LP gas which uses less

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JIGGS

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Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Posts
255
Location
new castle pa.
Hello. I was camping this last weekend in weather that was 70 during the day and 50 at night. I can take a shower do the dishes and what ever all with in a short period of time. My question is what uses less LP gas.
1- Only run hot water heater when i need it and turn it off until the next day
2- just leave the hot water heater run until it's time ti go home.
I have a 6 gal. tank and only runs on LP.
thanks jiggs
 
As the hot water heater is thermostatically controlled, I would leave it run until time to leave.  It doesn't use that much propane anyway, and will use at least as much if you turn it off when done and back on when needed.
 
I don't know which will use less LP but personally, I hate hearing the water heater come on at night (and I suspect my camping neighbors do, too), so I always shut it off before going to bed.
 
It shouldn't come on if the unit is working correctly and not leaking or you don't use any hot water.  I think ours will hold temperature through the entire night, but if it does come on and that bothers you, then it should recover pretty quickly in the morning.  Mine doesn't bother me, but sometimes the one next door does :)
 
Hey ! We were your neighbors in Moab !! :) 

Ours sure comes on at night when it's cold. Maybe you keep your motorhome warmer than we keep ours at night?
 
You were on Lorna's side so it didn't bother me at Moab :)  We have a 10 gal. tank and perhaps that doesn't cool down as fast as a 6 gal.  Then again, we rarely run it on propane, except when boondocking.
 
Well, no wonder the noise doesn't bother you if you don't use the propane when you're hooked up !! Our water heater is strictly LP so when it comes on, there's that whoosh noise.

Mike was on your side in Moab so I didn't hear anything from you guys.....now, Russ, what a noisy neighbor  ;D

Of course, none of this is helping Jiggs figure out whether or not it's more efficient to leave the water heater on or shut it off.
 
Our HWH was on the other side from you, so Mike wouldn't have heard it in any case.  Even when boondocking, we often don't use propane as the 4 or so hours a day of generator use is enough to keep the water hot.

As for Jiggs' question, I think the answer is it doens't make much difference.  Whateven his personal preference is after reading the rest of this thread :)
 
Depends on the ambient temperature I guess. I know folks who ust use the pilot light and get water hot enough when it is on the warm side....outside.
 
Ned, My 10 gal tank cycles off and on all night when left on propane. I think it is because of the webasto heat exchanger piping that is cooling it down.
 
My wife and I like to use our coach for tailgating and we just turn on our heater about 15 minutes before our shower and its plenty hot for both showers and then we turn it off.  I have been running on a 1/4 tank of propane this way for over 15 days of camping total and its still on 1/4 tank.  We don't use hot water durring the day for dishes and such so Its more waistfull to keep that 10 gallons hot all day and night for us.  Now if we plan on multiple showers durring the day becasue of what we are doing that day then obviously leaving it on would make more sense. 

FWIW

Jeff
 
Gasser said:
My wife and I like to use our coach for tailgating and we just turn on our heater about 15 minutes before our shower and its plenty hot for both showers and then we turn it off.?

:) That works the best for us too. We boil kettles for washing up when needed using FREE Solar power.  ;D
 
The exchanger pipes are accessable only for a few inches behind the heater under the floor of a closet. They then disapear under the floor. I just leave the propane off till shortly before I need it.
 

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