water heater

[rondar]

Has anyone used a tankless water heater? I have been pricing water heaters and im not sure 300 to 500 is in our budget for a new one. If anyone has could you let me know the brand. they have a lot of mixed reviews.

[David B.]

I was looking at the tankless water heater in an Oliver trailer at Quartzsite Az this last weekend, and they use a Truma AquaGo. I couldn't find the price on their website, but under discussion of tankless water heaters that can be mounted IN an RV it was mentioned that they typically go for twice the price of a 6 to 10 gallon tank version.
Dave & Paula

[Johnny M]

I bought a Fastair brand digital tankless for about $80 on Ebay 2 years ago and mounted it to the tongue. It works great. You can see photos of it on my thread Our 1971 13' Boler Mods on this site.

[redbarron55]

[Johnny M]

The one RedBarron55 posted is the same one I have. I mounted it on the tongue like he did, only his enclosure is a lot nicer than mine, which is just mounted to the tongue with a homemade bracket. It works very well to I might add.

[MK Evenson]

What's in the box with front vent next to the water heater, in back of tank?
Is it AC? Where did you move the battery?

Mark

[redbarron55]

The tan box is the Heat Pump condenser part of a mini-split.
For weight and balance the battery is under the driver's side bunk behind the wheel . It is vented to the outside

I modified the cell caps and tied them into a manifold to the outside after this picture was taken

[MK Evenson]

Thanks.

Mark

[Joe MacDonald]

if you want to do the work, and your gas valve is in good shape, you can always just change the tank, I bought a new tank on ebay, with electrical heating unit as well for $178.00

[Bernese Bunch]

Has anyone installed an ELECTRIC on-demand hot water heater in their RV? Don't mind spending money for a nice, long, hot shower. I camp primarily at campgrounds having electric and water hook-ups.

[redbarron55]

I believe that the power draw would excessive for showers

[steve dunham]

I've installed electric on demand water heaters in residential , commercial and industrial applications . In order to get HOT water at a sufficient flow rate and obtain the necessary temperature rise for a shower you would need a large unit.
The ones we installed for showers drew 30 to 60 amps at 240 VAC. Since your trailer electrical service is only 30 amps at 120 VAC , there is a problem .
We often installed tempering tanks to prewarm the water going into the on demand water heater. Ground water temperatures are often in the 40 to 50 deg F range
Check the flow rate and temperature rise of the heater you want to use. May work well for sink use but not for showering.
A propane on demand water heater may be a better solution because the BTU imput is much higher than an electric unit.

[redbarron55]

The LP gas units are cheap and have plenty of capacity for showers as long as you want.
It is a little tricky to get the temperature right to start.
The Fastar is pretty adjustable with a selection for winter and summer and flow and temperature.
The problem is more that you will have more capacity than you need and to get the flow to turn on the heater you will have to adjust for the temp you want with just the hot valve and mixing hot and cold is harder until you get used to it.
If there were a good way to adjust from the inside it would be perfect.
I couldn't figure out a good way to mount the unit except on the tongue, but you might be brighter than I am.

[Bernese Bunch]

Thanks, Steve Dunham. After doing additional research it does seem impossible. Perhaps technology will advance! I do already have natural gas fired on demand in my home and absolutely love it. However, I won't go that route for trailer as it is all electric and I have no plans on adding propane. Thanks for the great explanation.

[Johnny M]

Originally Posted by Bernese Bunch

Thanks, Steve Dunham. After doing additional research it does seem impossible. Perhaps technology will advance! I do already have natural gas fired on demand in my home and absolutely love it. However, I won't go that route for trailer as it is all electric and I have no plans on adding propane. Thanks for the great explanation.

Bernese,
I understand your reservations about going to propane from all electric, but, you don't have to run lines through your trailer for propane. You can simply mount the propane water heater to the trailer tongue and use a short regulator and hose that runs straight to the tankless water heater from the propane cylinder. And instead of using a 20 lb cylinder like I do you could use a small Coleman cylinder like redbarron55 does. Then all that has to be done is run water line to and from the tankless water heater. Tankless water heater was less than $100 including shipping, hardware to install including water lines less than $50, then add you propane source. Here is a picture of my setup:

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Bernese Bunch

Thanks, Steve Dunham. After doing additional research it does seem impossible. Perhaps technology will advance! I do already have natural gas fired on demand in my home and absolutely love it. However, I won't go that route for trailer as it is all electric and I have no plans on adding propane. Thanks for the great explanation.

It takes X amount of BTUs to heat X amount of water, X number of degrees , in X amount of time . It's hard to change the laws of physics . The reason that electric water heaters have a slower recovery rate than a gas water heater is directly rated to BTU imput.
I am glad your experience with on demand water heaters has been good . My experience has been mixed . When used in low demand situations they have worked ok but in high demand situations where hot water was required on a continuos basis for long periods of time , the failure rate was unacceptable.
If one wants to take long , hot showers with sufficient water flow then propane is really the only option. If you wish to stay with an all electric than a storage water heater is probably the only solution
We have an all electric home so I understand your dilemma.
Good luck or on the other hand you could learn to like cold showers

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Bernese Bunch

.... However, I won't go that route for trailer as it is all electric...

And what trailer would that be? Your profile says you are still shopping.