Tankless water heater

Gdetrailer wrote:
Sounds awful lot like a commercial for the company in question..

Something else you forget to mention in your commercial is tankless water heaters PLUG UP from mineral build up.. That means if you are not on city water (which is highly filtered and softened) you WILL be spending a lot of time CLEANING the tankless heater pipes..

Your city water may be highly filtered and softened but NOT here in AZ.

Water is very hard. So mineral build up IS a big issue.

As for the other aspects of your post.....I agree. Higher BTU, water volume needed for burner, temp control.

Other fact is temp of source water........70*F allows for better temp control than 50*F inlet temp.

Still have big question about RV use/benefit

Is the tankless water heater the same thing as an endless hot water system?

Just wondering.

Ron

Let me get this straight. This is for dry-camping; you're taking 10 to 15 minute showers!! Saves 50% propane ?? We do a lot of dry-camping, and nothing here rings a bell.

I'm with Gdetrailer above.

Doug

Sounds awful lot like a commercial for the company in question..

Personally, I looked at the idea of a tankless water heater.. Until a did some homework.. They simply do not "save" energy, in fact to get enough heat into the water they use a considerably LARGER, HIGHER BTU BURNER.

Temp control is a major complaint, they only can heat the water so far above the incoming water temp and water flow will change the amount DRASTICALLY.

Requires a MINIMUM WATER FLOW which typically is .5-1.5 gallons per minute just to turn on the burner.. This means you will use a lot of water in the process.

Something else you forget to mention in your commercial is tankless water heaters PLUG UP from mineral build up.. That means if you are not on city water (which is highly filtered and softened) you WILL be spending a lot of time CLEANING the tankless heater pipes..

So far, I have no problems getting a 15 minute shower without the need to turn the water on/off with a 6 gallon conventional water heater. Could even take that to 20 minutes if I wanted to..

The "trick", set the water so the shower head gives off a nice "pattern".. When done right you are mixing a lot of cold water with a little hot water (RV water heaters tend to output very high water temps, on the order of 130-135 degree) which allows you to use 1 gallon of hot for 2 or 3 gallons of cold. The result is a 10-15 minute shower if you use no more than 1 gallon of water per minute.

Tell us more! I have a Rinnai at my S&B as well. Is there a delay before hot water is actually flowing out of the faucet.

64thunderbolt wrote:
For those who dry camp I have done field testing on a new tankless heater for Truma corp. Test unit was installed in the spring and I used it several times throughout the summer. They are on the market now. In Nov they installed the production unit. This is one of the best mods I have ever done to a toy hauler. It has saved me approx 50% in propane use. I have taken showers as I do @ home letting it run continuously for 10/15 min and there was never a change in temp. No more reheating the tankful of water over & over. No more waiting for enough hot water. It is propane only and is absolutely wonderful for dry camping.

I am very interested in this, I have been a home user of a Rinnai propane tankless water heater for eight years now. is it really available and reliable now?