Tankless Water Heater

4X4 Dodger is absolutely correct in his post. The way we do in this country is a crime. It is so wasteful and expensive. Europeans literally laugh at us for our backward view on Hot Water. Remember fuel is very expensive over there and has been for many years.

lawnspecialties wrote:
I know these are still new. But not a whole lot of reports on them yet.

Does anyone have a tankless water heater on their camper? If so, how do you like it?

I must admit, we've never had any complaints for the most part from traditional water heaters on a camper. But if something is getting better, I'm open to change. Just not sure if it is better.

Tankless water heaters are NOT new. They have been used around the world in homes and businesses and RV's for many years. They are only "new" here in the states.

The ones I have used have worked perfectly and in fact have very hot water whether they are propane or electric.

There are always nay-sayers at anything new. Change is frightening to many. Sooner or later, and I hope it's sooner, our homes will all have these and we will stop the truly wasteful habit of keeping 40 gallons of water hot all the time.

Hi,

Tankless water RV heaters are not so good. If they are used in a cold climate, such as Oregon when the temperature is only 45F water inlet, the water will only get 'warmed' while in a area like Florida, with 65 or 70F inlet water, it will work great, heating all the water you might need to 105F.

However due to the water pump changing flow each minute, the flow switch might shut off while you are showering. SO yes there are problems with a RV using a gas tankless water heater.

That said, I have a portable tankless L5 water heater with a 37,000 Btu input, rated to heat 5 liters per minute from 65 to 105F. Because my inlet water temp was only about 45F, my 6 gallon hot water tank would run out in only a couple of minutes, and I did not 'enjoy' my showers in the winter. So by using the tankless water heater to fill my 100 gallon fresh water tank, I could warm that tank to 85F and it kept my bedroom warmer too! After 2 days, it would cool down to about 65F, and still offered a long hot shower, I timed them at 15 minutes with warm inlet water and only 4 minutes with 45F water.

The L5 water heater is only about $140 at Amazon.com and the larger 55,000 Btu L-10 water heater is only a few dollars more. Both are designed for portable use, and can be hooked up to a garden hose, and would be easy to fill the fresh water tank, or take outside showers, or be used to wash a horse, ect.

I also camped with a friend and his 40' DP, with a 10 gallon gas/electric water heater. That is what I want in my next RV!

Good luck,

Fred.

We had a portable on demand Ecco Temp from our pop up days. We added it to the TT as a pre-heater where the water comes from the on demand then flows through the on board gas/electric HWH then to the shower head/faucet. Powered by a 20lb LP tank which we also use for the portable firepit. We get over a year out of a 20 pound tank, travelling 70+ nights a year.

Works perfectly. Link here

I had a tank less water heater in Europe during the Mid 50's. It was in my home, almost every home had them, they consider water tanks as being ridiculous. I never had any problem with mine. It always worked just fine, you could take one shower right after the other and never run out of hot water. I at first worried about the open gas flame in the water coils, but soon realized we do the same thing with gas water heaters here. Now in an RV with all the shaking and twisting going on I am not sure I would feel that comfortable with them.

lawnspecialties wrote:
I know these are still new. But not a whole lot of reports on them yet.

Does anyone have a tankless water heater on their camper? If so, how do you like it?

I must admit, we've never had any complaints for the most part from traditional water heaters on a camper. But if something is getting better, I'm open to change. Just not sure if it is better.

On demand water heaters require the water flow to be restricted so the water can get heated. I have one in my barn for the horse wash rack. If there is low water pressure coming in it will not work well. Mine runs off a 20lb propane tank and works well for that. Would I have one in my home or MH? Probably not. The water flow is used to run the piezio ignitor and then the gas kicks in. Just a few things that can go wrong. Traditional water heaters heat a tank of water. Not much that can go wrong there although I have replaced the ignitor on my home water heater twice in the 15 years I've been there.

For previous posts on this subject search this Forum for `tankless' and make up your mind. I would never have one on our camper but that's us.

That's what I was thinking. If we order a camper, I'll opt out of that I think.

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