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biker art · 02-02-2015, 08:57 PM

I have a small 16' 1989 trailer that I'm gutting and rebuilding. My question is has anyone ever tried a tankless water heater? I'm thinking of one as they are less costly and take up less space.

guardrail53 · 02-02-2015, 11:03 PM

They work very well, as long as you like to wash your dishes and brush your teeth in cold water! All we have over here in Thailand, and use cold water for everything but our showers! Rail!

biker art · 02-03-2015, 12:00 AM

Why are you restricted to showers only? If it's plumbed into the main water system I should be able to use it in the kitchen sink and bathroom sink. Am I missing something?

guardrail53 · 02-03-2015, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biker art

Why are you restricted to showers only? If it's plumbed into the main water system I should be able to use it in the kitchen sink and bathroom sink. Am I missing something?

Well if we are talking about the same thing, they do not heat the water as hot as a regular water heater, they are for use in the shower, and to get one that would get hot enough for any distance, it would have to be for the whole house, and I think those are 220v? I may be wrong? Been wrong many times before! Rail!

TeamJesusSam · 02-03-2015, 06:56 AM

When I rebuilt my last camper (a gutted 32' Terry travel trailer), I used an Eccotemp L5 portable tankless heater. We knew going in that we could only use one fixture at a time, but that didn't bother us. It's an outdoor model, so I built an insulated box lined with concrete board, with vents to outside at the top and bottom for safety sake. It worked well enough in the summer, with only hot water on, but I don't imagine it would do very well in the winter around here (Virginia). For my current rebuild, I'm going to use the Eccotemp FVI-12-LP, and place it on the wall above my wood stove. It's a direct vent indoor model, and it can work at up to 4gpm in the summer; if we dial back to around 1.5-2.0gpm in the winter it should work well enough from everything I've read. I must say, as long as you don't mind spending 50c-$1 per hour of shower time depending on propane prices (it took 1lb/hr to run the L5), it's great having the unlimited supply of hot water!

If you have the ability to run 220v and expect to get a real 50amp hookup while camping (real 50A hookups are 240V, for 12000W, instead of the 6000W you might expect if you thought, like I did at first, that they were only 120), I might go for something like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00311CVXO/...I1CUYOZ2PCUOTN

In fact, if I save enough money on other things, I might get both just so that when I'm at campgrounds I can use electric and save my $30/month on propane!

Old Car Nut · 02-03-2015, 07:10 AM

More expensive but also serves as a heating system.
Rixen's Enterprises — Complete Comfort Control

biker art · 02-03-2015, 02:19 PM

Thanks guys , I may have to think about it before going that way. I am doing a complete rebuild and have plenty of time yet.

nothermark · 02-03-2015, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biker art

Thanks guys , I may have to think about it before going that way. I am doing a complete rebuild and have plenty of time yet.

Think hard. It won't save a lot of useful space but it will be problematical. You can search this forum for threads about tankless heaters.

biker art · 02-10-2015, 05:06 PM

Thanks everybody, I'm going with the stock water heater. I took it in to be checked out and repaired as needed and will reinstall it. I have a 16' trailer and I'm in the process of gutting it and rebuilding. Should be fun.

QoCascadia · 04-24-2015, 07:32 PM

I have a question on a similar subject ... Is it ok to post it here since this thread seems to have been resolved?

We have not been able to get the water heater to very get hot. It does light, but not easily. Do most people remove older water heaters and replace them? Or do these old units seem to be easy to repair? Does anyone have any experience with instant hot units, advise or recommendations?

nothermark · 04-25-2015, 05:14 AM

They are relatively easy to replace. The question is why it does not get very hot. There is some type of control that you will need to figure out and possibly adjust. In fact some one may have adjusted it as most run hot.

HoneyBadger · 04-25-2015, 07:16 AM

We have replaced just about every part of our water heater over the years, and its extremely easy. Everything is accessible from the access door.

What is brand is yours? They're not hard to troubleshoot. Temperature is fixed on most of them, so its probable that your unit is just not staying lit long enough.