Hi Gang (long)

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">We are here in South Dakota and are in night 6 of 17. So far everything is going pretty well. We saw the fireworks tonight over Mt Rushmore and it was gorgeous !! We are staying at Rafter J and we love it. We are in base camp and close to the pool, playground, stables, store and a nice open field which is great for playing catch. We have plenty of room on our site for a tent for the kids to sleep in and our screen room too. Winnie was a bit slow coming up the mountains...but she made it. I felt bad at times we had a line behind us, but for the most part people in cars were able to pass. I am assuming diesel pushers probably have an easier time. I'm not complaining though...we love our 35J.

We stayed for 2 nights at the Lena, IL Koa and had a nice time. It is surrounded by corn fields, extremely friendly hosts and the campground was well maintained. Our site was really small and didn't work out so well for us..but it was only 2 nights and we made the best of it.

Next 2 nights was Flying Goose Campground in Fairmont, MN. Again we had very nice hosts and they really took good care of the place (other than the bathrooms). Our site was bigger and they have a lake/beach/fishing we enjoyed too.

We have seen 3 states we have never been too and enjoyed them all. Over the next week we will be going to Custer state park, Crazy Horse, the Badlands, Bear County, Rushmore Caverns, a lighting ceremony at Mt Rushmore, Needles highway and more. Then we will be staying at the same places on the way back home.

I've been checking out ALL the rv's coming out here and around the campgrounds and have not seen ONE other IRV2 sticker Where is everyone ??

I did have one question for you all too. Has anyone else taken the regulator out of their shower head ?? Chad took it out so we could get more water pressure. The first shower was GREAT...lots of pressure and nice hot water. But this morning the water turned ice cold after 5 minutes( I use a timer). We are going to try turning on the propane AND the electric heaters to see if that makes the hot water last longer. If not I guess he will just have to put the regulator back in and have less water pressure.

I hope you all have a GREAT Independence Day !! </span>

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">We are here in South Dakota and are in night 6 of 17. So far everything is going pretty well. We saw the fireworks tonight over Mt Rushmore and it was gorgeous !! We are staying at Rafter J and we love it. We are in base camp and close to the pool, playground, stables, store and a nice open field which is great for playing catch. We have plenty of room on our site for a tent for the kids to sleep in and our screen room too. Winnie was a bit slow coming up the mountains...but she made it. I felt bad at times we had a line behind us, but for the most part people in cars were able to pass. I am assuming diesel pushers probably have an easier time. I'm not complaining though...we love our 35J.

We stayed for 2 nights at the Lena, IL Koa and had a nice time. It is surrounded by corn fields, extremely friendly hosts and the campground was well maintained. Our site was really small and didn't work out so well for us..but it was only 2 nights and we made the best of it.

Next 2 nights was Flying Goose Campground in Fairmont, MN. Again we had very nice hosts and they really took good care of the place (other than the bathrooms). Our site was bigger and they have a lake/beach/fishing we enjoyed too.

We have seen 3 states we have never been too and enjoyed them all. Over the next week we will be going to Custer state park, Crazy Horse, the Badlands, Bear County, Rushmore Caverns, a lighting ceremony at Mt Rushmore, Needles highway and more. Then we will be staying at the same places on the way back home.

I've been checking out ALL the rv's coming out here and around the campgrounds and have not seen ONE other IRV2 sticker Where is everyone ??

I did have one question for you all too. Has anyone else taken the regulator out of their shower head ?? Chad took it out so we could get more water pressure. The first shower was GREAT...lots of pressure and nice hot water. But this morning the water turned ice cold after 5 minutes( I use a timer). We are going to try turning on the propane AND the electric heaters to see if that makes the hot water last longer. If not I guess he will just have to put the regulator back in and have less water pressure.

I hope you all have a GREAT Independence Day !! </span>

[smlranger]

Sounds like a great time...there is so much to see where you are.

We have left the shower alone....whether on gas or electric (or both), you only have so much hot water in that little tank. When I get to craving a longer hot shower, I head to the bath house in the CG.

Have fun and safe travels.

[CHIPPYSGT]

Glad you're having a good trip.

I think you're just running out of hot water. Six gallons isn't much. Propane and electic will help for faster recovery but with your family, if you're not, you need to take sea showers, not hotel showers. Especially handy when dry camping.

Sea showers - get wet, turn off water, soap down, rinse.

Hotel showers - Standing under there letting the water run singing "Home on the Range".

You'll be surprised how much water (hot) that will save, thus quicker showers and quicker recovery of the water tank.

[campernut2]

We missed you by a week. We just arrived home this week from that area too. We thou went to yellowstone. FYI My stickers were up and showing with lots asking about them!
Enjoy...we will be going back again

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We have left the shower alone....whether on gas or electric (or both), you only have so much hot water in that little tank. When I get to craving a longer hot shower, I head to the bath house in the CG. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">The thing is though that before he removed the regulator I was able to take a 7 minute shower before running out of hot water. I didn't even have to turn the water on and off. I just didn't have much water pressure. I have a little timer I set so I know exactly how much time I have. Now I have better water pressure but not so much time. Chad tried to turn up the hot water heater temp last night. I'll let you know today how it goes.</span>

[FrankO]

I removed the regulator as the shower head seemed to only trickle water which the DW said would not work for washing her hair. After removing the regulator I noticed improved water flow but we have not been on the road to test it out. This condition was only when we were boondocking so it was on the water pump, not connected to an external water source.
Our next trip will be to Rushmore so we will be able to test it out on that trip but it won't be for another month.
Frank O.

[AFChap]

Lil'Darlin

I believe the other comments are right ...you are running out of hot water because without the flow restrictor what you actually have is increased volume rather than increased pressure. Turning on the gas along with the electric will help you make more hot water quicker, but will not increase the amount you have to use at any one time.

We put a more powerful water pump in our coach. The original pumped 2.8 gallon per minute. The replacement pumps 5 gallon per minute. If you have a 6 gallon water heater, and run straight hot water through a 5 gallon per minute pump, you will be out of hot water in a little over one minute. We have a 10 gallon water heater, but my wife can still run out of hot water sometimes. The more cold you mix in, the longer the hot will last, but you cannot heat it fast enough with a standard water heater to not run out. If you want endless hot water no matter what, you'll have to have an "on demand" water heater. They are available for RVs, but I don't know of many that have one. They use LP gas to heat the water as it flows. I don't want to burn that much LP myself.

[Petro]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lil'Darlin1972:
<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">The thing is though that before he removed the regulator I was able to take a 7 minute shower before running out of hot water. I didn't even have to turn the water on and off. I just didn't have much water pressure. I have a little timer I set so I know exactly how much time I have. Now I have better water pressure but not so much time. Chad tried to turn up the hot water heater temp last night. I'll let you know today how it goes.</span> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First of all Shannone. it is nice to hear from you that you are having a good time. I have missed you on the chat rooms. Gary is correct in that you have increased the volume of water usage and will run out much quicker. I let my DW use the shower and I use CG facilities when I can. When DW wants a long shower she uses CG facilities. Sea showers are the way to go if the family is using the coach shower.
Have a Happy & Safe 4TH;

Don

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lil'Darlin1972:
<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">I did have one question for you all too. Has anyone else taken the regulator out of their shower head ?? Chad took it out so we could get more water pressure. The first shower was GREAT...lots of pressure and nice hot water. But this morning the water turned ice cold after 5 minutes( I use a timer). We are going to try turning on the propane AND the electric heaters to see if that makes the hot water last longer. If not I guess he will just have to put the regulator back in and have less water pressure.

I hope you all have a GREAT Independence Day !! </span> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

WOW! Sounds like your having a great time!

As other posts have mentioned, by removing the regulator you have increased the water flow, which means your using your water supply faster.

I looked at water regulators on Camping World dot com, which are external and regulates the inbound water pressure to the RV. Item descriptions explain that they simply regulate the flow, meaning you will use more or less water, as an end result, regarding how much of the water you want to regulate, or control.

Not sure how much room you have to work with in your MH, but one option might be to change out the standard 6 gallon water heater to a 10 gallon.

[dakotabuckeye]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lil'Darlin1972:
<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">I've been checking out ALL the rv's coming out here and around the campgrounds and have not seen ONE other IRV2 sticker Where is everyone ??
I hope you all have a GREAT Independence Day !! </span> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Look for us Saturday in the Badlands, we have a 35J with a silver Jeep Commander toad. We'll be staying at the Badlands / White River KOA for the night, and then it's off to Wyoming for a 10 day trip. You have a great to-do list while in the Black Hills, two of my favorites are the needles hwy and bear country USA. Take lots of photos and have a great time.

[FlyingW]

We stayed at Raptor J last year during our 2 week trip including Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and Utah. Great Campground! Also happy to see some people our own age with young kids also on the list. Most of the time we get people looking at us in the RV and thinking "oh, they have their parents RV, how nice!" Enjoy your trip and good luck with your water problem. It all adds to the memories,
Flying W, ages 36,35,7 and 4
2002 32V Adventurer on a Workhorse Chasis

[John_Canfield]

One of the first things I did on our coach was to remove all of the flow restrictors, including the shower. Even with two of us showering sequentially (not room for two of us at one time ), we have never, ever run out of hot water (see situation described later for a caveat.) This is even with cold water coming in to the coach. Our water heater is 10 gallons which is apparently a little larger than yours.

I enjoy long hot showers (when on a full hookup) and was surprised when I discovered over a period of time that we didn't have a hot water issue.

It was however a surprise when I was shower-taker #2 and discovered when lathered up that DW had shut off the water heater earlier for some reason and forgot to turn it back on. Then I realized there is enough hot water for 1.2 showers in the tank .

[smlranger]

John, we also have the 10 gallon tank and I am amazed that we've not run out of hot water but we usually take Navy showers. I believe one of the reasons the RV HWH's are set to run at such high temps is to give you more capacity....mixing more cold water to get the temp right.

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Look for us Saturday in the Badlands, we have a 35J with a silver Jeep Commander toad. We'll be staying at the Badlands / White River KOA for the night, and then it's off to Wyoming for a 10 day trip. You have a great to-do list while in the Black Hills, two of my favorites are the needles hwy and bear country USA. Take lots of photos and have a great time. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">We will be in the badlands on Friday...we will just miss you. We did Bear Country today and I have to say it was much better than I was expecting. I got some great pictures and the animals were all up and moving about, even in the hot afternoon sun.</span>

"Not sure how much room you have to work with in your MH, but one option might be to change out the standard 6 gallon water heater to a 10 gallon."

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">Thanks Richard. One of the first things I asked when we bought our MH was if there was room to put it a bigger hot water heater, but there isn't.</span>

"First of all Shannone. it is nice to hear from you that you are having a good time. I have missed you on the chat rooms. Gary is correct in that you have increased the volume of water usage and will run out much quicker. I let my DW use the shower and I use CG facilities when I can. When DW wants a long shower she uses CG facilities. Sea showers are the way to go if the family is using the coach shower.
Have a Happy & Safe 4TH"

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">Thanks Don...nice to hear from you. We haven't been coming in until around 11pm most nights so I haven't been able to make it to a chat in awhile. We decided just to put the piece back in the shower and go back to the way things were. I can take a decent shower in 7 minutes and have enough hot water to do it.

Thanks to EVERYONE for your replies !!</span>

[Y-Guy]

Hey Shannon, we're out on the road too, down in Southern Utah at Zion Canyon. Just left the fireworks show which unfortunately turned into a pretty massive brush fire, we're hoping the town of Springdale is safe but it was spreading very fast when we left to get back to camp.

I've taken the regulators out before too, you can chew threw the hot water if you're not careful. Having both LP and electricity on helps for a quick recovery, but you may still wind up short. The problem we have here at Zion River Resort is temps have been 105-112 (today) so the water isn't cold at all, in fact I haven't used the hot water heater and the showers are nice and warm - though I wish they were cold!

Have a safe trip!