Hot water quickly running out!

[JoshuaBlake]

I have a electric/gas 6gal water heater in my camper, 2009 towlite 2709. We've been staying in it for the past 4 or 5 months for work and one of the main complaints we have is the amount of hot water. I timed it and Im only able to get about 5 min of hot water in the shower then it's completely cold. It seemed like it lasted alot longer the first month or so then we relocated to Minnesota from Mississippi and now it runs out extremely fast. Maybe my memory is off and this is normal for a 6 gal heater? I only run it on electric but it is capable of gas and electric simultaneously so I tried with no change, the recovery time increased but it still ran out too fast. Anything I can do to increase the amount of hot water? Thanks!

 

[piperjim]

Take short showers? When in Afghanistan, we were limited to 3 minute showers.

Maybe that Minnesota water is colder than the water in MS?

 

[RichR]

You may be using more water than you think, and/or the pressure may be higher than it was. The thermostat in the electric mode is fixed as is the one in gas mode. The electric heat element may have degraded over time with mineral buildup. If you plan on using water in larger quantities you need to turn on both gas and electric modes. Place a pressure regulator in line with your water connection if hooked to shore water. Keep your shower faucet turned down to minimum volume and use the little button on the shower head to turn the water off between rinses, the Navy shower mode.

 

[JoshuaBlake]

Thanks for the replies. I can take a shower in 5 minutes but my wife can barely get her hair completely wet before the hot water runs completely out. I will try running it in gas and electric mode again. When I do this should I keep both of the switches for the gas and electric turned on all the time? I leave the electric mode switch on all the time but I'm unsure about using both. I've dealt with my home water heater which is also electric so I'm somewhat familiar with the electric side but as far as LP gas I literally have no experience. So any tips and/or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
BTW I did check outside and the propane is working, there's a huge flame shooting into the water heater.

Also if the electric heating element is heavily corroded would the water temperature still be able to get scolding hot? If I'm showering and turn the cold water down to much it gets extremely hot and feels like it could definitely burn my skin if I'm not careful, but obviously the hotter the water the faster it goes away.

My wife wanted me to make sure and mention that the other campground in MS had poor water pressure so I bought a new shower head that was made for residential use. RichR mentioned I may be using more water than I think, and now that I think about it, the new shower head more than likely has a much higher flow rate than the original one and now that we have exceptional water pressure were using alot more water than the previous campground.

Last question for now, I have two propane tanks in front of the trailer, the connection is a T connection where it hooks to both bottles and goes into a single regulator. Is it OK to have both bottles opened up at the same time or should I just have one bottle opened at a time? Thank you for the help!

 

[piperjim]

JB:

I feel your pain man. I have a wife and 3 daughters and could never keep enough hot water in our old Hi-Lo either.

You probably have an automatic changeover regulator between the two propane tanks.

See this YouTube video that shows how it works. My 2008 Hi-Lo has the 3rd type shown, would suspect the same for yours:

And, yes, that new shower head might be wasting some of that hot water.

Good luck!

 

[campthewestcoast]

I modified my water heater I changed the fixed thermostat to an adjustable thermostat and turning it up by doing this I can rise the temperature of the water to 140 degrees
Also replace the T&P relief valve for added safety
The most important part is to add an automatic thermostatic mixing valve to the back of the waterheater to temper the water down to 105 degrees which adds in cold water
This gives me 9 gallons of hot water out of a 6 gallon water heater

 

[RichR]

It is okay to have both the electric and LP on at the same time. The LP mode heats faster than electric. I usually turn both on initially to get the water heated quicker and then turn off the LP. Your regulator would have a lever/knob and an indicator if it is the automatic changeover type.