Hot water heater

Well.. to use electric, you plug into shore power and turn on the switch in the WH compartment, outside.

To run on gas, you push the water heater switch inside the pod, after turning on the gas at the tank.

Can't stress enough to make sure that tank is full before throwing that electric switch.

We got our Rpod last July and have been in it a total of about 12 nights. Until this year, post de-winterization I tried to get hot water with the electric but it didn't appear to be operating. I thought perhaps I'd 'blow-out' the heating element in error and ordered a replacement. When the replacement came I checked the resistance of it and the one in the heater and they were the same. Also checked and there was power both at the AC switch and the element terminals.

So, I tried it again and the heater works. But it takes much much longer to heat than propane. About an hour or more I'd guess.

So the lesson I learned is that the AC power takes a long time. If you need hot water quickly or in any volume use the propane option. Otherwise once on shore power be patient and you can rely on the AC to keep a reasonable amount of water hot on demand.

Originally posted by Don Halas So, I tried it again and the heater works. But it takes much much longer to heat than propane. About an hour or more I'd guess. So the lesson I learned is that the AC power takes a long time. If you need hot water quickly or in any volume use the propane option. Otherwise once on shore power be patient and you can rely on the AC to keep a reasonable amount of water hot on demand.

I take some exception to this claim. My measurements indicate the gas side is about 50% faster, but from 77F water the recovery times are 23 and 35 minutes for gas or electric respectively and 14 minutes for the combination. The Suburban spec sheet shows full recovery of 10.7/6 gallons per hour, but that's from very cold water as I discussed.

http://rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3601&KW=recovery&PID=34220&title=water-heater-recovery#34220

Originally posted by Don Halas Blow out meaning firing the AC up without water in the tank. Well I live in CT and not likely that my hose water or anything stored in the tanks was 77F when I tried this two weeks ago. And this is just an observation, not meant to be considered fact.

Well I confess I didn't consider CT in mid April. My main point was the gas system is only 50% more effective than the electric side. We use both simultaneously if we need hot from a "cold" start, but otherwise the electric element works fine. That said, even the dual systems won't help the long shower problem . Still going to get cold.