water heater: how long does it take to heat the water before it is hot

[Lou Placentia]

We are going camping next week were it is cold. Once I fill the water heater with water and turn the water heater switch on, how long does it take to heat the water before it is hot.
I am asking this because I was trying it today and I can hear the heater working but after a few minutes the water was still cold.

[prairieschooner]

more info needed.... year of coach, type/size water heater, voltage..

[Lou Placentia]

1989 Newell with a 20 gal water heater.

[prairieschooner]

I expect that it would be a Raritan, 20 Gallon 120 Volts AC. Someone else may need to help with this. I had a Raritan and when it started leaking I chose to install a 6 Gallon Seaward from West Marine 5 years ago, simply due to cost.
*It takes ours about 20 minutes before we start taking showers. We do a fair share of Dry-Camping so I have set our coach up to not use allot of water.

If you hear the water heater working, there may be a problem. I would suggest that you look at the Amp Meter after before and after turning the water heater. Ours has a 1,500 Watt Heater or (1,500 Watts/120 Volts = 12.5 Amps.

[NewellCrazy]

It may take up to 30 min. to get the water heated to the point where the thermostat shuts off.

[folivier]

I have the same Raritan 20 gal. model. It comes with a 1250 watt element. Pretty anemic and slow. In March when my element burned out I called Raritan and they said it is a standard element. I went to Lowe's and bought a 1500 and 2000 watt. I installed the 2000 watt and it make a great difference. It heats almost twice as fast, really saving on generator time if dry camping. And we haven't been able to run out of hot water when taking long showers.
Something also interesting is they also said you could convert it to a 240V unit by changing the element and your wiring to 240V.

[prairieschooner]

I you go from 1250 watt to 2000 you should check the wire size and circuit breaker. (1250 watts / 120 volts = 10.4 amps and then 2000 watts / 120 volts = 16.7 Amps but hey if you only have say 110 volts... 2000 / 110 = 18 amps! with a difference of 8 amps it could be an issue.

[The Newell]

Remember, you don't get instant hot water it can take up to an hour. It doesn't heat any faster than the same amount of water would heating it in a pot on the stove.