Quote:
Originally Posted by savery
Good info-thank you, but now I'm a little confused! I have an inside water heater switch, which I don't turn on until we are hooked up to water source. I was unaware of the switch by the heater itself. Is it ok to leave the by the heater switch on and not turn on inside switch until water is flowing or leave both offtil flowing?
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The outside switch on the water heater is for the electric heating element only and you get electric water heating only when connected to shore power or a generator.
The single inside switch for the water heater on the inside is for propane only and has no effect on the electric heating element.
Normally, the water heater will stay full of water, once it is filled (unless you intentionally drain it). So, it is really up to you whether or not you just want to leave the outside switch on all the time, and whether or not you want to check for flow through the water heater before you connect to shore power or a generator. Chances are 99% that the water heater will have water in it when you connect to shore power and nothing will get damaged. If you intentionally drain the water heater, you should definitely turn off the outside switch until it is filled again.
Since it is very convenient, before you turn the inside switch on if you want to use propane, I would always check for flow before turning it on. My water heater has two switches on the inside, one for the electric side and one for the propane side so it is very convenient for me to check for flow before turning either electric or propane on.