I've finished installation of my mini-tank water heater, which feeds the outlet of my Girard tankless heater into the inlet of the mini-tank, whose outlet then goes to the hot water line to sinks and shower.
The biggest problem I had was finding a mini-tankless that was small enough to fit the space next to the Girard, under the left side bunk (space in a Mercedes Sprinter is very tight). My original plans for the Bosch 2.5 and others went out the window for that reason. I found only ONE, in the entire internet world, that would fit: a 1.6 gal. unit from China, for 80 bucks on Amazon, so I decided to take a chance. Here is the Amazon link for the heater:
https://www.amazon.com/BoTaiDaHong-1...0668861&sr=8-1
It is Chinese but shipped from a U.S. warehouse. I was looking for a more name brand item, or one with good feedback, but the exterior dimensions were the smallest of any unit I could find, and the only one that would fit the small install space on my coach. It appears to be working as I hoped. Install instructions are TERRIBLE, and if you follow them you'll have it wrong. Customer service is by email to China, but is actually ok and prompt. It took me a half dozen email exchanges to establish that the written instructions are crazy wrong, and to understand that the unit's labeled "inlet" versus "outlet" are not consistent depending on whether you are installing horizontally or vertically, but it's in and working. Because the on/off/temp knob will be difficult to access under the bed, I installed a lighted switch next to the bed, that controls a satellite AC outlet wired to the 20 amp breaker for the air conditioner (on my 30 amp service I can't use the AC and the heater at the same time anyway, but the heater fully heats the water in about 5 minutes, and it so far appears to stay warm for at least 5 or 6 hours, so joint use of the breaker seemed to make sense.) I'm uploading a couple of pictures of the install.
With the limited testing I've done so far, I can't vouch for the heater's long term performance or longevity, but it seems capable of doing what I hoped. In November I'm going on a 3 week trip to really test the system. I did not install a bypass; I want to see how long it stays hot while boondocking, and how well I can refill it with hot water by a blast from the Girard, without needing shore power. If I have to refill it with hot water from the Girard, I'll let the initial cold water run into the coffee carafe. Alternatively, I might find that running the generator for 5 minutes will allow the tank to be heated by AC current. By the end of November, I should have a better picture of how it will all work, and I'll update.
Meanwhile, if anyone else actually orders this unit through Amazon, message me, and I'll forward you the installation instructions from Beijing. It'll save you a lot of grief!
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