Girard Tankless Hot Water

[Rvcamper]

Update...after 9 weeks. I have my Forest River Wildcat home. New 10 gallon conventional water heater. Thank you thank you Tom Johnson Camping Center. Special thanks to Gary Stroud for making it all happen.

[Bruce H.]

Just returned from a Lance Owners of America rally and was surprised by an exhibit by one of the vendors: a second generation Girard tankless water heater that incorporates a gas modulation control dial!

I took a pic of the dial and played with it. It doesn't have any indents, but rather has a smooth rotation from Low (18,000 BTU) to High (36,000 BTU). I also took a pic of the instructions that, on new installed units, will hang from from the gas modulation dial. Apparently one adjusts the temperature with the dial when setting up camp in a new campsite, and it should be good for the duration of the stay. The unit is said to have a range of increasing the temp of incoming water from 20 to 70 degrees.

I think this gas modulation valve will solve a lot of the issues we have had with the first generation, but I am looking forward to what Lady Fitz... and others have to say about it.

Bruce H.

[Bruce H.]

Second try to post pics:

[LadyFitz...]

That new valve has possibilities but I would prefer to wait for actual user reports after the problems Girard has had with their water heaters. I also would prefer a water heater that had an automatically adjusted modulation valve that didn't require user intervention and would allow blending hot and cold water (the RV500, for example). It's curious that Girard is now advocating blending hot and cold water.

For several months, the release of Atwood's two new tankless water heaters (developed in conjunction with Precision Temp, makers of the RV 500) had been delayed supposedly due to a parts acquisition issue. Vendors were taking preorders. I just did a quick check and apparently the Atwoods have been released because the vendors I checked are no longer listing them as a preorder. Prices ranged from PPL being the lowest and Camping World the highest (big surprise). There is only around a $40-$45 price difference between the 45k BTU and the 50k BTU units plus the bigger one also has freeze protection so it would make more sense to get the bigger one.

The Atwoods are less expensive than the RV500 and will fit in a space designed to hold a six gallon tank type water heater. The RV500 is advertised as needing the space taken up by a ten gallon tank type water heater although it is possible that a bit of surgery might allow one to shoe horn it into a smaller space.

[jrnert]

The New Girard GSWH-1M Tankless Water Heater was introduced to the RV OEMs in May 2012 and the OEMs began installing it in July.
It was released to the RV aftermarket this month (September 2012).
Field testing by End Users has been very favorable.

Girard has also released 2 new Operation Videos:
- GSWH-1 (1st generation with Mode Switch)
- GSWH-1M (2nd generation with Dial).

Videos and product information on all the above are available at:
www.greenrvproducts.com
Then go to OPERATING TIPS icon (currently the icon is listed as "809" due to a programing issue and current web site updating).
Choose either:
-GSWH-1
-GSWH-1M

[carrollander]

We just bought a new 2012 wildcat sterling edition and we're having same problem with the tankless hot water heater.I looked at the little pamphlet that just says to increase flow to cool down Not True at least not with ours.It is so hot can not stand under it.I have switched from auto to low makes no difference.

[Mplawrence]

We got Forest River to agree to have our local dealer, Coopers RV, Delmont, Pa, to replace our Girard system with a conventional hot water heater. The dealer installed a six gallon propane heater! Not electric and propane! I could scream for not specifying exactly what we wanted. I am sure that was not standard operating equipment in the Wildcat 302L. Now Forest River says our Wildcat, bought in January 2012, is not framed for the 10-gallon electric/propane quick recovery tank they are installing now. Only a six gallon will fit. We are now DEMANDING an electric/propane hot water heater. Waiting for a call back from Forest River. Ugh! I regret the day we bought that tankless hot water heater!
Mary

[Bruce H.]

I posted earlier about the Girard 2nd generation tankless heater that I saw at the Lance Owners of America rally. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the simplicity of the user determining the temperature of the water simply by turning the knob of a rheostat, which in turns controls a gas modulation valve and the amount of heat produced by the burner. So I went ahead and purchased one and installed it myself last week.

Installation was straightforward and simple. The 2nd generation uses the same flange and housing as the first, so everything fit perfectly. Even the screw holes lined up. Re-used the same door, which also fit perfectly.

We camped this last weekend and tried it out. Let me say at the outset that I think Girard has hit a home run with this 2nd generation tankless heater. The gas modulation control is very effective. The incoming water temperature was 78° and at the lowest setting it raised it to 102°. Girard now states that cold water can be gradually mixed with the hot to lower the temp, and by doing that I was able to easily reduce the temp to 97°, a gain of only 19 degrees. This ability to produce low temps should end the problems we had with too-high summer water temperatures.

On the high end, Girard literature states that the maximum temp is 131°. The unit started limiting (cycling) when it reached 133°, so I was not able to determine the maximum temperature rise. I don't anticipate a problem, though, since the 1st generation heater produced plentiful hot water last January and February when camping in the Sierra foothills.

Another thing that really impressed me was how well the new tankless heater held a constant temperature. My digital thermometer reads in 0.2° increments and I repeatedly observed that the fluctuation was within one degree, which is really excellent.

Our five-year-old grandson camped with us. It was so nice to be able to set the gas modulation control dial to its lowest setting and know that there was no chance of him being scalded when he washed his hands. When grandma and grandpa wanted to shower, we just dialed in more heat.

Here is a pic of the gas modulation control dial installed where the mode switch was:


If you have any questions, just ask.

Bruce

[Bruce H.]

Originally Posted by carrollander

It is so hot can not stand under it.I have switched from auto to low makes no difference.

You might try two things:

1. Get a kitchen digital thermometer and measure the temperature of the water with the hot water valve all the way open. You should see a significant difference between auto and low. My trailer had the mode switch miswired and there was no difference; the factory (Lance) did a recall and had local dealers correct the wiring problem. It is possible that your trailer, even though from a different manufacturer, may have a miswired mode switch.

2. Did your trailer come with the Oxygenics shower head? That shower head is too restrictive and doesn't allow enough water flow. When I contacted Girard they instructed me to replace it with a conventional shower head. I got an inexpensive AquaSource head from Lowes and removed the flow restrictor. Improved flow and reduced temps 10 degrees from the Oxygenics shower head.

Good Luck.

Bruce

[tippster]

After several complaints our dealer replaced our first gen Girard tankless with the new second gen Girard with the adjustable temp. After camping with this unit twice so far I have to say i'm impressed. I now have good temp control. My wife likes a hot shower, me not so much. Once I found out what temp she liked, I set the dial there, and when I used it I was able to add enough cold water to bring the temp down to my liking. When I added cold water to the shower the heater never cycled, which was a real problem with the first gen units. Temp stayed stable entire time. Water temp out of the tank was 57*. I was able to put the restrictors back into the shower head ( Oxygenics ) to lower the flow to aid in water conservation during the times when we dry camp. The real test will be in the summer when the water in our tank gets up to around 80*.

[carrollander]

We also have the girard thankless heater the only way we can use it is by turning hot water on in sink also to be able to stand under shower. We've only had this camper a couple month and have used it 2 times a week both times.We are not happy with this hot water system. 2012 Wildcat Sterling Edition

Carroll Anderson

[carrollander]

I checked like you suggested there was no difference in auto and low thanks for your help

Carroll

[jrnert]

Carroll,

Call Girard Products Technical Support at 866-559-1221 (7:30AM - 4PM PST) or take it to your dealer and have them call Girard Tech Support

[1200bruce]

Originally Posted by Bruce H.

I posted earlier about the Girard 2nd generation tankless heater that I saw at the Lance Owners of America rally. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the simplicity of the user determining the temperature of the water simply by turning the knob of a rheostat, which in turns controls a gas modulation valve and the amount of heat produced by the burner. So I went ahead and purchased one and installed it myself last week.

Installation was straightforward and simple. The 2nd generation uses the same flange and housing as the first, so everything fit perfectly. Even the screw holes lined up. Re-used the same door, which also fit perfectly.

We camped this last weekend and tried it out. Let me say at the outset that I think Girard has hit a home run with this 2nd generation tankless heater. The gas modulation control is very effective. The incoming water temperature was 78° and at the lowest setting it raised it to 102°. Girard now states that cold water can be gradually mixed with the hot to lower the temp, and by doing that I was able to easily reduce the temp to 97°, a gain of only 19 degrees. This ability to produce low temps should end the problems we had with too-high summer water temperatures.

On the high end, Girard literature states that the maximum temp is 131°. The unit started limiting (cycling) when it reached 133°, so I was not able to determine the maximum temperature rise. I don't anticipate a problem, though, since the 1st generation heater produced plentiful hot water last January and February when camping in the Sierra foothills.

Another thing that really impressed me was how well the new tankless heater held a constant temperature. My digital thermometer reads in 0.2° increments and I repeatedly observed that the fluctuation was within one degree, which is really excellent.

Our five-year-old grandson camped with us. It was so nice to be able to set the gas modulation control dial to its lowest setting and know that there was no chance of him being scalded when he washed his hands. When grandma and grandpa wanted to shower, we just dialed in more heat.

Here is a pic of the gas modulation control dial installed where the mode switch was:


If you have any questions, just ask.

Bruce

A Bruce to the rescue!