Water Heater Noise

[exav8tr]

I have recently started hearing , what seems to be, the water heater heating water. I use the elec mostly and started hearing this the other night. It sounds like coil is heating up and heating the water. When I turn elec off the sound goes away. Should I be concerned? Anyone have this problem or noise?????

Thanks for replies....

[prariepoodle]

pparamore, I do hear the same noise when my water heater is heating up the water While on electric but when it gets hot it will stop on mine. I have become so use to it that I do not even notice it.

[Montana Sky]

Mine does the same thing, once the water gets to its preset temp the heater will kick off.

[snfexpress]

I would suggest that the heating element has some pits (indentations) in it. This will cause a "spitting" noise that can be quite annoying, at times. Your only solution, if this is the problem, is to replace the heating element.

On edit, I want to say that it is not a big deal to replace the element. I replaced one on an '04 Big Sky that pulled into a CG in Michigan. This fellow had never owned a 5er before and had nothing - I mean nothing. No blocks, no hoses, nothing. I took pity on him and helped him get set up and leveled. Then, when his water heater wouldn't heat the water, we decided it was the element. The hardest part of removal and replacement was getting the socket. Anyway, after a few moments and some teflon tape, all was good with the world.

[mtpocket2]

Mine has done it since new.

[49merc]

Ours has always made a noise while heating. As long as it is heating I wouldn't worry about it.
Bob

[Driftwoodgal]

I heard a noise the last time we were camping and walked around the trailer to see what it was. It was the hot water tank heating up, sounding just like the one in our house. We always keep our heater on electricity so I am not sure if it makes the same noise on gas or not.

[ronnilu]

None of my previous RV's ever made such a noise, then with the Montana I just knew it had a problem. Even when told by the dealer that it was not unusual I still had my doubts. I change the annode AND
drain/flush on a regular basis and have had no problems, and the noise is still there. After awhile I figured that it was just the element heating the water and accepted it. Oh yeah, I did have one little problem, one time, but heck, most of us need the experience of replacing the element after turning the water heater on with no water in it. Come to think of it, that was the one time I didn't hear that noise! mike

[muddflapp]

You all say that you run your water heater on electric. How do you do this? Is that what the switch is for with the pin going through it in the water heater access compartment. Why doesn't Keystone say it is an AC / propane water heater the way they say the Dometic refrigerator is. Other than the noise that you are saying that you hear, is the electric heating of the water as effecient as propane or does it take longer to recover and heat water on electric. Being hooked up to electricity and being in cold weather, I would much rather save my propane for heating the Monty. I also use electric heaters to heat the Monty with also.

[bncinwv]

muddflapp,
You are correct, we use the electric at all times possible to save propane (learned this from this forum after going through two tanks of propane in three days....another story). You can always supplement the electric with propane for faster heating times for back-to-back-to-back-to-back showers. That would be me, DW and two DD's. Just remember to have the tank full of water before flipping hte outside switch and to turn the switch off before draining as Mike has stated.
Bingo

[HamRad]

Muddflapp,

Yes! That is exactly what it is. Just make sure you have water in the heater before you try heating it with the electric element. And it does take a little longer to heat via the electric element than the propane. But if your electric is included in your cost then save your propane and use only the electric. A lot of us will use both when we want a really quick recovery. Only took us about a year before we realized we, too, had electric as well as propane! Another DUH moment!

HamRad

[muddflapp]

One more question about using the electric and then using propane for back to back to back showers. Do you leave the heater switch inside the Monty on at all times and this results in the propane taking over from the electric heating. Or, do you go out and turn off the electric switch, then turn on the heater switch inside the Monty to go on propane. I guess what I really want to know, can both switches be on at the same time or do you have to pick your source and only have one switch on at a time. Hope you are understanding my question?

[EagleRunner]

Mudflapp,

I use the electric when hooked up. I only supplement using the propane if we have back-to-back showers. The propane will accelerate the water heating when used with the electric. The rest of the time, I turn off the inside propane switch and leave the electric to do the water heating.

I hope this helps.

Tom

[snfexpress]

In other words, to answer your question: yes, you can have both sources of power (electric and propane) heating water at the same time.

We have the Oxygenics Body Spa showr head which reduce water flow while increasing pressure. We love this shower head. We still, however, on occasion, want to use both sources of energy to increase the amount of hot water we want to use while taking a shower.

[sreigle]

Mudflapp, we leave the electric switch on the tank turned on all the time. I find it a pain to turn that one on and off. Instead, we use the breaker inside the Montana to turn the electric element on or off. We seldom need to use this breaker as we leave it on electric nearly all the time. The exception is when on a 30 amp connection and we need to run the air conditioner, washer, dryer, and some other things. Then the water heater gets switched to propane.

I've been told using the breaker will shorten the life of the breaker switch. I've also been told it's tripping of a breaker that weakens it, not turning it on and off like a switch. I choose to believe the latter and have had no problems with that breaker.

Last, the propane and electric heating elements each have their own thermostat. As with many things, the settings on those thermostats can vary. On our prior Montana, the propane side got the water hotter. On this Montana, the electric side gets it hotter. So, if you are not satisified with the water temperature at the farthest location from the heater, try using the other heating element. Or turn both propane and electric on.

[bncinwv]

Ditto Tom (Eaglerunner), my procedure exactly, that and try to take a quick shower first, then get out of the way of the women!!!!
Bingo