Quote: Originally posted by Plj scriver on 03/10/2017
We have just brought our first van and whilst playing with all the bits and testing them the other day we tested the hot water and it took about an hour to get warm so presumed would have to leave it now all the time. It is an old van so probably not the best system.
Is yours gas-only like ours? If it has gas and electric like some of the more modern vans, I think some people put both on at once to heat up quicker. An hour seems like a long time to me. Ours is warm within about 10 minutes, and hot within half an hour.
I think if we had electric water heating I may consider leaving it on all the time, as we are paying for EHU anyway, but as we are paying for gas used, I see little point in wasting it while we are out or asleep.
Ours is an old van. 1991 but is gas and electric. Took about an hour to get even slightly warm on Electric but did get warm quick on gas. Didn't think of using both to get it warmed up quicker.
I tend to turn it off at night, only because the heat coming from the boiler/tank under the bed is too much for us ex canvas campers
Our's has a 10 litre tank and it heats up pretty quickly (we can set it at 40 or 60 C) but we, being new to this, have realised that it's better for us set at 40 and we top up the washing up water with a boiled kettle - ie no point in heating up 10 litres of water to 60C just to wash a few cups and plates.
As for showers, at the moment we are mostly using the site facilities. But if we go away in the colder weather and use the on board shower, I guess we will leave it on a lot more.
We have the Alde system we leave the water heater on,its thermostatic so will cut in when needed.
If we only have a 6 amp hookup(not uncommon in France),we turn it off if using the kettle.
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I really couldn't be arsed turning it on and off just to try and save a few pence.
I turn it on just after the water barrel is connected and turn it off again when I am packing up
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Ours is under the rear dinette, which we leave up as a full sized double (with 4 ft 6 in mattress on top). If the water heater is on the bed gets too warm, especially in summer. As we generally use site facilities, we don't bother with the water heater at all, but just use a kettle when we need a sink of hot water.
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Topic: Leaving water heater on.
