How long to heat water?

[Lic0rice]

About how long should it take my propane 10 gallon water heater to heat the water to 120 degrees...... "The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) pins the ideal balance between safety and comfort at 120 degrees" ? Water comes from a Florida municipality but not sure at what temp.

It is taking mine around 30 minutes.:banghead: That seems to me to be way too long.

[chuckster57]

how is the flame? Is it strong sounding, with a whoosh, or sort of lazy? If it's not strong then you probably have a spider web in the burner tube. Most common spot is the end where the flame actually lights. A good shot of air may clear it, or you may have to remove the tube and clean it out.

[Lic0rice]

how is the flame? Is it strong sounding, with a whoosh, or sort of lazy? If it's not strong then you probably have a spider web in the burner tube. Most common spot is the end where the flame actually lights. A good shot of air may clear it, or you may have to remove the tube and clean it out.

It sounds strong and looks strong. No sputtering. Just switched to a new full tank and no change.

[sourdough]

10 gal. filled from cold then to hot in 30 minutes? You're OK.

[JRTJH]

One possibility, remote, but possible....

You might have a partly open "winter bypass valve" on the back of your water heater. If it is even slightly cracked open, you'll be blending your hot water with cold water "behind the scenes".... That will cause you to have "cooler than possible" water entering the hot water plumbing at the water heater outlet.

As I said, a remote possibility, but something you can quickly check to make sure it's not adding to your heating time.

Good Luck.

[Lic0rice]

One possibility, remote, but possible....

You might have a partly open "winter bypass valve" on the back of your water heater. If it is even slightly cracked open, you'll be blending your hot water with cold water "behind the scenes".... That will cause you to have "cooler than possible" water entering the hot water plumbing at the water heater outlet.

As I said, a remote possibility, but something you can quickly check to make sure it's not adding to your heating time.

Good Luck.

Excellent thought. I will check it!

[notanlines]

Licorice, from the Atwood site, this is the info I gleaned: "Fast recovery LP/Electric Water Heater produces up to 14.6 gallons of hot water per hour at 70% efficiency for gas models using temperature raising 60F to 160F. 10,000 BTU. USA.
The pilot is manually lit when the destination is reached and hot water is available in less than 30 minutes"
Does your water heater actually have an adjustable thermostat on it? Most water heaters are preset in the 130 to 140 range.

[canesfan]

30 minutes seems pretty normal to me. Are you using LP only or LP and electric? I leave mine on electric all the time when I can so I don't worry about it. But when I'm dry camping and only use LP it may take up to 30 minutes to get "hot". If I'm in a hurry 15-20 minutes will be warm enough to shower, just use less cold water or none at all depending. I have a 12 gallon tank.

[Lic0rice]

Just using propane. Have never found an adjustment for the thermostat. DW and I only turn it on when we are ready to take a shower. If 30-45 minutes is standard, we will just live with it. Thanks for everyone's help!

[theeyres]

30 minutes sounds just fine to me. You don't want that burner coming on so hot that it wastes heat just keeping it at temp once you are there.

[canesfan]

Thermostats aren't usually adjustable on these water heaters. I think they're set to around 130-140 or so. It would be nice to have them adjustable. It's stupid to heat up the water to too hot and then have to waste cold water to cool it off, especially when dry camping. That's why I'll not wait 30 minutes when dry camping, then I don't have to use as much cold water.

[notanlines]

"It's stupid to heat up the water to too hot and then have to waste cold water to cool it off" Seriously? You just jump in the shower with your shower only on "hot" at home or in a hotel? Every instance I've ever had the hot is tempered with the cold to find a comfortable setting.

[canesfan]

"It's stupid to heat up the water to too hot and then have to waste cold water to cool it off" Seriously? You just jump in the shower with your shower only on "hot" at home or in a hotel? Every instance I've ever had the hot is tempered with the cold to find a comfortable setting.

If you're going to quote me and criticize me, at least quote the entirety of my post please. I had said "It's stupid to heat up the water to too hot and then have to waste cold water to cool it off, especially when dry camping. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you don't dry camp so maybe you don't understand the lack of "continuous" water supply and dump accommodations. I'm not really sure what dry camping has in common with showering at home or in a hotel. :rolleyes:

[notanlines]

See your PM, apology enclosed.

[jsmith948]

Maybe I missed something? How does it matter whether you are using water from the hot water tap, the cold water tap, or a combination of both? Same amount of water taken from the FW tank in each instance. In fact, if you allow the water to heat to the set temp of the t-stat you will be less likely to run out of hot water as you will be using more cold than hot. JMHO - FWIW:)

[canesfan]

See your PM, apology enclosed.

Thank you. Mine is there too.

[canesfan]

Maybe I missed something? How does it matter whether you are using water from the hot water tap, the cold water tap, or a combination of both? Same amount of water taken from the FW tank in each instance. In fact, if you allow the water to heat to the set temp of the t-stat you will be less likely to run out of hot water as you will be using more cold than hot. JMHO - FWIW:)

I knew this was going to come up. :) Sigh, it's a small thing, but when you have to mix the water and it's either freezing cold or scalding hot when you open the shutoff, watching that water go down the drain instead of being useful adds up, both in waste of fresh and filling up your gray tank. Multiply say by 4 people using the shower a day opening and closing the shutoff 4 or 5 times each for say a long weekend of 4-6 days...yeah, it's a small amount. Pet peeve if you will. And since I'm the one who usually ends up lugging the water to refill the tank and finding a place to drain it, you know. :banghead:

[JRTJH]

canesfan,

If you do a search on the forum you will find a mod that resolves the "cold water after showerhead cutoff" problem. It's a simple mod that installs 3 valves in the winterization kit (to replace the one valve/one bypass setup), that once installed, eliminates the cold water flash when turning the showerhead back on.

Easy to do, only costs the price of two valves (or three if you want everything to match).

[Javi]

canesfan,

If you do a search on the forum you will find a mod that resolves the "cold water after showerhead cutoff" problem. It's a simple mod that installs 3 valves in the winterization kit (to replace the one valve/one bypass setup), that once installed, eliminates the cold water flash when turning the showerhead back on.

Easy to do, only costs the price of two valves (or three if you want everything to match).

Yep... very easy and well worth the effort... never get that blast of cold water again..

[canesfan]

canesfan,

If you do a search on the forum you will find a mod that resolves the "cold water after showerhead cutoff" problem. It's a simple mod that installs 3 valves in the winterization kit (to replace the one valve/one bypass setup), that once installed, eliminates the cold water flash when turning the showerhead back on.

Easy to do, only costs the price of two valves (or three if you want everything to match).

I've either seen the post, watched the video, or both. :) One day I may actually get around to it. Since a lot of the times now it's not everyone all the time, I don't worry about it as much as I used to when everyone was younger and didn't understand the concept. Still have to think about it a few times a year at some races though and remind people to conserve. With 110 gallons of fresh it's not too bad, but it has to go somewhere, as per another current thread. That's another story. :popcorn:

[Steve S]

Wow those last few posts made me do this:facepalm:
As for the recovery of the HW tank it can be 15, 20 and up to 30 mins depending if it's heated with LP, electric or both.
I personally have never timed it as I do other things while I'm waiting. Also I'm camping so I'm never in any rush for anything as I'm on my time which I have lots of.:)