Community Forums

bend302 · 01-12-2011, 06:16 PM

I have seen a gizmo (Hott Rod) advertised that fits into the water heater anode rod position that is an electric heating element and supposedly converts an LPG water heater into an electric.

Has anybody tried this thing? Does it work?

Bend302

RVhauler · 01-12-2011, 06:25 PM

While have not personally used one I have seen them installed. however there seems to be some contoversy about the use of one as the anode rod has to be removed and you lose the corrosion protection for the HWH tank. Seems to be a trade off of longer tank life vs convience

tinman1 · 01-12-2011, 06:45 PM

We previously had a 1993 Airstream with the Hott Rod electric heating element. In the 15 years we owned the Airstream, we never had the first problem.

We had to allow approx 30 minutes for proper heating and had a switch installed (with red indicator light).

We would again use the Hott Rod element without hesitation.

Lorna · 01-13-2011, 12:35 PM

We had one (not the same brand) in our old water heater (and it was really old). Worked great. After the tank started leaking we replaced with an LP/AC unit. If our electric is included in the price of the site, we use electric. If it's not and it's cheaper to use LP or if we are pavement parking, we have the LP option. I like having options.

Gary RVRoamer · 01-13-2011, 08:04 PM

I used one in an older RV that had a gas only heater - worked fine. If its an Atwood heater, it has no anode rod anyway, so there is no downside. If a Suburban that needs an anode rod, then there is a drawback to losing the anode function.