I've been living in my travel trailer since July 25th, I got the propane tanks filled and had 1 of them on and it's empty today. They are 15 gallon tanks, not sure how I could blow through 1 tank already, my fridge runs off electric or gas, when I was trying to get it going it wouldn't work either way but reset it and button is pushed in to auto, so I figure that's electric, gas is button out. Heater I turned on to verify it works but haven't used it. Stove I've used 2 or 3 times, water heater was on for 10 days and the only thing I could think running on gas but can't imagine it'd sucks 1 15 gallon bottle down. The water was scorching hot too and it was on low, not sure where or if these water heaters have thermostats though. Thanks
How much Gas should I use in 2 weeks? Heater hot?
- Thread starter Gr8tylor
- Start date
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Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
15 gallon tanks? That would be an odd ball size, roughly a 60 lb tank. Are you sure of that? Most portable LP bottles used in RV trailers are either 20 lb (5 gallon) or 30 lb (7 gallon) tanks. You might use one 20 lb tank in a month since your water heater is running on LP. Stove and refrigerator would consume only an insignificant amount and you say fridge is on electric anyway.
A water heater does use a fair amount of gas if it runs often, but that depends mostly on how much hot water is used. Unless maybe the thermostat is flaky.
Common tank sizes: http://www.missiongas.com/lpgascylinders.htm
A water heater does use a fair amount of gas if it runs often, but that depends mostly on how much hot water is used. Unless maybe the thermostat is flaky.
Common tank sizes: http://www.missiongas.com/lpgascylinders.htm
Utclmjmpr
Well-known member
There is usually no need to leave the water heater on all the time, needless use of LP, just switch it on when needed.>>>Dan
robertusa123
Well-known member
Sounds like. A blue rino or American gas exchange LP bottle. They come with 15 lbs of LP or about 3 gal. A topical hot water heater has a 10,000 but burner. And your get about 8hr of burning out of a gal of fuel. Their are 168 hours in a week. So assuming the hot water heater burns only 5 min per hr to maintain hot water your burning 1 gal a week minimum more. Like 2. I would consider turning it off when your not going to use it for a while. And get the bottle refilled rather then extange it. You get more fuel and it's cheaper
Pocketlake1
Member
Relating to the water heater and power usage, can anyone advise how much the electrical draw should be for the water heater?. Ours is a small hot water tank but recently when I turned it on it was drawing 19 amps.. Seemed to stay at that level even after the water was very hot. I don't recall drawing that much in the past and am concerned I may have a bad thermostat or element. I did have a low voltage issue recently with our rig and concerned it may have affected the water heater. The low voltage did do damage to our refrig unfortunately.
Lou Schneider
Site Team
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- Mar 14, 2005
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Part of the electric heating element may have shorted out, lowering the resistance of the element and increasing it's current draw. 2200 watts is too high, most heating elements draw about 1500 watts or 12.5 amps at 120 volts.
At that level of current, you risk overloading the wiring feeding the heating element, including the wiring external to the water heater. And it's likely the rest of the heating element will fail soon.
At that level of current, you risk overloading the wiring feeding the heating element, including the wiring external to the water heater. And it's likely the rest of the heating element will fail soon.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Agree with the others, but how did you measure that 19 amps? And conclude it was the heater that is drawing it?
The heater element in a standard Atwood or Suburban heater is 1440 watts, which means 12A @ 120v. I can't think of any way that could increase without tripping the circuit breaker, but a new heater element is not expensive. It's not an RV specific item - any home or hardware store will have one in either 1440 or 1500 watts (@ 120v) and standard screw-in threads.
Low voltage won't damage the water heater element, so put your mind to rest about that. Motors and compressors are affected, but not resistance devices like a heater.
The heater element in a standard Atwood or Suburban heater is 1440 watts, which means 12A @ 120v. I can't think of any way that could increase without tripping the circuit breaker, but a new heater element is not expensive. It's not an RV specific item - any home or hardware store will have one in either 1440 or 1500 watts (@ 120v) and standard screw-in threads.
Low voltage won't damage the water heater element, so put your mind to rest about that. Motors and compressors are affected, but not resistance devices like a heater.
