hot water

[chsguy]

have new 2019 miramar. constant hot water is a joke. have tried leaving water pump on as well as hooked up to city water. temp varies as much as 25 degrees. ok in florida but we are headed to colorado. ideas please. ???

[Judge]

I assume you mean the Girard on-demand water heater.

There have been dozens of posts about it on here. Some hate it but it works great if you know how to use it properly.

1) Set the temperature you prefer for showers. In cooler temps we set it ~105 and in warmer temps ~102.

2) Use only hot water. Do not mix in cold water.

3) Do not run any other faucets when using the hot water / taking a shower. Water pressure and flow is key for proper operation.

4) When using city water, use a pressure regulator set for 45 - 55 psi. Again, pressure and flow are key to proper operation and city water pressure can vary greatly.

5) Your fresh water pump should be able to deliver adequate flow and pressure... but again do not run any other water when taking a shower and do not mix cold.


I can take a 20-minute shower and have constant hot water that does not fluctuate in temperature following the above guidelines.

I had issues as well when I bought my first coach with the Girard on-demand hot water. I learned how to use it properly by reading posts here and it works great. I am on my second coach now with it and it is great to never run out of hot water.

[Bob Denman]

The Judge's advice is great; although I'd like to see the pressure in the 50 to 55 psi range.

[Coveman2]

I also agree with the Judges comments and it is a learning curve. We do not take long showers in general as it takes a while for the water to reach the shower head and found that it filled up the grey tank very quickly. I opted to have the Girard replaced with the 6 gallon Suburban electric and propane heating elements and am very happy with the decision. The water is very hot and gets to the faucet much quicker and am using less water. I have always been told not to run the pump when hooked up to city water as it can cause the check valve to fail.
Coveman2
2018 Thor Compass 23 TB

[Bob Denman]

This Forum gave me the best advice for dealing with the Girard's... peculiarities!
Our new RV has a Truma system in it, and it is much easier to live with.

[Coveman2]

Bob: I looked at the Trumba and it looked great but the cost up here in Canada was almost double what I got the Suburban installed for and would have had to travel 5 hours to get a dealer to do the job.
Coveman2

[paulwadley]

I have the same system and learned that if I keep the water pressure set to 55 psi and use the hot only (set to 102) I have no issues with constant hot water as long as my propane holds out. Now that I know how it works, I love the system.

Paul

[chsguy]

Originally Posted by Judge

I assume you mean the Girard on-demand water heater.

There have been dozens of posts about it on here. Some hate it but it works great if you know how to use it properly.

1) Set the temperature you prefer for showers. In cooler temps we set it ~105 and in warmer temps ~102.

2) Use only hot water. Do not mix in cold water.

3) Do not run any other faucets when using the hot water / taking a shower. Water pressure and flow is key for proper operation.

4) When using city water, use a pressure regulator set for 45 - 55 psi. Again, pressure and flow are key to proper operation and city water pressure can vary greatly.

5) Your fresh water pump should be able to deliver adequate flow and pressure... but again do not run any other water when taking a shower and do not mix cold.


I can take a 20-minute shower and have constant hot water that does not fluctuate in temperature following the above guidelines.

I had issues as well when I bought my first coach with the Girard on-demand hot water. I learned how to use it properly by reading posts here and it works great. I am on my second coach now with it and it is great to never run out of hot water.

thank you. pressure is good. propane is full. temp set to 118. pump is off. turning on water at faucet we used to see a little fan and a 🔥. but after a few seconds it goes off. the display starts off as bright. then goes dim. never a flame and no hot water yet. checked the fuse at heater toggled switch on then off then on. no change. i am
in a quandry. is there another circuit breaker or ? which may be the prob. thanks again. thank goodness we have good showers here in houston.

[wrapped]

Try again this time turn shower on not faucet ,see if that works

[chsguy]

no change

[wrapped]

Ok turn on water pump with city water, shower on all hot don't mix. If that doesn't work last shot go to outside shower screw off showerhead and turn on only hot water .

[chsguy]

hot water at outside shower. hot water now at sink. no hot water at inside shower. are we there yet. ?

[wrapped]

Good the heater is fine but it needs flow,take shower head off inside shower turn on full hot don't mix. When I first bought my challenger I removed all of the flow restrictions from all faucets and the kitchen I drilled some of the holes a little bigger 1 at a time till it got hot water.

[chsguy]

will try that in a few hours. headed to pool and maybe libations. thank you for your assistance. 🙏

[chsguy]

drilled second 1/8” hole. reinstalled. puts out hot water but now valve leaks even after cautiously hand tightening. but i can remedy that part til we get it addressed by dealer. thank you.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by chsguy

drilled second 1/8” hole. reinstalled. puts out hot water but now valve leaks even after cautiously hand tightening. but i can remedy that part til we get it addressed by dealer. thank you.

Also.... there is a valve on the back of the unit. Sometimes they do not have that open enough properly from the factory.

One other thing..... in my last coach the water flow was not great out of any of the faucets or shower. Thought it was the flow restictors. When I took them apart there was a lot of construction debris that was further restricting the water flow.

[Bob Denman]

Construction crud in the strainer... Good catch!
How did the rest of us miss that one?

[Banks732@comcast.net]

Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: StCharles
Posts: 11
Sounds great if you are on a full hook up site but if not, you can’t leave the water running so that doesn’t always work. We are one of those unhappy with the on demand because 75% of the time we are not on a full hook up site

[Bob Denman]

Perhaps you should consider replacing the Girard system with a conventional water heater with a six gallon tank...

[Coveman2]

I replaced the Girard with a 6 gallon electric/propane water heater and am glad I did.The only modification was the bottom drawer was shortened 4 inches and I can reach in and turn the valves to bypass for winterization. When you use both propane and electric I got 140 F hot water in 10 minutes and 20-25 on just electric and 20 minutes for propane.
When showering you can shut the water off at the shower head and it stays hot as opposed to the Girard where it turns cold right away even using full hot.
Coveman2
2018 Thor Compass 23 TB