BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture RV Turn off water heater?

Hope you can resolve a question. I say leaving the water heater on while we are gone all day or on all night while we sleep uses up too much propane. My husband says it is an insignificant amount. Do you or your husband have a take on this.

Glena

Hi Glenda,

For what it's worth we turn ours off - even when we're home. On it'll go 15 to 20 minutes prior to doing dishes or showering, we'll let it heat up again after using the hot water, then off it goes. It's not always the most convenient but we believe it saves propane and /or electricity.

Hope that helps...

Evanne

Thanks for agreeing with me. We know that the regular heater eats up the propane, and water heater just has to use more than a little.

Glenda

Running the pilot light only on a hot water system will use up about one bottle (or 45kg) of gas per year. If it is a continuous flow hws then that is all it will use, if it is a storage unit, then any extra usage (over and above the pilot light usage) will depend on the size and type of the hws.

I know this because I work in a gas shop

Very interesting info, Marisu. Thanks for posting!

FYI - I've just added an article to the Bella RV site called RV Day Trip "Insurance" that reviews what I do when leaving the rig.

Hope it's helpful,

Evanne