, and the risk of who knows what disease at the dump station.

I think we are going back to a tent and 5 gallon bucket this year. 🙂

[Charles2222]

Old Biscuit you have it!Before retirement had Ga master plbg lic,also helped operate boilers (steam generators) for a short time in my young days.Charles. PS I think most if not all water heaters have an ECO if all else fails(energy cut off)

[atreis]

bfast54 wrote:

JPeyton wrote:
Waste of electricity to leave it on all the time. Plus sometimes they get a bit too hot and if the overheat censor fails it will start hissing out the relief valve. Plus wasting your element.

So......then do you turn your Water Heater off at your sticks snd Brick...?????..and just turn it on "when you use it"???????:h

Essentially, yes. I have an on-demand water heater in my home. Electric went down by about $20 a month, and we never run out of hot water (a nice thing, with 5 people).

[Huntindog]

reed cundiff wrote:
We have 81 gallons in freshwater tank and carry up to six x 6 gallon Jerrycans. With proper conservation, this will last us more than two weeks. Black water conservation will last three or more weeks and the limiting factor is grey water. If protocol permits tossing dishwater on ground and the use of outdoor shower, then we can last a month. Water points are usually available within an hour of dispersed camping sites so the 36 gallons in Jerrycans permits setting in for a lot longer time.


2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

I often boondock longer than two weeks... And water is a lot further than an hour away at a lot of places I go... Why would I want to go where there is water and people anyway? Boondocking that close to services hardly qualifies in my book. Might as well have FHU and neighbors.:B

[reed_cundiff]

We have 81 gallons in freshwater tank and carry up to six x 6 gallon Jerrycans. With proper conservation, this will last us more than two weeks. Black water conservation will last three or more weeks and the limiting factor is grey water. If protocol permits tossing dishwater on ground and the use of outdoor shower, then we can last a month. Water points are usually available within an hour of dispersed camping sites so the 36 gallons in Jerrycans permits setting in for a lot longer time.


2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

[Huntindog]

pappcam wrote:

reed cundiff wrote:
We only turn heat with propane as required. It only takes 10 minutes or so to heat the water and can see no reason to leave it on overnight.

We do run the Dometic fridge on AC from battery/solar 24 hours a day on these great solar days at our older son's place in mountains of northern NM. Was not sure about using the solar/battery suite to heat the water but decided to try it and as Pianotuna noted, it does not take that many kW-hrs to do this. The power rate is fairly large, about 1.7 kW but it does not take more than 15 minutes to get to temperature.

Running both water heater and fridge, plus extensive use of microwave runs us 7 to 8 kW-hrs a day. If days are not sunny (it is supposed to be thunder storms tomorrow) than we change back to propane. Propane is not expensive but it means 1 1/2 hour round trip to Las Vegas, NM to fill tanks (we have 6 x 20# canisters) and photons are free.

Life with solar means changing energy management to suit the sun.

2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

Boondocking is whole different animal. You have to manage your electricity quite diligently.

I boondock 100%.
Electricity is easy. Water is not. That is the limiting factor for us. Sooooo, I like my water heater on all the time. This actually conserves water.

[reed_cundiff]

pappcam

We boondock/drycamp/mootchdock 95% of the time. We have only tied into line power once in two years and have not used the generator once. We have been in a couple of RV parks in past year when visiting relatives near big cities. We only tied into line power the one time when we were in shade and it was 103. We can use a/c for 3 to 4 hours with solar/battery suite

Dry camp - Forest Service/BLM/COE CG with possible table and now water except a possible water point

Boondock - dispersed camping on public lands, hopefully, no one else around but wildlife

Mootchdocking - set up in one of our kids' yards when visiting. Do not hook up.

We have lasted six to seven days on battery suite in heavy tree cover on Olympic Peninsula and in Cave Creek (Stewart Campground - dry camping) in the Chirichahuas. Changed energy management to: inverter off except to use microwave or watch Mystery Theater on our DVD, and ran water heater and fridge on propane.

We did harvest 8200 W-hr today. Tomorrow will be storms and power management changes.

2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

[Rustycamperpant]

On all the time, using shore power...

[pappcam]

reed cundiff wrote:
We only turn heat with propane as required. It only takes 10 minutes or so to heat the water and can see no reason to leave it on overnight.

We do run the Dometic fridge on AC from battery/solar 24 hours a day on these great solar days at our older son's place in mountains of northern NM. Was not sure about using the solar/battery suite to heat the water but decided to try it and as Pianotuna noted, it does not take that many kW-hrs to do this. The power rate is fairly large, about 1.7 kW but it does not take more than 15 minutes to get to temperature.

Running both water heater and fridge, plus extensive use of microwave runs us 7 to 8 kW-hrs a day. If days are not sunny (it is supposed to be thunder storms tomorrow) than we change back to propane. Propane is not expensive but it means 1 1/2 hour round trip to Las Vegas, NM to fill tanks (we have 6 x 20# canisters) and photons are free.

Life with solar means changing energy management to suit the sun.

2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

Boondocking is whole different animal. You have to manage your electricity quite diligently.

[reed_cundiff]

We only turn heat with propane as required. It only takes 10 minutes or so to heat the water and can see no reason to leave it on overnight.

We do run the Dometic fridge on AC from battery/solar 24 hours a day on these great solar days at our older son's place in mountains of northern NM. Was not sure about using the solar/battery suite to heat the water but decided to try it and as Pianotuna noted, it does not take that many kW-hrs to do this. The power rate is fairly large, about 1.7 kW but it does not take more than 15 minutes to get to temperature.

Running both water heater and fridge, plus extensive use of microwave runs us 7 to 8 kW-hrs a day. If days are not sunny (it is supposed to be thunder storms tomorrow) than we change back to propane. Propane is not expensive but it means 1 1/2 hour round trip to Las Vegas, NM to fill tanks (we have 6 x 20# canisters) and photons are free.

Life with solar means changing energy management to suit the sun.

2006 Chevie 4 x 4 diesel (dualie)
2013 Open Range 337RLS
1.4 kW of solar (90 V from roof)
8.6 kW-hr of LFP (at 48 V nominal)
4.0 kW Magnum PSWI
TriStar MPPT-45

[das]

Thanks for all of the replys. Been gone a couple of days so I was surprised and impressed to read 7 pages of replys. Looks like I will be fine either way but many years of answers an opinions help ease the mind.

[Lantley]

rockhillmanor wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
Off.

Only takes one time for the thermostat to go out and it becomes a boiler bomb. Been there done that. Almost burned up the whole side of my RV.

Remember this is not your res hwh that is in the basement. It's right smack up against the walls. You couldn't even hold your hand on the side of my MH the wall was so hot.

And no those relief valves do not always work. And after having the mobile RV repair out to fix HWH......he said the RV relief valves almost always fail to open.

Now that is paranoia and RV Tech hogwash.
RV water heater uses the exact SAME T&P Relief Valve as residential water heaters.......buy them at Lowes/Home Depot/ACE etc.

T-stats......preset for higher water temp than residential BUT still use 2 t-stats just like residential water heaters do, normal temp and a high temp.

BOTH t-stats have to fail and T&P has to fail before water heater can begin to become a boiler bomb (I operated boilers for 30 yrs.)

Hogwash......

Well it was NOT hogwash with my HWH. I saw it fail first hand and felt how hot the walls got.

AND
http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28384129.cfm
30' 1990 Fleetwood, Pace Arrow:
I need to replace the pressure release valve on my water heater. T

Guess I am not the only one that needed a new RV pressure relief valve. :W

Anything can break. Fear is not a valid reason to turn off the water heater.
At what point do you stay stationary in your RV with no heat or hot water because something may fail!
There's been lots of fridge fires, should I just pack a cooler?
Maybe just stay home, don't want an engine fire.
Where does it end?

[Lantley]

GaryWT wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Gary,

No.

2.1 kwh x 12.5 cents = 26.25 X 30 days = $7.87

.7 x 12.25 = 8.76 cents X 30 days = $2.62

Now if you are running a generator to get that energy--the numbers become pretty high. The 2nd way--turning on first thing in the morning I can often use solar power for the energy, so it costs nothing.

If I am traveling I'll use the inverter and alternator to heat the water.

GaryWT wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

On the electric setting the water heater will cycle every four hours and run for about 15 minutes. That represents 90 minute of run time and for my RV about 2.1 kwh. If starting from water 'at the ambient' it takes about 30 minutes to bring the water up to a temperature for a good hot shower in the morning. There is generally enough hot water left to get me to bed time. That represents only 0.7 kwh.

I tend to leave it on if someone else is paying, but will manually turn it off if I am paying.

So when you are paying the that is a 20 cents a day savings assuming your calculation of usage is correct.

Hi, sorry, I used 15 cents per kWh you used a lower number and two different ones but you example is only 17.49 cents a day, I estimated an extra 2.51 cents a day, sorry. Either way it is not that much.

Using Pianotuna's numbers it looks like $5.00 negligible a month.