A return to boondocking brought a reminder that I needed to deal with my hot water situation by doing one of two things:

1) installing a showerhead with a shut off switch or;

2) lowering the temperature on the water heater

The water gets to be so hot that I have to mix it with cold when I shower. That is impractical when boondocking; by the time I get the mix just right each time I turn the water on and off again, I might as well just leave it on!

One morning, the hot water ignition malfunctioned and the heater didn’t start. I got it going but, since I was spending the day away from the rig, I decided to shut it off once the water was heated just in case the ignition failed again.

I forgot that the heater was off.

The water was still so hot by dinner time that I didn’t even notice that the hot water wasn’t fresh when I did the dishes.

Several hours after that, I went for my shower and discovered that the water coming out of the hot water faucet at full blast was exactly the right temperature!

So, I now turn the water heater on only once a day instead of leaving it on all the time. Even if a whole day goes by without my remembering to turn on the heater, it takes only about five minutes for the water to warm up enough for a shower.

In terms of energy savings, ie. propane, this trick is really negligible. But in terms of grey tank space saving, it’s huge! I just learned that I can only go five days on my tank when I don’t watch how much water I’m using. 🙂