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kdrtk
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 10:29am
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Is anyone using an electric water heater powered by generator for occasional hot water? I was talking to someone that does that for their deer camp. A more detailed question, would there be any issue with running a 110 volt 1500 watt water heating element, with a 110 volt 2500 watt generator? Thanks
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Cowracer
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 10:48am
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Bear in mind that some generators 'wattage' is listed in peak output that it can only supply for a short time. Make sure your genny is rated for 2500 continuous watts.
Other than that, there shouldn't be any issues with that generator setup. There is no big 'inrush' current with an induction heating element like you would see starting a motor.
Tim
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 12:04pm
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It's a resistive load which is murder on generators. Plus, the time to heat the water and keep it hot would be a huge factor. Electric tanks are that good on recovery and aren't to efficient to start with. There's plenty of tankless hot water heater that would run on propane that would be a better alternative. the Ecotemp water heaters are great. many threads here on them and perfect for a deer camp.
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Steve_S
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 12:44pm
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I second Huey on the Propane Model. They are available with a battery to power it's electronics (on/off switch & temp sensor) and there are manual ones but I'm not sure on how temps are handled by that.
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kdrtk
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 01:00pm
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Thank You for the replies so far. I do want to hear from anyone that is doing this.
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cman47c
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 03:11pm
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When my power goes out, I have used my generator many times to heat my water, but with a 2500W element in a 50 gallon water heater. As long as the generator continuous rating is higher than the element rating it should not be a problem as the resistive load should be easily handled. What I can say is that running the generator for half hour usually heats up the water fine and it stays warm for 12-24 hours depending on how much water is used. With a 1500W element, depending on the size of the water heater, it may take longer to heat the water.
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skootamattaschmidty
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 03:25pm
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My father in law had a small two gallon electric hot water sititing around he gave me, thinking it would be neat to have at the cabin. I'm not sure the actual wattage but because of the size I'm guessing 1500 watt. It ran with my Honda eu 3000 no problem and heated fairly quickly. It was okay to have when I ran the generator to charge the battery but was too small to take a shower with. The eccotemp L 10 we have is way better. I still have the unit and thought it might be neat to use in the winter for heating water but at the end of the day, just as easy to heat water on the stove. At the end of the day I think it will work for you, just not as efficient as other choices out there. If my unit was five gallons it would have been better.
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kdrtk
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# Posted: 2 Jul 2015 04:04pm
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The last two posts are very helpful. Thanks. I was sniffing around some more and see some people are replacing non-working propane water heaters in their travel trailers with 6 gallon point of use electric water heaters. This may be an option for me. Appreciate anyone else using the Generator to chime in.
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