tankless water heaters

mike99 · 12-08-2016, 02:40 AM

i could use some advice on thankless water heaters. Pros and Cons. WE have just bought a 2017 Challenger (waiting for it to get hear) and will be taking some long trips in it.

mustang94 · 12-08-2016, 11:28 AM

Not really sure how they would work in a motorhome but we have one for the house. It is great and we love it, had the same one for about 14 years now. Endless hot water, but it is hooked up to a 60 amp breaker, 10 amps more than our hole motorhome. But I have heard of them for motorhomes. Might be ok as long as you are on 50 amp service but what if you are in a place that only has 30 amps? Right now with what we have we have to choices to warm our tank and that's peace of mind when on the road.

just my 2 cents worth......

mustang94 · 12-08-2016, 11:55 AM

oh wow... sorry but I do see some for your LP gas.... $768.00 at CW

ctpres · 12-08-2016, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike99

i could use some advice on thankless water heaters. Pros and Cons. WE have just bought a 2017 Challenger (waiting for it to get hear) and will be taking some long trips in it.

Welcome to the "Challenger Owners Club." A no rules and no dues club. Just owning a Thor Challenger make you a member. Check out RVillage - Group Profile - Thor Challenger Owners Unite
- it's a great way to meet other Challenger owners as you travel.
Re tankless water heater. Do some serious research and don't rely on sales pitches. Truma is at top of my shopping list when our std. HWH dies.

Troutkiller · 12-17-2016, 09:57 PM

A question that we have as well. Will be watching it for more information

CasaLoca · 12-18-2016, 03:23 AM

Definitely agree with Mustang94. Having hot water from shore power, generator and/or LP gives me peace of mind. And adding another power hungry item gives me pause to rethink. Considering how many decisions are based trying to make the most of limited resources, including space, money, and energy, I like having lots of options.
Chuck Peck in CasaLoca

Joe-FL · 12-18-2016, 03:46 PM

When we were first looking at MH's we almost pulled the trigger on a Jayco. The unit had a tankless water heater. Based on their forum information and what the salesmen told me I wasn't impressed. Apparently there is a "sweat spot" you have to hit just right when running the shower. If you run too low of pressure then the tank won't send enough hot and you end up with a luke warm shower. The salesmen said it takes some time to get used to and some folks didn't like them.

Laco · 12-18-2016, 11:59 PM

My understanding is all the RV tankless use both 12 volts for the control system and LP for heat. My observation, is they are fairly frugal on LP use, as they will fire in bursts once up to the temperature set. I did discover that for some reason, if I stop the water flow in the shower using the flow stop button on the shower head, the heater errors out and will not restart until the water is shut off and restarted. Leaving it on, it seems to be fine. Can't really explain that, but????? From an LP usage standpoint, the advantage is, you don't use fuel to heat a full tank if you don't need it.

sforl · 01-05-2017, 05:55 PM

FYI I was told recently that tankless water heaters would soon be standard on the Thor Axis ( and I assume) Vegas.

justjohn57 · 01-05-2017, 06:20 PM

Starting in 2nd half of 2016, all the Axis/Vegas are going tankless too, but when we asked the salesman about them we got the same "sweet spot" response, which is not conducive with the way we take our on/off "Army showers" when boondocking.

Laco · 01-05-2017, 07:04 PM

So far the tankless HW in ours is ok. I like not having the tank, but the tankless supplies hot water differently in some respects. So far the adjustments are minor.

sforl · 01-07-2017, 05:40 PM

Will the tankless HW units being installed on the new MH be electric or propane? Both? For boondocking wouldn't you need to run it off propane?
Also what brand is being installed? I've read some not so favorable reviews about the Atwood brands.
Thanks

Laco · 01-07-2017, 09:05 PM

I'm pretty sure all tankless have 12 volt control systems, but heat with LP. As I commented earlier their use of LP seems so far to be fairly frugal, the burner runs in bursts to maintain temperature, once the temp is up.

sforl · 01-07-2017, 09:17 PM

Laco thanks. I'm in the process of ordering my Axis and wanted to be certain it would be good for boondocking.

Dbadger777 · 01-08-2017, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike99

i could use some advice on thankless water heaters. Pros and Cons. WE have just bought a 2017 Challenger (waiting for it to get hear) and will be taking some long trips in it.

We have one in our Axis. Used it a little and seems to work fine. The thing I like is that you can set the hot water temp. The thing I don't like is it only uses propane.

sforl · 01-08-2017, 12:20 AM

Dbagger777 what make is your tankless WH ?

Dbadger777 · 02-02-2017, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sforl

Dbagger777 what make is your tankless WH ?

Sorry for the slow response. We have been on the road for a while.
Gerard, is the brand. My wife loves it! She never runs out of hot water. Having said that; we have been near water and dump stations, and we were on full hookup for a week. If we were BoonDocking out west it would be hard to conserve water.

Laco · 02-02-2017, 02:19 AM

I think Gerard is what Thor uses in most, if not all their units. Ours, too is a Gerard, and seems to work ok. There are pluses and minuses to both a tank and tankless. but tankless seems to be the way most are going now.

LClarkx2 · 11-01-2018, 01:03 AM

I have a Girard tankless WH on my Citation. So far I really like the tankless over a tank WH. I have read several threads on this forum and implemented some information I gained from the WH topic.

First is the campground water pressure. They are all different and the Girard works best between 45 and 55 psi. Using PVC pipe, I hard plumbed an adjustable water pressure valve between the RV and the source. Since Thor seems to be going primarily tankless, I believe the adjustable valve should be built in the system from the factory.

Second is don't set your WH temperature too high. I set mine at 115. My showers are always hot and I never run out of hot water. I never could do that with the the small tank heaters.

I can't answer the 12 volt question as I run mine on LP. I hope my comments are helpful to others.

Laco · 11-01-2018, 01:19 AM

As I commented earlier in the thread, as far as I know, all the tankless water heaters, use LP for heating the water, and 12 volts for the control system. Without either, you will not have hot water. Manufactures like them, as compared to a standard hot water tank, they cost less, are lighter and take less space.

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