Community Forums

mihiggie62 · 07-08-2014, 04:57 AM

The Bounder I purchased has a hole in the tamk. It's a Atwood GC 10A-4E. Going to replace the whole thing with a new unit until I saw Atwwod makes an On Demand water heater. Any feedback on the positive or negative aspects of this? Since I have to replace the unit would it be wise to just upgrade to On Demand?

94-Newmar · 07-08-2014, 05:28 AM

I have no experience with the Atwood tankless. I have installed numerous Girard tankless units: Girard Water Heater - Girard Products, LLC | Tankless RV Water Heater | On Demand RV Water Heaters | Endless Hot Water RV | Instant Flow RV Water Heaters | LP Gas Tankless RV Water Heater | Induced Draft Tankless Water Heater and have been very pleased with their operation and output, fully adjustable output water temp. Another popular product is: RV-500 Tankless Water Heater - PrecisionTemp although I've not installed one of these and have no experience with them. Search through these forums and others and I'm sure you'll find numerous reviews on either.

Personally I think tankless is the way to go. Propane usage, contrary to popular belief, is the same or less than when using a 6 or 10 gallon storage heater. My only complaint with tankless is that the water flow rate and pressure affects the output temp substantially - especially when using your water pump and not hooked to a city/shore water source. For instance.. if you're in the shower and someone uses the kitchen sink, the flow rate overall slows down and the water temperature can become scalding hot quickly. Just something to keep in mind, however there are no negatives that would prevent me from upgrading mine once the OEM Atwood water heater has finally made it to it's end of service life.

pagosajoe · 07-08-2014, 08:35 AM

Just a data point to consider - we recently had to have an RV service tech repair our two year old Atwood water heater to remove the mixer/check valve. He metioned the tankless heater, saying that he had replacead many conventional units with the tankless heaters. He said he had replaced the Atwood conventional with a tankless in his own RV, and loved it.

We considered the tankless unit, however, the exterior door was of a different size/shape, and the appearance of our motor home would have suffered. Nonetheless, should our heater eventually succumb to failure, the tankless unit would be our first choice.

YMMV....

mihiggie62 · 07-08-2014, 06:20 PM

Thanks for the input. Decided to go with the tank less. Will let you know how it works out. Thanks again>

mihiggie62 · 09-17-2014, 07:08 PM

Tank less swap went OK but had some issues with keeping it working. There is a small tube that is a air pressure sensor and if anything gets in it the heater will start but not the burner. Took a couple of visits from my installer and his calls to the company to sort it out. Works fine now and can't wait to really hit the road next year.