Any tips on the tankless water heater

I have a Girard tankless in my camper.. Used it for a couple of years now.. don't hate it.. but almost. I have learned to use it, but it's a pain in the a$$. Too hot or too cold. I have read all the directions.. called Girard and tried all their suggestions. It still sucks. You shouldn't have to jump through so many hoops.. just to take a nice shower.

As mentioned.. I have learned to use it well enough to take showers. I mostly always camp by myself, so no big deal. But I would never let a child take a shower in my camper... they would probably scald themselves.

Been thinking about replacing it with a regular gas/electric tanked water heater.. but since its only me.. I'll probably just save my money and live with it.

My opinion: If you have the choice upfront.. stay away from a tankless water heater.

We are looking seriously at the Jayco 31 UL as our next RV, first coach. It has the tankless water heater...I will find out this week what brand. I have always used a water regulator at the faucet and never any problems. But, my understanding was the regulator was under 35#. From this thread, it seems that 35# may not be enough to support the flow rate needed to properly operate the unit in the 31 UL. I will also need to find out if the onboard pump is an upgrade. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the prior contributions and discussions.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA
Darrell

We have tried for 3 years to use the tankless water heater on our unit, and finally have the solution.. we had it replaced with a standard atwood 6 gallon water heater. No more problems and it was worth every penny we spent to get it done.

We have a tankless water heater in our house and love it. The one thing that we were told was that you need to get sufficient flow to get it started. I know that all faucet aerators now require a flow restrictor and that was the first thing that we removed, to get the flow that we needed. I like the idea of not having to continue to turn the water on and off (and adjust it every time as well)during my shower.I am not a long shower taker, and being able to get in, shower and get out is very appealing to me. Seems lke a very good idea, and I look forward to seeing how it works in an RV.

Makes sense that there is mixed results with RV's. Tankless works on flow rate vs temperature rise. The higher the flow rate, the more burner, or burner(s) will activate and heat the water. The other part of the equation is the temperature rise. You need a good flow rate and high rate of heat for a temp rise from 50-120 degrees in a few inches. The problem with an RV application is the inconsistency of flow rate and temperature at different campgrounds. Sounds like it works for some, not for others. I am all for technology but to me good old fashioned lp tank heater works fine as it's not subject to variances. I have tankless in my house and it's saved us a lot of money. We are on a well and that will kill a conventional tank via minerals. With tankless there is no storage area to allow mineral accumulation. The other upside is that tankless is only "on" when there is water flow as opposed to a conventional tank that heats water all day. But with a 10 or 20 gal rv water heater it's as easy as turning it on an off. I don't see a big upside over a standard rv tank setup. And a huge downside unless conditions are optimum.

I was advised by a friend from the Forest River forums to lower the setting of the water temp on the water heater. This advice worked out great and the water temperature when showering stays consistent now.
Thanks to all who responded.

Look at Forest River forums and even Winnebago Via 25P discussions and you will see lots of problems, particularly when using the water pump or low flow/pressure situations. They both use Girard.

We have a tankless made by Jacuzi for our home. Works great. No idea about the RV heaters.

We have had our girard tankless for 3 years now and absolutely love it. First off your water pressure is way too low; 55-60+ will generate better results. The heaters are also impacted by the temp of the incoming water; the colder the better. When I installed the unit I replumbed my inlet lines to use a household style regulator and whole home water filter, removed restrictors from faucets, and made everything less rv and more sticks and bricks.

Unless you have the high end water pump you can not run these things off a standard on board water pump.

For hot water you use only the hot water knob not the cold. You need all of your incoming water flowing through the heater and not siphoned off to the cold lines.

Some of the systems were affected by the outdoor shower. Often people would turn on both valves on the outdoor shower and then shut the water off at the shower head, leaving the water on and causing a hot/cold mixing issue.

We got a new coach with an Oasis hydronic unit. We had some issues with cold showers the first couple of nights. I called Oasis and learned some things. First, the unit had a valve that could be opened allowing more hot water through the system. The tech also stated that if the campground water you're using is really cold, it can cause an issue. They recommended using the tank water with your pump and then refill the tank.

Lastly, we all want great water flow/pressure, but if you have too much flow, the water heater doesn't have a chance to heat the water.