I'm of the opinion that the water heater should have a pilot light, and is the only thing on the RV that needs it. The rest can run sparkers, but the hot water is best with the pilot. This is because that way you will always have pretty warm water at the hot water tap without very much expense at all. I'm not really willing to give up that convenience.
You may say, why not go electric? There are reasons. Cost of course but disregarding that, as it's true that campground hookups are unmetered, there is the whole issue of sizing your water heater to your shower time. Yes you can install a bigger unit, or two of them but why do that if you don't have to? A typical RV shower will work acceptably well with a 5 gallon heater, but if you want to extend your shower time you can do that by adding an electric element to the propane burner and firing up both before your shower. Now here is where the pilot control helps. Say you've been out all day with just the pilot lit. You want a shower so you flick on the switch for the electric element and turn the gas control from pilot to on. You already have pretty warm water so by the time you can finish a beer the main burner has shut off and your shower is ready. Shortly after starting your shower the main burner will come back on, Meanwhile the electric element is also heating water. So you now have maybe 50% more shower time than before, with the same 5 gallon water heater.
I like that. I especially like always having warm water for washing hands or doing dishes and only having to turn the hot water tap to get it. Or if you are boondocking you can use only the propane to cut back on water usage by taking shorter showers and there is no drain on the batteries.
Jim
