Water heater help

[Simsbud]

Good evening , names Andy I’m new to the forum, I have a 19 outback341rd , we are weekend campers when we can and this past trip the amount of hot water has been less and less, seems like it’s running out very fast, any ideas on what could be causing this, this morning the Mrs didn’t even get her hair fully washed and ran out of hot water,

Thanks for your time

[sourdough]

Hi Andy and welcome to the forum! Is the issue water flow, water loses heat or ? Do you know the size of your hot water heater? I'm assuming 6 gal. On a new 19 I'm not thinking you have a failure (hopefully). Your comment that it is running "over" very fast is, I assume, meaning running out?

Remember that with a 6 gal. tank you can, and will, run out of hot water very quickly if you're not careful. I assume you have the DSI water heater where you can run both the electric and propane at the same time to heat the water heater and it increases the recovery dramatically. Are you using that? We use it any time we take showers and just don't run out of hot water. We do however take showers at different times of the day to aid in recovery.

A little more info would be beneficial and I'm sure others will chime in. There are other possible issues but some specifics might help narrow down the "suspects".

[Simsbud]

Hey thanks for the reply, sorry my phone auto corrected out to over. According to the brochure it’s a 6 gallon electric/propane and I’ve tried having both on and it doesn’t make much difference, it recovers in minutes just runs out extremely fast. Which it hasn’t been that quick To run out till this trip.

[sourdough]

Have you checked both the electric and propane functions of the heater to make sure you have that ability? If you are used to using it with both heating sources and one has gone south it would cause this issue.

[Simsbud]

I’ve let it run out and had the electric on and it’s recovered, then ran it out and turned propane on and it recovered

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Simsbud

I’ve let it run out and had the electric on and it’s recovered, then ran it out and turned propane on and it recovered

Turned off the electric before using the propane for recovery?

[Simsbud]

Correct and that’s the same procedure I did when going from propane to electric

[Brentw]

Just washing her hair? So unless she is Repunzel, you should have plenty of water.
Is it hot enough, some have thermostats. Is your bypass valve (s) set correctly.

[Simsbud]

It’s burning hot , also we were doing dishes and before getting the dishes done from dinner out of hot water

[wiredgeorge]

Open up your outside water heater cover and post the make and model; will be on a tag inside. When you camp, go to your control panel and turn on the propane AND the electrical heating element. A red light will come on when you start the propane heat then go off once the system has ignited. If you control panel doesn't have a switch for the electrical heating element (mine doesn't), then open up your outside cover and if it is a Suburban, there will be a rocker switch down on the bottom left kind of under the pipe. When you are done camping you will need to be sure it is turned off again else it will burn up. Units equipped with electrical heating element have that element there to augment propane heat for faster recovery.

[Simsbud]

Just timed it 4 minutes in the shower and it started running out of hot water, when I get a chance I’ll take a photo of the unit outside

[Simsbud]

Here you go

[roadglide]

Originally Posted by Simsbud

Here you go

This is new problem and your weekend campers . I would pull the plug and flush the water heater out flushing the water heater should be regular maintenance.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by Simsbud

Here you go

The on/off switch for the electric heating element is in the bottom left corner of the heater in the bottom picture. You have a Suburban but not familiar with this model. Again, first make sure the propane lights via the control panel inside the cabin then turn the electric switch on. You probably can't switch it from the inside. Some folks turn the circuit breaker on/off to control the water heater electrical element while leaving the switch in the on position. I just turn our switch on after we are set up and camping and turn it off as part of the pack out ritual.

[travelin texans]

The black cover with the 2 resets are the thermostat's, 1 - 12 volt & 1 - 120 volt, take that cover off & check that the wires haven't shorted out between the metal trim & the tank. Mine that cover pinched the wires against the tank shorting them, bad to replace the tstats & the wire ends.
You also may have it air locked, open the pressure relief, AFTER THE WATER HAS COOLED, while having water run into the tank, once full stream out the relief close it.

[hankpage]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

You also may have it air locked, open the pressure relief, AFTER THE WATER HAS COOLED, while having water run into the tank, once full stream out the relief close it.

The water heater is designed to have an air gap in the tank to allow for heat expansion. DO NOT bleed the air gap out as per the manufacturers instruction manual. With no air gap the TP valve will leak to release the over pressure. (Hopefully.) JM2¢, Hank

[Rwake901]

Had this same issue with our last two motorhomes that had six gallon water heaters. Doesn’t take long to go through six gallons of hot water. We purchased a Oxygenics 26181 BodySpa Chrome Shower Head Kit. That solved our problems. Comes in other colors besides chrome. Give that a try.

[NJBob]

Originally Posted by Simsbud

Good evening , names Andy I’m new to the forum, I have a 19 outback341rd , we are weekend campers when we can and this past trip the amount of hot water has been less and less, seems like it’s running out very fast, any ideas on what could be causing this, this morning the Mrs didn’t even get her hair fully washed and ran out of hot water,

Thanks for your time

Check the outside shower. If it is turned off at the shower head and the hot and cold water valves are open it will mix the hot and cold water and you will run out of hot water everywhere in the RV.

[Simsbud]

We don’t even have the shower head installed outside it’s just the knobs and the hookup

[n1282x]

Hook up the hose to the outside shower and make sure that both valves are in the closed position