Community Forums

larliebler · 12-12-2018, 09:56 AM

My wife was complaining that during a shower she needs to keep adjusting the temperature.

We just stayed a couple of weeks at a state park and went all electric while there, so we didn't use propane for the showers, just electric. I did notice that I had to change the water temperature throughout the shower, but now that we're back at the RV park that we live in full time I'm running both water heaters with gas and electric and it seems to me that I find the right water temperature and leave it at that temperature. We have a more consistent temperature and shower.

Is this the norm, if you utilize both gas and electric the shower temperature will be more consistent?

Mr_D · 12-12-2018, 10:02 AM

I have an AquaHot 600-D usually use either one or both electric elements for general use, for showers I kick in the diesel burner if not already on. No problem with water temp.

Easyrider · 12-12-2018, 10:27 AM

It depends on how you manage the water. We have a 10 gallon water heater, and it's filled with all hot water when we start to shower. But as we shower the water heater is getting replenished with unheated water and the temperature of the water in the water heater starts to drop. So as it drops we have to adjust the hot/cold mix coming from the shower head to maintain the desired temp. We use the propane and shut off the shower while soaping up to avoid running out of hot water completely. We also don't have to be as careful during the heat of summer as we do when cold weather camping as the incoming water is warmer in the summer and we don't run the shower water at as high a temp when taking showers in the summer as we do the rest of the year. Infact I usually take a cool shower in the summer to cool off from being outside in the heat.

Old-Biscuit · 12-12-2018, 10:37 AM

Recovery time..........(based on initial heating with 70*F supply water temp)

Electric is roughly 6 gal/hr
Propane is roughly 10/hr
BOTH at same time.....16 gal/hr

Gal/hr time is shortened when reheating warm water

PLUS.....if turning water flow off via button on shower head handle then shower faucet becomes a mixing chamber...typically cold will overcome hot so when you turn shower back on the temp fluctuates

larliebler · 12-12-2018, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easyrider

It depends on how you manage the water. We have a 10 gallon water heater, and it's filled with all hot water when we start to shower. But as we shower the water heater is getting replenished with unheated water and the temperature of the water in the water heater starts to drop. So as it drops we have to adjust the hot/cold mix coming from the shower head to maintain the desired temp. We use the propane and shut off the shower while soaping up to avoid running out of hot water completely. We also don't have to be as careful during the heat of summer as we do when cold weather camping as the incoming water is warmer in the summer and we don't run the shower water at as high a temp when taking showers in the summer as we do the rest of the year. Infact I usually take a cool shower in the summer to cool off from being outside in the heat.

We have 10 gallon water heaters as well, and I've taken some really long showers and have never run out of hot water. In our last coach we had a 6 gallon gas only water heater initially, and my wife would run out of hot water before she could get the conditioner out of her hair. We had a Truma installed, so we had endless hot water. I was debating having a Truma installed in the current coach, but since we never run out of hot water and that we can run both gas and/or electric I decided against it. So far I've found several benefits to having the ability to run gas and or electric.

I'm thinking that the water is so hot when I run the water heaters on both gas and electric that the temperature stays fairly consistent and do not have to keep messing with it, but I was just wondering for those folks that have water heaters with both gas and electric, what was their experience?

larliebler · 12-12-2018, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Recovery time..........(based on initial heating with 70*F supply water temp)

Electric is roughly 6 gal/hr
Propane is roughly 10/hr
BOTH at same time.....16 gal/hr

Gal/hr time is shortened when reheating warm water

PLUS.....if turning water flow off via button on shower head handle then shower faucet becomes a mixing chamber...typically cold will overcome hot so when you turn shower back on the temp fluctuates

Never mess with the button on the shower, but does make sense.

Old-Biscuit · 12-12-2018, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larliebler

We have 10 gallon water heaters as well, and I've taken some really long showers and have never run out of hot water. In our last coach we had a 6 gallon gas only water heater initially, and my wife would run out of hot water before she could get the conditioner out of her hair. We had a Truma installed, so we had endless hot water. I was debating having a Truma installed in the current coach, but since we never run out of hot water and that we can run both gas and/or electric I decided against it. So far I've found several benefits to having the ability to run gas and or electric.

I'm thinking that the water is so hot when I run the water heaters on both gas and electric that the temperature stays fairly consistent and do not have to keep messing with it, but I was just wondering for those folks that have water heaters with both gas and electric, what was their experience?

Water temp is SAME regardless if using electric, using propane or using both at same time
Normal Temp T-stat is preset whether you have just one for both heat sources (Atwood) or if you have one for each heat source (Suburban)

Recovery time .
Using Both heat sources provides the fastest recovery....the highest heat input...the best consistent temp

lwmcguire · 12-12-2018, 11:45 AM

No problems with hot water temps due to the Aqua Hot, however maybe changing your shower head might help mix better. Our Coach came with an Oxygenics shower head which is a great mixer and gives you a bit of a pulse massage feel. The shower heads are a bit pricy but they do make a difference. There are several write ups out there on RV sites regarding them and the improvement from a standard shower head. I think the big difference is the educator effect bringing in air to the water stream.

larliebler · 12-12-2018, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Water temp is SAME regardless if using electric, using propane or using both at same time
Normal Temp T-stat is preset whether you have just one for both heat sources (Atwood) or if you have one for each heat source (Suburban)

Recovery time .
Using Both heat sources provides the fastest recovery....the highest heat input...the best consistent temp

Makes sense, so I'm assuming that it's the recovery time utilizing both the gas and electric that's giving me a more consistent temperature.