Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

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HoosierB
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by HoosierB »

I've been following several posts on adding the Hybrid Heat kit, or a tankless (on-demand) WH, or the Suburban combo LP/Electric. Also the new Suburban Nautilus on-demand LP WH.
We mostly tour and go post to post, so the advantage of hooking up for "electric" hot water supplemented with our on-board LP would be very convenient (she likes long, hot showers), i.e: duration and recovery time.
My question concerning the less expensive "Hybrid Heat kit" (for the Suburban retro-fit) is that it looks to replace the anode tube with a heating element. This seems counterproductive to the intended function of an anode tube...?
Looking for responses from actual installers. My Chinook is a 2001 Concourse with the typical OEM Suburban 6 gallon LP WH.
"Wanda" – '01 Chinook Concourse XL V10
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kdarling
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by kdarling »

Funny you should mention that. Apparently others wondered the same thing, and Camco now has available an extra cost replacement adapter with an anode piece attached:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-11645-Repl ... B016MXACRY

I'll be getting one for my Hybrid install, after I confirm our Suburban uses the 3/4" version. I'm pretty sure it does.

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Blue~Go
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by Blue~Go »

I can't speak to the add-an-element, but I think you're spot on with using electric while hooked up to a post. Even disregarding faster recovery time or etc.it's much more of a hassle to get a propane fill than just to use a bit more power. I would definitely go electric if that were my use case. I don't have one, but have read that some folks with the Suburban/Attwood combo unit even run them both together if desiring super fast re-heat (didn't even know you could do that, but then I heat my water on the stove or in the sun ;) )
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kdarling
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by kdarling »

HoosierB wrote: (she likes long, hot showers),
I just noticed this mission goal.

It almost cries out for a tankless solution, with its infinite hot water supply when hooked to city water.

Does anyone make a combo LP & electric tankless?
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HoosierB
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

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kdarling wrote: I just noticed this mission goal.

It almost cries out for a tankless solution, with its infinite hot water supply when hooked to city water.

Does anyone make a combo LP & electric tankless?
Yep... I've been looking for a tankless "LP/Electric combo" unit. Nothing so far. Maybe the european or Australian manufactures are making them for the "caravan" market (?).

I considered just adding a stand-alone electric tankless unit right at the bathroom water supply line location (inside the rear storage area). It would serve the bathroom only, but then that's the goal. The GFI outlet by the entry door looks like a candidate for a dedicated 110 connection, with a wall switch added.
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Scott
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by Scott »

HoosierB wrote:I considered just adding a stand-alone electric tankless unit right at the bathroom water supply line location (inside the rear storage area). It would serve the bathroom only, but then that's the goal. The GFI outlet by the entry door looks like a candidate for a dedicated 110 connection, with a wall switch added.
I like your free thinking, Hoosier. I've installed a few of the plug-in 110V tankless units for under-sink residential use, and in my experience, the performance is not all that great beyond a quick hand washing. I think showering wouldn't be a reality unless a slow trickle is tolerable. For an electric-only tankless unit to really work for showering, I'd want 240V and 30 amps, which is a ton of juice and not realistic for RVs, not to mention the size of the unit. The gas/electric hybrid design would probably be best.
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HoosierB
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by HoosierB »

Scott,
My research has been leading me in the same direction as your comment... low performance at 110V.
My current LP WH unit is original to my rig ('01), so I may just upgrade to the Suburban hybrid/combo (SW6DE).

...sorry baby...shorter showers... :twisted:
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HoosierB
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by HoosierB »

If one were to install a "dual WH" like the Suburban elec/lp combo (SW6DE), where would a good 110 connection on a 2001 Concourse be? Without ripping into the wall and fishing wire, the best I can come with at this point is an extension cord to the driver side upper cabinet 110 outlet by the mood light switch. I don't like that idea. Any "stealthier" suggestions?
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Blue~Go
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

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HoosierB wrote:If one were to install a "dual WH" like the Suburban elec/lp combo (SW6DE), where would a good 110 connection on a 2001 Concourse be? Without ripping into the wall and fishing wire, the best I can come with at this point is an extension cord to the driver side upper cabinet 110 outlet by the mood light switch. I don't like that idea. Any "stealthier" suggestions?
Hmm, let's think. Well, yeah, there is no AC wiring whatsoever below the long window on the driver's side (that is, forward of the brown box). It's all up in the chase above in the back of those cabinets. Which, that's a pet peeve of mine in RV's: Putting all the AC wiring up above so when you are plugged in your end up with cords draping all over the place. For that very reason I added a couple of lower outlets on the passenger side. But anyway, back to the driver's side....

So let me see what one of those draws, for starters.... (brb...)
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Blue~Go
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Re: Project- Adding Electric Element to Gas Water Heater

Post by Blue~Go »

... back. Okay, so the 6 gallon gas/electric Suburban draws 12 amps on AC power. Hmm, seems slightly undesirable to put that on the "outlets" circuit because you only have 15 amps to play with on that circuit (14 gauge wire) and basically anything else you plug in and run (except for the microwave) will be on that same circuit. Seems like maybe too much "power management"? But that's a matter of personal choice.

I can think of some stealthy ways to get a wire from the "outlets" circuit down there, but see above - maybe not desirable.

So what does that leave?

1) The charger circuit.... boo.
2) The Air-conditioner circuit (maybe? You'd have to only use one or the other, never both.)
3) The microwave circuit (same thing, one or the other, but maybe that's more manageable since you have to physically turn the microwave oven on, whereas the AC might come on at random intervals via the thermostat).

Or add a new circuit (although there's still a 30-amp maximum for the incoming service that Chinook installed).

If it were me I'd use the microwave circuit, but then I removed the microwave so that's too easy.

Thoughts based on your usage?
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