Tankless water heater.

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by Bluetreak

Yes, it is. I looked at it when we first installed a Girard in place of a tank-type in our TT a few years ago.

But then...we never dry camped, had big tanks, and never worried about it.

Now we have a Girard in our Compass and so far, two outings, it's working just as I expect it to, on the pump and on city water.

Would I like a Truma? Yes. But I am happy with what I have.

The shower miser looks appealing but the install of a return line looks challenging. Doable, but a challenge.

I’m currently ok with my tankless water heater
I measured the amount of cold water lost at the beginning of a shower...it was about 48 ounces. So not even a half gallon.

Then, because a do a “navy shower” and turn off while soaping...I do get a short burst of tepid water a bit after I restart the rinse. But I get over it.

Overall, with a tankless I save on propane. And with the small propane tank in my Vegas that I cannot remove and fill without moving the entire rig (only holds 8.5 gal when 80% full)...to me, the propane situation is more of a hassle than the hot water.

[MK79]

I LOVE the tankless hot water system! Took me two tries to figure out that I needed to adjust the hot water from the controller and not the shower itself. 35 minute HOT showers in an RV is such a luxury. I hope you’re able to get yours adjusted and enjoy it as much as we do.

[Kellbrax2]

Has anyone installed a redarc12250 dc/dc charger in a 2015 w31

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

They're not nearly as bad as you think... Once you get them figured-out.
First: make sure that you've got good water pressure. It takes at least 50 psi to keep the system happy.
Next: only use the hot water faucet. Forget that the cold water one even exists. Use the system controls to set the temperature to a comfortable level. (105 to 110 degrees is a good place to start.)

Once you get the quirks figured out: they do a nice job.

I was happy with my Girard tankless water heater in my Jayco Precept until just lately. My rig is five years old now. A couple things it's doing is shutting down which I can correct by turning off the water and they turning it back on again. But now it is also not providing the temperature I set. Even when I set the temp to, let's say... to 115 degrees, it still runs up to 125 degrees on the display and the water is too hot. If I try to mix in some cold water with the valve to bring the temp down, the unit completely shuts off.

Has anyone out there experienced these behaviors with their Girard's?

[Rybie]

We had that issue with the Girard.

We reset the heater by cycling the power, it seemed to fix it

[Traina]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

As was mentioned in here by one of your new friends: your screens might be clogged with construction debris, or your water pump might not be set correctly.
Normally; they do a real nice job.
Do you have access to an outside water spigot?
Assuming that the water is clean enough for you to hook up to: hook up, and turn it on full blast.

Make sure you check the filter on the water pump itself!

[Rybie]

great idea, I do need to check our filter

[jbrosecity]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

...Next: only use the hot water faucet. Forget that the cold water one even exists. Use the system controls to set the temperature to a comfortable level. (105 to 110 degrees is a good place to start.) Once you get the quirks figured out: they do a nice job.

Yeah DW figured this one out on her own... so we only use straight hot water when showering or washing dishes. Trying to use a blend of hiot and cold from the faucet was awful. Also as Coveman2 pointed out, it takes so long to get hot water out the faucet or shower head you wind up filling the gray water tank much faster than with the usual Suburban. And you can forget about taking a navy shower,... you put more water into the holding tank turning it off and on to get it hot again, than just running it the whole time. Frankly IMHO these things suck. If I could swap it for a Suburban propane/electric tank heater I would do it in a heartbeat.

[jbrosecity]

As a quick followup, we are presently in a campground with electric and water service but no sewer. I came up with a great solution on how to keep from filling up the grey water tank too quickly. I take a bucket into the shower with me. I hold the handheld shower head over the bucket and turn the hot water on (full hot, no cold as explained previously.) Once it starts to run warm I wet myself down all over, then turn off the water. Now I soap up and when ready to rinse, I grab the shower head again, turn on the hot water and again run it into the bucket until it runs hot, then rinse off all over. I can repeat this as often as needed. Once I am finished showering and am dry and dressed, I take the bucket outside and empty it on the grass or the gravel.

Voila! This procedure avoids filling the grey tank needlessly. I have read others who use the saved water to flush the toilets... this might be useful when dry camping to preserve water, but when on city/campground water, there's little point... just collect the water when trying to get it hot and then dump the bucket outside!

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by jbrosecity

As a quick followup, we are presently in a campground with electric and water service but no sewer. I came up with a great solution on how to keep from filling up the grey water tank too quickly. I take a bucket into the shower with me. I hold the handheld shower head over the bucket and turn the hot water on (full hot, no cold as explained previously.) Once it starts to run warm I wet myself down all over, then turn off the water. Now I soap up and when ready to rinse, I grab the shower head again, turn on the hot water and again run it into the bucket until it runs hot, then rinse off all over. I can repeat this as often as needed. Once I am finished showering and am dry and dressed, I take the bucket outside and empty it on the grass or the gravel.

Voila! This procedure avoids filling the grey tank needlessly. I have read others who use the saved water to flush the toilets... this might be useful when dry camping to preserve water, but when on city/campground water, there's little point... just collect the water when trying to get it hot and then dump the bucket outside!

I carry a Collapsible 5gal jug. Marked on it “sewage water”
Got a cap fitting on my sewage that has a nipple with hose thread.
I carry a short 5-6’ hose.
At my leisure, I empty gray water into jug, walk to bathroom toilet.
That way no one can accuse me of illegal dumping

[jbrosecity]

thanks taylorbob - that's a smart idea. I already have a cap for the tank drain with a garden hose fitting on it. I just ordered a pair of collapsible 5 gal jugs on amazon for $20 and will keep a short length of hose on board just specifically for offloading the grey tank. Good idea to ferry them over to the restrooms to dump them so nobody accuses us of illegal dumping. Thanks forthe tip

[Chateau_Nomad]

So, the issue with some tankless heaters is flow rate, NOT pressure. The other issue of not having instant hot water at the faucet is not the fault of the water heater - regardless if it's a tankless or old-school 6-gallon tank. I can think of a few solutions, and a way to test which type would be better for your camping style.

For the flow rate... get a gallon container and adjust flow rate from a faucet until you're getting 32 ounces in 15 seconds (half gallon per minute). If that flow is acceptable, you might be able to make it work. For reference, I use 1/4 gallon per minute washing dishes... half as much. So using twice as much water (for me) in a boondocking situation quickly adds up to a gallon here, two or three gallons there... then we're skipping showers.

For the "instant hot water" at the faucet... ALL water heaters have this issue. This "inconvenience" causes two distinct problems: Wasted water unnecessarily filling the gray tank, and wasted water unnecessarily emptying the fresh tank. With full hookups, no problem. But boondocking is another issue. The solution is to recycle the "wasted" water back to the fresh tank... either manual (catching the water in a container and pouring back into the tank, or installing an automatic recycling system.

Each must decide what works for them. And I guarantee that folks who NEVER boondock won't understand the "big deal" about wasting a gallon or two of water. But for those of us who enjoy getting out away from civilization in general, it's a HUGE deal.

I'm usually a sucker for the latest tech... but only if it improves my real-world camp experience.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by jbrosecity

As a quick followup, we are presently in a campground with electric and water service but no sewer. I came up with a great solution on how to keep from filling up the grey water tank too quickly. I take a bucket into the shower with me. I hold the handheld shower head over the bucket and turn the hot water on (full hot, no cold as explained previously.) Once it starts to run warm I wet myself down all over, then turn off the water. Now I soap up and when ready to rinse, I grab the shower head again, turn on the hot water and again run it into the bucket until it runs hot, then rinse off all over. I can repeat this as often as needed. Once I am finished showering and am dry and dressed, I take the bucket outside and empty it on the grass or the gravel.

Voila! This procedure avoids filling the grey tank needlessly. I have read others who use the saved water to flush the toilets... this might be useful when dry camping to preserve water, but when on city/campground water, there's little point... just collect the water when trying to get it hot and then dump the bucket outside!

I have the Girard Tankless (this is my second coach with one). We don't boondock much or for very long periods of time but my wife and I boondocked at my in-laws from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon over July 4th weekend. I have 60 gallons fresh and 40 gallons black and grey. We took a few showers, washed dishes and flushed the toilet as we always do (a couple bowls of water usually).

We didn't change our habits much other than maybe a quicker shower and we made it through fine. Perhaps that is not long enough for some folks but I was happy with the water usage when it comes to the tankless.

[jbrosecity]

I did inquire about this and somewhere, maybe even this forum, someone told me the Truma tankless units worked much better than the Girard. As long as you can make it work with one temperature for hot/warm water then Girard works OK I guess... We keep ours set to 103 and always turn the hot on full when using it... never mixed - that works very poorly. And yeah, as long as we have full hookups we can take long showers and just let the water run until done... and when we don't have sewer, taylorbob's suggestion is the best idea I think and as I said I ordered two collapsible 5 gal tanks. We almost never boondock so water usage is not much of an issue. We also have a Vanleigh Vilano fifth wheel stationed lake side where we sail all summer. That has a 12 gallon suburban propane/electric standard water heater and we just love that setup. I have an ABS hard-plumbed fresh water drain line with a built-in P-trap in the drain line so we leave the grey water line open all the time and between that and endless water supply at the pedestal, we never run out of hot water with comfortable showers, laundry (stack splendide) , washing the dog, etc. Sometimes newer ain't better!

[Jimbo56]

I either use my outside shower or the bathhouse. Never quite knew the difference in using an outside shower. Or dumping my grey water tank on the ground.

[Jimbo56]

Originally Posted by taylorbob1

I carry a Collapsible 5gal jug. Marked on it “sewage water”
Got a cap fitting on my sewage that has a nipple with hose thread.
I carry a short 5-6’ hose.
At my leisure, I empty gray water into jug, walk to bathroom toilet.
That way no one can accuse me of illegal dumping

Why not just shower in the bath house?

[Buckhorn13]

I like my old 6gal WH better.

[push toy]

Originally Posted by Wayne Shuttleworth

Hi Bob. Thank you for the welcoming comment to this group. I've only been able to try the on-board water pump, and so far not been where I can try a direct city water service hook-up. My thinking is that the manufacturer didn't put a big enough pump in to do the job. It seems very anemic. How would I know if it's putting out enough pressure, because I just assumed that it would.

check the screen on your water pump.. mine was full of s--t thought my pump was broke
check all the faucets and take out the restrictor in the shower head
Jmo

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by push toy

check the screen on your water pump.. mine was full of s--t thought my pump was broke
check all the fossits and take out the restricker in the shower head
Jmo

The stuff in your pump filter could have been just manufacturing debris. The RV manufacturers are notorious for leaving debris everywhere. I had to remove a number of water filters in faucets, etc. to remove stuff. And it does not come from the RV park supply since I have a master filter.

[Gemini]

My on demand hot water heater is spraying out water from the valve or fitting? Anyone had this happen?