Hot Water Replacement
I need to replace my 20 year old water heater in my Fifth Wheel. I am wondering if the On-Demand heaters are a good choice? I currently have a suburban 6 Gallon SW DE. or it just better to stick with ...
Forum Discussion
ernie1 wrote:
I've had a Truma od water heater in my 2018 rv for four years and have had zero problems with it and plenty of continuous very hot water. Certainly hot enough to be super uncomfortable and maybe cause an injury. Dunno about others but am I just lucky?
A lot has to do with the starting water temp, how fast the water is flowing and how many BTUs of heat energy the burner can supply.
In temperate places you might start out with water temps above say 80F+ and at those temps takes no time and not all that much heat energy to raise the temp to say 120F at only 1 or 2 GPM..
Now in colder climates you might be starting with water temps of say 50F and now it takes a lot of heat energy to raise to the same 120F and to get there you might have to have the water at .5GPM which may or may not trigger the burner on or may result in burner on/off/on/off cycles..
ODs do have an hidden enemy, dissolved minerals in the water, the high temps of the flame causes the minerals to fall out of the water and were they fall is in the tubes of the unit which eventually leads to mineral clogs if you do not do periodic de mineral maintenance. Untreated well water tends to have much higher mineral content than say highly processed city water.. Therefore, city water is preferred for ODs but even then some maintenance should be done on a regular basis..
I was going to replace my sticks and bricks tank water heater once after having multiple tank failures.. Discussed the idea of switching the house to a OD with a plumber.. Even the plumber told me that I was better off sticking with a tank water heater.. And no, I was not buying from or needing the plumber, was trying to get the scoop before committing a huge chunk of money on a project that was destined to fail..
My water is supplied by my own well, has an extreme high mineral content and that is after a large water softener.. The water temp out of the well is 50F yr round.. Would have to replumb 20ft of gas line to 3/4" in order to supply enough BTUs in gas to the water heater.. Three strikes..
