Instant hot water heater not working

[GodfatherofTech]

Yep, I read all the posts on this already.

2023 Gemini 23TE. I think it is a Girard model tankless.

Cannot get any hot water. All fuses good, all breakers on. Propane on. Water heater switch in on position. Turned on at the bathroom control panel, set to 115°F. Water psi tried at 45, 50, 55 after reading forums.

Stove lights, heater works, so propane flowing to those devices. Tried the outside shower and all faucets.

It never seems to 'light' when I have the panel open and looking/listening to it. Fuse on the heater itself looks good.

Only cold water at all faucets. Tried with pump on as well.

Trying to get it looked at, but I am finding service isn't as responsive as sales, typical.


Any suggestions I haven't tried are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[Geterdun]

Any error code?
The Girard owners manual says:
"If a failure were to occur in the GSWH-2 it will be detected by the Controller Module and the specific cause will be indicated by the Error Code on the User Control Panel display."

You can download the Girard manual here:

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/v/vsp...H-2-Manual.pdf

[TheGoodLife]

Are the water heater bypass valves closed?

[Geterdun]

Originally Posted by TheGoodLife

Are the water heater bypass valves closed?

Bypass is not needed on a tankless water heater, BUT; that doesn't stop Thor from installing them on some RVs anyway.

[TheGoodLife]

Originally Posted by Geterdun

Bypass is not needed on a tankless water heater, BUT; that doesn't stop Thor from installing them on some RVs anyway.

Our 2022 Quantum has them installed on the back of the Girard tankless, accessed from inside the coach. When antifreeze was used for winterizing the coach last fall at the selling/warranty service dealer it was set to bypass. Agree that it shouldn’t be necessary to have bypass valves for a tankless WH, since this one at least is equipped with an automatic antifreeze feature to protect the water heater during freezing temps, but there they are.

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by Geterdun

Bypass is not needed on a tankless water heater, BUT; that doesn't stop Thor from installing them on some RVs anyway.

Thor installed bypass valves on my 2021 Axis with a Girard WH. That gave me some grief with no hot water until I found the valves and switched them.

It all worked well on all fixtures except the shower would turn cold after a moment of hot.

I unscrewed the shower handle from the hose and found a white button with three holes that is a restriction orifice. I removed it, put the shower handle back on the hose and all works fine.

This was all done using the on board freshwater tank and pump. You might try that if you have exhausted all other solutions with shore water.

David

[GodfatherofTech]

Originally Posted by TheGoodLife

Are the water heater bypass valves closed?

They were!!

Finally figured out how to pull the drawers out and it was all self explanatory.

Thanks for the help.

[MJC62]

Outstanding, I love the easy, cheap fixes!

[Judge]

Thor has serious brain damage installing the ByPass on the On Demand Water Heaters. Early on they never installed them.... as should be the case since you need to either run antifreeze or compressed air to blow out the copper heat exchanger.

Then for some ridiculous reason the past year or two..... a company that cuts costs at every corner and in places they never should, decides to spend the time & material to add a ByPass to the tankless heaters.

I know of one person who had the dealer winterize their coach. The dealer closed the ByPass leaving water in the lines. The copper burst and Thor or the Dealer would not cover replacing it even though it was 100% their fault.

[TheGoodLife]

When sanitizing the fresh water system I read on the Thor owner resource to bypass the hot water heater. I don’t know if that would necessarily be applicable to tankless water heaters though. The Girard has a freeze protection feature that enables its propane burner to run automatically for a brief period if the heat exchanger temperature is <38 degrees to prevent any residual water remaining therein from freezing.

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by TheGoodLife

The Girard has a freeze protection feature that enables the heat exchanger to be run for a brief period as needed during temperatures <38 degrees to prevent any residual water remaining from freezing.

Yes, that feature threw me when I was first checking out my new coach in freezing weather. When I turned the coach’s DC power on the Girard would fire up for a few seconds every 15 minutes or so.

I read up on it and learned about that feature. So I turned the outside Girard switch off and it stopped doing it.

David

[Judge]

Originally Posted by TheGoodLife

When sanitizing the fresh water system I read on the Thor owner resource to bypass the hot water heater. I don’t know if that would necessarily be applicable to tankless water heaters though. The Girard has a freeze protection feature that enables its propane burner to run automatically for a brief period if the heat exchanger temperature is &lt;38 degrees to prevent any residual water remaining therein from freezing.

Yes…. but that doesn’t do much good when your propane is off and batteries are out of your coach.

[TheGoodLife]

That feature is intended more for a coach being used in cold temps rather than one that has been winterized. Ours was switched off all of this past winter.

[jannadem]

There is switch on the top of the heater. Is it on? Access from outside of MH