Hot Water Heater size

tljack

Well-known member
I own a 2013 Heartland Road Warrior. When I bought it I was told it has a 20 gallon hot water heater. the brochure say the same. I just looked at the specs on this site and it also agrees. My question is this: Why does the tag on the unit say it is 10 gallons?
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
On the Heartland site, under the "standards & options" tab, it shows the water heater as 20gals/hr. This might be the recovery rate. I'd believe the 10 gallon capacity tag.
Ours is a 12 gallon and we've never run out of hot water under normal circumstances.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
If you need a faster recovery time.....run it on gas and electric. Ours is a 10 gal and we can take showers back to back. NO, and thats not the back to back you are thinking. We would not both fit in shower at the same time.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Didn't HL go to the Atwood water heaters recently? They have a 20 gallon marine unit, but Suburban does not. Could be whoever does the copy editing for the catalog/website got it wrong.
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
I read somewhere that HL went from the 12 gallon WH to the 10 gallon because of the better recovery time. The Atwood also has no anode rod, so one more routine maintenance item has been removed.
 

tljack

Well-known member
Thank you everyone for your replies. They make sense. So far we have not been lacking for hot water

Terry
 
I have the same issue on my 2012 Big Country. Standards and options on their website says 20 gallon, the tag on mine say 10 gal. Very misleading of them.
I have a call into a David in tech support.
I had La Mesa RV call yesterday and his answer (if you believe this) is that there is 10 gallons of water in the lines. That 20 gallon spec includes the lines.
Impossible!!
I'm pushing the issue unless someone out there knows something to convince me this is a losing battle.
Thanks all.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi birdistheword,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. I hope you're enjoying your BC.

Obviously the 20 gal notation is a marketing statement intended to convey the information that this water heater produces the same amount of hot water as a normal 20 gallon tank because of the faster recovery. Alternatively, you could look for a tank that holds an actual 20 gallons of water, but has a slower recovery, also providing 20 gallons per hour of hot water. The alternative wastes space, wastes energy keeping twice as much water hot all the time, and adds weight and towing expense.

Most people just want to take a hot shower. And if you get twice as much hot water, do you really want the bigger, heavier, wasteful solution?
 
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