All Electric Or Standard Propane/Diesel

[DerkJohnGetkate]

When purchasing new motorhome which is the better-- all electric or standard propane/diesel e.g.for aqua hot, heating /cooking and maintenance.

[kaypsmith]

A lot depends on what part of the country you are in, and will be doing most of your traveling. Also on your age group, what living habits you are accustomed to, along with many other variables.

Best way to get an honest opinion from others is to list what you are looking for and to do with your investment.

Like full timing, or weekends and a couple weeks at a time a few times a year. While aqua-hot is wonderful for heat and hot water, there is yearly maintenance that must be done to keep the system functioning properly, and many other items that will need to be dealt with on a more personal basis.

I notice that this is your first post, so WELCOME to the forum and many happy trails.

Kay

[tbutler]

As Kay says, it depends on your use and preferences.  We use electric for most everything except water heating and cooking.  There are electric options for these that work well but it is nice to have propane on board for our use.  Cooking however almost always needs some electric, microwave or coffee pot.  We use our generator liberally, charging batteries, watching TV, etc.  I know nothing about Aqua Hot, that is a high priced option and from what I read, a high maintenance.  Our propane furnace has been relative reliable and gives us the typical "furnace" heat that Louise likes.  She can stand in front of the vent by the sink and have nice warm feet!  We can get by with the heat pumps and use them for mild cool weather but for cold weather there is nothing like the heat from the furnace (or the warm floors of the Aqua Hot).  If your use is casual, I'd include propane and avoid the high cost and high maintenance of all electric.  If you are serious about spending lots of time in the coach and the Mrs. likes to be warm, well, she rules!  Louise considered roughing it as a night in a Holiday Inn so I did the best I could afford to give her comfort in the motor home and she loves it.  I'm happy and she is happy.

[jleamont]

I concur with the two posts above, it really is personal preference, let me explain our situation maybe it will help, we use ours casually, not full time (14 weekends per year and 2-3 solid weeks per year, I am still employed full time). I just switched our over to all electric or Diesel. Originally our coach came with Aqua hot (electric heated, diesel fired heat and motor aid) Propane cook top and gas/electric refrigerator. The refrigerator died and tried to take us with it so I switched to residential refrigerator. Now the only thing I had for the large propane tank was the cook top, we didn't use it much as it heats up the interior of the coach and we primary use the coach in the summer months for long weekends and for vacations so that wasn't welcome. I switched out the cooktop to induction electric (which we love), and the next step is to remove the propane tank. I wanted a coach with two furnaces and a standard hot water heater so I could remove the HW heater and change it over to tankless propane (I swapped this out in our first coach and loved it). The coach we have now my DW located it used in May of 2014, since it had the Aqua Hot which can be run on electric or diesel and functions like a tankless (endless hot water) I was good with it but scared of it also (fear of the unknown). I was told years ago with the last coach "first cold shower I take this coach is out of here", she likes long hot showers! Since this is coach #2 and we have had it both ways here is what I perceive as pros and con

Aqua Hot pros; I like when I arrive at a CG I have hot water/interior heat already if needed, same if cold outside and I am driving down the road, it has coolant lines from the engine routed through it so its always hot and ready to go. The heater registers are like little radiators with small computer type fans behind each, so while in operation they are very quiet, this works well for the DW she is a light sleeper. We do not run the coach often while it is cold, this is why a standard furnace wouldn't be a much of a problem, just use portable electric heaters. I would have had to switch over to a tankless HW heater if not for the Aqua Hot.

We get heat and hot water from three sources with an Aqua Hot;

1, engine heat

2, electric heating element

3, diesel fired burner.

Aqua Hot Cons; routine maintenance is much more often than a propane furnace or propane HW heater, authorized service facilities can be hard to find (none where I live). I do this myself so the annual maintenance is 1 hour a year and $35.00 in parts, this year it had a few minor problems discovered while apart for maintenance so it cost me an additional $300.00 in parts.

We NEVER vacation without full hookups, so between the generator/inverter and Campgrounds we always have what is needed to run everything in the coach. I am not a fan of gas/electric refrigerators since the nearly avoided disaster in 2014 with ours. I didn't like the propane cooktop either, it stunk up the interior and produced excessive amounts of cabin heat the A/C units couldn't keep up with. Propane furnaces are fairly simple but they are noisy when the blower comes on in the middle of the night, I sleep through it my DW jumps up in bed, she didn't get much sleep in the last coach if it was cold out, I started to run portable electric heaters towards the end. The oven and microwave combination are already electric, so when it came to cooking I found myself running the generator anyway for that and the A/C units on the roof if we were between Point A and Point B along the road stopping for a meal, so all electric really had no impact. Due to the way we travel it works for us.

 

[wayne77590]

I also have hot water when we arrive at a camp ground and about 50 miles down the highway when we depart. I don't have the AquaHot, but I do have the Motoraid Water Heater. "The Motoraid uses heat from the chassis engine cooling system to heat water in the water heater while driving. Hoses are routed from the engine to the heat exchanger surrounding the water heater tank"

I personally would opt for the Motoraid instead of the AquaHot because:  I have basement AC/Heatpump. In the temperate climates it has worked very well but it is augmented by the propane furnace. If there is a great temperature difference the furnace and heatpump are activated until there is a temperature balance and the furnace goes off and the heat pump continues. Should the AC/Heatpump fail, I have the propane furnace to continue to keep us toastie. 

The unfortunate side is that when purchasing a new motorhome, one may not have a choice without expense on removing or adding an item. A lot of the newer MH's come prebuilt with the AquaHot.

[five]

Any diesel powered coach will have hot water from the engine.  We even had a 27 HP Yanmar in a boat...made lots of hot water.  Getting back to the original question...we are on RV number six, and the first that is all electric.  I can't see going back to a propane stove, propane/elect refer, propane or elect water heater, etc.  All electric is great, Aqua Hot for heat and hot water, residential refer and an  induction stove...no more blowing 10 A fuses on the absorption refer.  I'll never go back.

[wolfe10]

Actually, while motor-aid is  a great feature in an RV water heater, there are a number of motorhomes that do not have that feature.

Most RV water heaters are propane (unless all electric coach/aqua hot or alternative coach).

Some are also 120 VAC.

Some are also motor-aid.

And others have aqua-hot or alternative.

So, you can have multiple options for heating water.

[wildebill308]

I am one of those who doesn't have motor-aid, Aqua Hot or 120 side of the hot water heater. I have the old fashioned propane stove and furnace. I have an old style propane electric refrigerator. I had hot water in the tank and ice cubes in the freezer when I got to my campground last week. I will change out the refrigerator if it goes bad with a residential.  I think it's great that they make all electric coaches. But they are not for everyone. They work great is you have full hookups with 50 amp service all the time.  Yes all electric coaches are different but not necessarily better for everyone.

Bill

[jleamont]

Bill, I agree with your post. If we boondocked often I would either have a coach with mostly propane and solar on the roof. It works for us but could be a concern for others.

[wildebill308]

Just trying to point out that not everyone camps the same. You have to understand the limitations of both kinds of coach.  I can remember camping where if you couldn’t start a fire you didn’t have a hot supper.

Bill

 

 

 

[crl]

It all depends, on your life style, We are full-timers.& we have a  all electric coach, We have been  boondocking 210 day since, 8-1-2015. Have no LP Gas  & will not go back to LP. That is just the way we like to live.

C&SL

2005 Monaco Sig.

[Sundancer268]

Personally, My wife will not give up her Propane Stove and Oven even though we have the Micro wave convection oven, she made me replace the cook top for a real stove as she put it.  We also have not had any major problems with the Reefer in any of our campers over the years.  I know people have had problems and maybe we are just lucky but until that time we will stay as a mixed camper on our power sources.

[chuckftboy]

While an all electric coach is fine for many it wouldn't work well for us. I love to grill out and have a hose from my LP tank to my grill. Stays hooked up as soon as we arrive until we leave. I need that big LP tank. Since we live in Florida and are warm weather travelers, our 10 gal. water heater works fine on electric, or LP if we only have 30 amps available. Duel heat pumps is almost all the heat we ever use and we seldom cook inside but when we do, gas is very fast and a great way to cook. I like my LP

[kimmi]

We are first timers and have had our all electric coach for a year and a half.  I was concerned with having to use propane to heat the coach and cook with so we opted for an all electric coach. I had them put in an induction cook top to replace the all electric one. We have the oasis heating system, which works well for the four of us to take showers and keep warm. When we boondocks, we run the generator for the ac and to charge the batteries. I would like to install solar panels, but will have to figure out best system for us first.