Girard Tankless Water Heater Trouble

[Quint]

Originally Posted by Judge

And I'll politely disagree with your statement. It all depends on the type of camping you are doing.

If you are not doing a lot of boondocking and trying to conserve water (which is my case), the Girard Tankless is great. You can set a temperature, turn on the hot water and you can take a 30 minute shower if you want.

Yes.... some campgrounds have water pressure issues but many do not. If I do come across a campground where I can't get enough pressure, then I will switch over to my fresh water tank for showers.

I've had two coaches with the Girard and I have been very happy with its performance.

I agree it's a matter of your camping style. For me I would rather not have to take into consideration when planning a trip on whether or not Im going to have to worry about having hot water or not. My camping style is the more rustic campgrounds, State parks, national parks, and campground that get you right up to the scenic features I'm visiting. Boondocking is also something we enjoy doing and that is out of the question. I'd rather not have a hot water system that limits the type and style of camping I can do. Yes you can flip on your pump and draw from your fresh water tank but if you try and conserve water and shut off the shower then you've got to run the water for about 30 seconds to get warm water back again. If you're out boondocking for any length of time and your brushing your teeth with bottle water and not flushing your toilet every time you pee trying to conserve water and not fill the tanks unnecessarily that is just unacceptable.



I think its a great concept for but like many things in the RV industry it was implemented without fully researching the affects and needs thoroughly.

[Bob Denman]

You can always catch 30 seconds' worth of water in a pitcher, and reintroduce it to your water tank...

[DavidEM]

Let me compare how I use the Girard tankless hot water heater to how I used a tank type, both for dry camping where the coach's water pump supplies the water pressure:

Tank Type

About 15 minutes (or less if it is the second shower of the evening) I turn on the hot water heater. The propane lights and the heater starts up. Once in the shower it takes 10-15 seconds for the hot water to push the cold out of the plumbing and reach the shower head. If I am really trying to conserve water I turn the shower off for a few minutes while I finish soaping up and turn it back on to rinse off. In doing so there is no cold water gap, unlike with the Girard.

Girard

I go outside and turn the Girard on at its switch inside the outside cover. I do this to save a few amps during the day. Then I get in the shower and just like with the tank water heater I wait 15-20 seconds for hot water. I takes a bit longer because the Girard has to first sense flow and fire up its heater coil before heating up the water.

Then I take my shower without stopping, because I have discovered if I do the Girard stops heating and when it restarts it lets about 5 seconds of cold water pass by before it gets hot.

So what are the benefits of the Girard:

Well it sure doesn't save water as you can see from above. It does save a bit of propane because I don't leave a tank of hot water behind when I finish my shower. But propane is rarely a problem, but water is.

The Girard is lighter and more compact since it doesn't have to store 6 gallons of water which in itself is 50 lbs.

But the Girard does use more power because after taking my evening shower I don't go outside and turn it off until the next morning. It uses about 2 amp hours over night on standby, not a big deal but every bit helps.

But all things considered I prefer the old tank type water heater.

David

[Bob Denman]

But if you were hooked up to City Water (and sewer): you can relax in the shower for much longer: with a tankless system...

[Quint]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

You can always catch 30 seconds' worth of water in a pitcher, and reintroduce it to your water tank...

Um ya okay LOL


Hmmm I wonder if I should do that with the toilet water also

[Bob Denman]

Save it for the dogs: they like Dometic and Thetford-water...

[kwplot34]

The wife and myself do a lot of boon docking and the Girard is no problem. We carry a 5 gal water container, when taking a shower stick the the shower head in the container run water till it's hot. when container gets full I pump it back into the fresh water tank, no problem.

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by kwplot34

The wife and myself do a lot of boon docking and the Girard is no problem. We carry a 5 gal water container, when taking a shower stick the the shower head in the container run water till it's hot. when container gets full I pump it back into the fresh water tank, no problem.

How do you pump it back into the fresh water tank?

David

[taylorbob1]

We take Navy Shower’s when we boon-dock
I measured a little over a quart of water that comes out cold before it gets hot
That is...we set the temp to 110, turn on the hot only
So we Rinse & turn off...Soap....Final Rinse
Yes, there’s a very short burst of lukewarm/cold between soap and final rinse.
No big deal.

[kwplot34]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

How do you pump it back into the fresh water tank?

David

I purchased a pump at Menards and plug it into the outside receptacle, I have a PVC pipe with a water fitting on it, the pipe goes down in the container a short 5' hose hooks to the pipe and the pump on the outlet end another short 5" hose connects to a fresh water filler that screws onto the fresh water fill on the RV, turn it on and it takes just a few minutes to pump the 5 gal container empty.
I can get some pic's of later if you would like to see it.

[kwplot34]

Originally Posted by taylorbob1

We take Navy Shower’s when we boon-dock
I measured a little over a quart of water that comes out cold before it gets hot
That is...we set the temp to 110, turn on the hot only
So we Rinse & turn off...Soap....Final Rinse
Yes, there’s a very short burst of lukewarm/cold between soap and final rinse.
No big deal.

I agree it's really not an issue.

[TeeBall]

Originally Posted by javelin

Always turn off the hot and cold taps on the outside (dog wash) faucet, not just the spray head valve. This is a known cause for allowing hot and cold water lines to mix and possibly reduce the water pressure flowing from only hot faucets. The other thing to check is make sure your winter bypass valves are fully in their Summer positions.



We need more information on the other poster's Girard problem. Did it just start having a problem; does it try to fire but fails to light etc.

My Girard tankless water heater stopped working and I was looking in to maybe problems with my water pump, shore water pressure being too low, bad fuse, etc. But NO! I had given the dog a bath and left the outside water valves not fully closed, and sure enough, no more hot water in the kitchen or bathroom sinks. Huge Thanks!!!

[javelin]

Welcome to the forum TeeBall. Glad that you were able to fix your issue. There is a lot of helpful information and expertise on this forum, if folks have and take the time to read through the many relevant posts. Happy camping.