Not enough hot water

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Timbo25

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Joined
Jan 30, 2020
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5
Hello, I have a Wildwood 32BHDS. It has a 6 gal water heater and my wife runs out of hot water when showering. We use our camper as a camp and it stay in one place. Under the outdoor kitchen the unit has a hot and cold water low point drain.

Can I tie in an external Water Heater into the hot, low point drain and increase the hot water in the shower?
 
I've never heard of anyone doing that, but see no reason why it wouldn't work. I think the external heater would become the primary source if you did that.

The hot low point drain is on the output side of the heater, between the heater tank and the faucets.  Assuming the external heater/supply is at roughly the same water pressure as the RV water system, the check valve at the RV heater outlet probably closes and most or all hot water would come from the external heater. That suggests that the external heater needs to be greater than 6 gallons to have any benefit, but it's mostly guesswork until you try it and see how the flow works out.
 
Gary, I would put a 19gal water heater in my shed that is about 20 ft from the tie in point. I was just wondering about any other check valves.
 
Is your water heater gas and electric. Most are. If I needed more hot water when we had the 6 gallon I set it to heat on both gas and electric. Seems to help some. We now have a 10 gallon and don;t have that problem any more.
 
You say your wife runs out so I assume you do not. Teach her how to take navy showers.
Turn the water on and wet down.
Shut the water off and soap up.
Turn the water on and rinse off.
Shut the water off.

Tell her it would be nearly impossible or at least very difficult to modify already built system.
 
Sometimes you have to modify your lifestyle when camping. After all, you are not in your sticks and bricks house.

 
I don't suppose something silly going on, like the outside shower taps are not turned off is causing the hot to mix with the cold  and causing a shortage of hot water. Just a thought. I agree that you cant take a fifteen minute shower in an rv, but I have never had any issues with having a "normal" shower in any of my rvs.
 
Rene T said:
You say your wife runs out so I assume you do not. Teach her how to take navy showers.
Click to expand...

;D ;D ;D  Thanks Rene, I needed that

Happy Wife = Happy life. 

Why stop at 19 gal, get a tankless one.
 
Maintenance costs often get too high for an old car or an old ..........................
 
You can put in a hotter Thermostat in some cases but what I did on my Factory shower which did not have this feature is

add one of these

Not the one linked to (I got mine at a sticks and bricks) this is a leaky shutoff valve (At least mine is) in that if you turn it to off water still dribbles..

If you upgrade to an Oxygenics shower head they come with a "Smart Pulse" valve.. it works the same way as the one I use (OH and I upgraded as well) the Oxygenics is still a 2 GPM head but more effective

Shut down when you don't need water

WHY the "Dribble"... if you shut off all flow then when flow is restored many report a blast of cold or hot at the start of flow.. the Dribble prevents that problem .
 
For longer showers, install a tank less unit like the link below feeding your current propane water heater with an external power switch if desired. It's nearly 30 amps so watch your other electric usage when using or you could trip the main breaker. Use city water and open your gray water tank.

To conserve water. Turn on the hot water first then turn on the cold water to desired temperature. Get wet and turn off the water, soap down then rinse.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ATMOR-Single-Sink-3kW-110V-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater-0-5-GPM-Pressure-Relief-Device-0-5-GPM-Aerator-Instant-Hot-Water-AT-900-03/205515499?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-300847994-_-205515499-_-N






 
Tom55555 said:
For longer showers, install a tank less unit like the link below feeding your current propane water heater with an external power switch if desired. It's nearly 30 amps so watch your other electric usage when using or you could trip the main breaker. Use city water and open your gray water tank.

To conserve water. Turn on the hot water first then turn on the cold water to desired temperature. Get wet and turn off the water, soap down then rinse.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ATMOR-Single-Sink-3kW-110V-Electric-Tankless-Water-Heater-0-5-GPM-Pressure-Relief-Device-0-5-GPM-Aerator-Instant-Hot-Water-AT-900-03/205515499?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-300847994-_-205515499-_-N
Click to expand...

If the OP did that  (in bold), they wouldn't need a tankless heater
 
Are you sure the hot water tank doesn't have issues? Is it really holding 6 gallons? Do you have hard water and an excessive build up of lime/scale? What is the water temp? If it's not hot enough she may be running mostly hot and very little cold.

Is she taking a bath and not a shower?
 
We are aware of Navy showers, she likes to have enough water to shower and shave legs and such, we don't use this camper to camp, we go there and spend weeks at a time.

There is no outdoor shower on the unit, so that is not a problem.

The Water tanks seams to be working just fine, just a small size.

She is not happy when she runs out of hot water, so I need to get this resolved.

Thanks for the replys
 
You never did tell us if you have both electric and gas. If you do and like said previously, run both at the same time and the water temps will recover faster.
 
Timbo25 said:
We are aware of Navy showers, she likes to have enough water to shower and shave legs and such, we don't use this camper to camp, we go there and spend weeks at a time.

There is no outdoor shower on the unit, so that is not a problem.

The Water tanks seams to be working just fine, just a small size.

She is not happy when she runs out of hot water, so I need to get this resolved.

Thanks for the replys
Click to expand...
I shave legs etc but use Navy style, it works. ?
 
Were in a permanent setup where we are at.
Look to see how much room you have where the hot water heater is setup. Usually its larger than than the unit requires. it calls for removing drawer units etc to access the spot.
We have done a few RV's adding a 12-20 gallon unit. Sometimes you can find ones with the right size outlet and inlet and sometimes you just adapt the ends.
You then make your own door for the outside cover and use it as a access point for things you cant get from the inside and point the drain through.
You could get a larger RV one, it would require enlarging the outside access, but house/mobile home one is cheaper and they draw 1500-2000 watts.
 
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