Most economic way to heat water. Propane or Electric

[Camperbust]

Hello all,

Just bought a 17' prowler lynx 30lx. Awesome unit so far, just wondering if anyone has experience or thoughts of the cheapest way to heat water when you have propane and electric water heater. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Camperbust,

Congratulations on the new Prowler and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

If you're asking about the efficiency of propane heated water vs electric heated water, I'm not sure there's a lot of difference. But maybe someone who knows precisely will chime in.

One notable difference is that when paying a campground daily rate it usually includes electric, regardless of how much electricity is used. So heating the water on electric costs nothing. Can't beat that.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Agree with Dan, Parks pays for your electricity and you pay for your propane. That's a no brainier for me.

Hope this helps
Jerrod

 

[justafordguy]

Congrats on your new Prowler.

Not sure I understand your question, Are you having to pay for the electricity where you camp? If so how much? Maybe with this info someone can answer this better.

 

[dlw930]

3412 btu per kilowatt hr (kWh)
92,000 btu per gallon of propane

Combustion of propane to useable heat isn't 100% efficient....guessing 80% in an RV water heater. So lose about 18,000 btu per gallon. 1 gal of propane is then the equivalent of 74,000 btu/3412 btu or 22 kWh. Electricity is assumed 100% efficient. Which one is the least cost (unless your electricity is included in the site cost as Dan mentioned) will depend on the price/gal of propane and the cost/kWh of electricity.

This winter, I was getting propane for $2/gal and paying $0.17 per kWh. $2/22 is $0.09 so propane was the cheaper way, by about half, to go based on the above assumptions. Your numbers will vary.


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[dave10a]

Hello all,

Just bought a 17' prowler lynx 30lx. Awesome unit so far, just wondering if anyone has experience or thoughts of the cheapest way to heat water when you have propane and electric water heater. Thanks in advance for the help.

Depends on the cost of electricity and propane.

 

[dlw930]

Depends on the cost of electricity and propane.

To simplify my earlier post, divide your cost per gallon of propane by 22. If the result is less than your cost/kWh of electricity, propane is cheaper to heat water with than electricity.


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[danemayer]

Don't forget to factor in the cost of medical treatment after schlepping a few tanks of propane back and forth.

 

[Camperbust]

Yes I pay for electricity. I want to say it's $.14 per kWh and I'm paying about $15 per 20lb tank of propane. I may just use electric for the simple fact I don't have to worry about propane as much. Thanks for the replies. I'm impressed with your knowledge on the subject.

 

[SLO]

Propane recovery period would be quicker than electric (electric is only 120v). But, electric is included in short stay campground. So if you're taking showers , one right after the other, I'd use propane. Usually in full hookups I have both on.


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[JohnD]

If I have electric I use it to heat the water.

If I want to heat up the water fast I'll use both gas and propane.

 

[Dean-Pam]

I agree with most of the comments provided as to which way to go. For those extended stays, we use propane, for short stays where electric is part of the daily charge, we go with electric.

The other thing you have to beware of when you are using electric, especially if you have 30amp service, you may trip the breaker if you have your A/C running, coffee pot, hairdryer and electric water heater (all equal more than 30 amps). You have to turn something off before you trip the breaker...ask me how I know.

 

[LBR]

I agree with most of the comments provided as to which way to go. For those extended stays, we use propane, for short stays where electric is part of the daily charge, we go with electric.

The other thing you have to beware of when you are using electric, especially if you have 30amp service, you may trip the breaker if you have your A/C running, coffee pot, hairdryer and electric water heater (all equal more than 30 amps). You have to turn something off before you trip the breaker...ask me how I know.

This is the residual beauty of having a hardwired EMS system that is on guard 24/7. I put 1 remote in the pass thru compartment for initial hookup viewing and the second one inside living room to monitor. I've recorded almost every 120V usage and which line that device or outlet is on that our Cyclone uses....A few listed below...

Hotwater heater...11 amps, line 1

Microwave.....15 amps, line 1

Both 1500 watt space heaters...On low, 7 amps, on high 12 amps

Vacumn...9 amps, line 1

Air compressor...11 amps, line 2

Refrigerator...11 amps, line 1

3 Air conditioners...with just fan - 2 amp, when cooling 12 amp...and which line each is on.

On the 12 volt side, the converter is on Line 1 and we can view the battery charging rate as it tapers back from first initial generator startup or 120 v plugin after depleting batteries ....somewhat effectively seeing the battery charge rate and then level of charge as converter tapers it's amp draw, if this make sense.

This is pertinent information for me, and again, is just an additional valuable resource to the hard working EMS, whether I am scrutinizing it or not.

 

[Bobby A]

Don't forget to factor in the cost of medical treatment after schlepping a few tanks of propane back and forth.

Good topic guys, we have been full timing for 7 years now and winter in Fl. a next door neighbor always used propane to heat his water, I would constantly see him removing his tanks to be filled. I kept asking him why don't you use your electric ?? I really didn't get a viable answer, I would suspect he thought it was cheaper. Well, after loading and unloading those heavy tanks and the cost of gas it takes to drive to get your propane (our park hear in Fl. doesn't have a fill station) so to drive a few miles and back. Needless to say our neighbor is now using his electric to heat his water. I don't know about you guys, but I hate to have to remove my tanks to get them filled !! I may have to do it maybe 3 or 4 times a year max. JMHO !!

 

[TravelTiger]

I know this isn't an "economic" answer, but to me, I'd rather not have an appliance that runs on an open flame in use all the time. (The furnace is enough for me, and that is seasonal!) We run the fridge and WH on electric. No gas stove, either.

As Frankenstein says, "Fire Bad!"


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[dlw930]

I know this isn't an "economic" answer, but to me, I'd rather not have an appliance that runs on an open flame in use all the time. (The furnace is enough for me, and that is seasonal!) We run the fridge and WH on electric. No gas stove, either.

As Frankenstein says, "Fire Bad!"


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Some things are more important than dollars and cents!


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[JohnDar]

We run our water heater on electric all summer (and we pay for electric monthly). The only time I fire up the propane is to get a faster recovery.

 

[truckmen]

Hi all!

I seem to have inadvertently started another thread along the same lines as this one.

Very informative and this has clarified my query. I'm running electric when possible, and propane when needed to hurry up the recovery when we have guests aboard.

Ralph

 

[For20hunter]

Well that all depends. If you're paying for both electric and the gas, then the propane is more efficient generally. However if you were staying at a park and do not pay electrical costs then obviously electric is far cheaper.

Rod