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Old 08-20-2016, 09:59 PM   #1
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tankless propane water heater question

I'm considering going tank less for my hot water in my RV. It seems to me to be a constant drain on whichever heat source I choose to constantly be maintaining a tank of hot water on the off chance that I might want to use it. I realize that it is switchable but I don't usually think that far ahead. anyone who has gone the tank less route and would care to share their preferences and reasons would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Phil
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Old 08-20-2016, 10:35 PM   #2
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tankless propane water heater question

Plan around having it on all the time. I turn mine on at night for dishes and my shower. If it isn't cold I've gone 5 months without a refill of propane. No clue how much gas you would use if it were on all the time...

I've read tankless don't work as well as we are lead too believe. Look up some articles...

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Old 08-20-2016, 10:49 PM   #3
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We have tankless in both the house and the motorhome. Really like the quick availability and nearly endless hot water. The propane use is minimal.
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Old 08-20-2016, 10:51 PM   #4
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Our Winnebago Era 70C has the Alde 3010 tankless waterheater/hydronic heat. Works well, quiet, and does not use a lot of propane. Plenty of hot water. Not sure how hard/easy it would be to reftofit.

Truma Aqua-Go is another tankless water heater used in Winebago Travato. They make a retrofit unit specifically to replace the traditional 6-10 gallon RV water heater.

https://www.truma.com/us/en/press-ev...ma-aqua-go.php

Truma AquaGo

Both the Alde and the Truma can work on 110V (Shore power or generator), propane only, or a combination of 110v & Propane for a boost of hot water.
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Old 08-21-2016, 12:47 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by GuidoLyons View Post
Our Winnebago Era 70C has the Alde 3010 tankless waterheater/hydronic heat. Works well, quiet, and does not use a lot of propane. Plenty of hot water. Not sure how hard/easy it would be to reftofit.

Truma Aqua-Go is another tankless water heater used in Winebago Travato. They make a retrofit unit specifically to replace the traditional 6-10 gallon RV water heater.

https://www.truma.com/us/en/press-ev...ma-aqua-go.php

Truma AquaGo

Both the Alde and the Truma can work on 110V (Shore power or generator), propane only, or a combination of 110v & Propane for a boost of hot water.
I looked for the truma and couldn't for the life of me find a price, but then I found it and then I wished I hadn't. Now I'm not a cheap ass, but there are limits to what I will pay for an item and 1k for a waterheater is more than I can justify. but it does look ideal.
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Old 08-21-2016, 08:13 AM   #6
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Have a friend that has a tank-less heater in his Mobile Suites. He is on his 4th unit. Part of the problem is the heaters work on flow and pressure. In a RV, the pressure from city water vs on board pump are usually different. Also, most homes have larger pipes running to the faucets than RV's have.

He has it working now, but he re-plumbed his entire rig with 1/2" pex. When it works it is great. For him, he LOVES to tinker and was a great project. For me, and the way I use my RV, my 12 gal RV heater works just fine.
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Old 08-21-2016, 07:05 PM   #7
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Hi Phil,
Our 2016 Journey came with a tankless heater. Although I finally have it working good, I would just as soon have a tank heater. Why? Well, with the tankless heater I only have a propane source to make hot water. And, we don't have an electric option, nor do we get hot water from the engine while driving.

They don't require a lot of propane under normal usage, and they are NOT "on" unless you tap a hot water fixture. Tankless heaters don't require a particular pressure, but they do require a certain minimum GPM flow (gallons per minute) to modulate the gas valve appropriately. We had to remove the flow restrictor in the shower head to be able to blend hot/cold in the shower. Before that it was either very hot or very cold. Removing the restrictor increased the flow from 0.9 GPM to 1.2 GPM. Works fine now but again, would prefer a dual source hot water tank. We never needed an endless amount of hot water. Our unit simply raises the incoming water temp 65 degrees. So, there is a difference in hot water temp summer versus winter operation, however there is a small amount of mechanical adjustment on the unit for this condition.

Just sharing my opinion of our Atwood unit.

cheers,
Joopy
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Old 08-21-2016, 07:49 PM   #8
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I'm not convinced tankless is the way to go. Maybe in your house or industrial where you have lots of energy on tap and a well regulated water pressure. Neither of which you have on an RV.

Not sure they are economical in water or fuel use in a camper. You need a lot of energy RIGHT NOW to continuously instantly heat anything up to Temperature. Old school WHs use a modest amount to heat and you have a reservoir to draw from. Once heated it stays hot and is only reheated as necessary.

Sort of like that fool's advice of turning off your home water heater at night or when you are away at work....to save energy back in the '70s. Yeahhh...that worked. You burned more fuel reheating than you save. Same with setting back your AC or heater more than a couple degrees.

And...if you have hard water, how are thses units going to handle that??????

Jury is out IMHO.
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Old 08-22-2016, 12:19 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jupiter View Post
Hi Phil,
Our 2016 Journey came with a tankless heater. Although I finally have it working good, I would just as soon have a tank heater. Why? Well, with the tankless heater I only have a propane source to make hot water. And, we don't have an electric option, nor do we get hot water from the engine while driving.

They don't require a lot of propane under normal usage, and they are NOT "on" unless you tap a hot water fixture. Tankless heaters don't require a particular pressure, but they do require a certain minimum GPM flow (gallons per minute) to modulate the gas valve appropriately. We had to remove the flow restrictor in the shower head to be able to blend hot/cold in the shower. Before that it was either very hot or very cold. Removing the restrictor increased the flow from 0.9 GPM to 1.2 GPM. Works fine now but again, would prefer a dual source hot water tank. We never needed an endless amount of hot water. Our unit simply raises the incoming water temp 65 degrees. So, there is a difference in hot water temp summer versus winter operation, however there is a small amount of mechanical adjustment on the unit for this condition.

Just sharing my opinion of our Atwood unit.

cheers,
Joopy
I'm mainly looking at it for dry camping a lot and full timing it. so my solar will only handle so much and if the tankless only uses propane on demand it would seem to be economical, but I haven't dealt with them and was wondering what others had experienced. Thank you for sharing.
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Old 08-22-2016, 08:56 AM   #10
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I have an 04 Bounder and have an Attwood tankless i put in 3 years ago. I also have Delta faucets in shower kitchen and bathroom. Whether i am in city water or using pump i have flow as strong as any stick house. I have had zero problems with mine. We go to myrtle beach 3 times each summer and with a wife and 2 girls with long hair the regular hot water heater even with electric assist could not keep up with 1 shower for each a day much less 2 or 3 they sometimes take. I say go for it and dont look back. I would never own another rig without one.
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Old 08-22-2016, 09:15 AM   #11
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It somewhat depends on what your needs are and what you have now. The tank types do not use that much propane as in weeks to a month or more between fills for normal use. The tanks themselves are well enough insulated to shut off the water heater in the morning and still have hot water in the late afternoon if you have not had a reason to empty the tank in the mean time.

Folks with hydronic heat heat are a different story all together because of the heat stored in the hydronic system.

For the rest of us you will find as many or more folks swearing at demand heaters as loving them. They have issues over too little and too much flow as well as a tendency to scale up in hard water areas.

Given that you have something my question would be how well what you have works now. If you are running propane for the stove and refrigerator you will not save much by switching from tank to tankless for hot water. Either way you need the BTU's.
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Old 08-22-2016, 09:27 AM   #12
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While I like the tankless in the motorhome, it came with the motorhome. If it were tank type, I doubt if I would go to the effort and expense to change out for tankless. If the tanked needed replacement I would look at the cost difference at that point. Nor would it make a big difference in the buying desician of one RV over another.
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