Convert to tankless?

[nosebreaker]

We picked up our Class C last weekend, and as expected it doesn't have hot water long enough for my wife to shower and wash her hair. We were planning to add a tankless propane heater to it (currently has 6 gallon standard one now) but I have been reading about problems with them. Some people say they don't provide consistent hot water, and to me that defeats the purpose! Has anyone converted to one comment?

[time2roll]

shastagary wrote:
if you have room you could change out your water heater for a 10 or 12 gallon water heater Suburban SW12DE Water Heater

+1 to just get a larger tank.
And by all means run it on both propane and electric when available.

Do you have an Oxygenics RV Shower Head ($25) to conserve hot water? It does give a satisfying spray.

[nosebreaker]

Ah I see, I meant that because we won't always have hookups I want a PROPANE or a COMBO tankless system vs ELECTRIC-ONLY tankless system. We are only expecting to not have full hookups less than 10% of the time on the trip we have planned.

And yes, for those few times we are in national parks or similar places without full hookups we will conserve water and my wife won't wash her hair those days.

We're likely to even get a portable dishwasher for convenience, and those use significant water also! We really plan to have hookups quite often, my wife might not go on the trip if its too "rough".

Our MH is a 2018 Winnebago. It came with a standard 6gal propane water heater. Now the only question is which tankless system to get! Ideally a combo electric/propane tankless system with adjustable temperature.

[CharlesinGA]

nosebreaker wrote:
I didn't expect to keep getting replies on this!

I say that it isn't a problem because 90% of the time we will have hookups. There are a few times we won't but during those times my wife won't wash her hair. I'm not talking about 45min showers, just more than the 6min you get with the existing 6gal system.

Well, you keep getting comments because of what you wrote in your second post.........

nosebreaker wrote:
I believe it is only propane, not electric and propane. I was planning on replacing with a tankless propane system as we won't always have hookups. Water conservation isn't a concern.

You implied that you would rarely have hookups.

My very limited experience is that many campgrounds have power, and water, but few public owned (Nat Parks, State Parks, etc) have sewer. You will be staying it private parks and "resorts" to get sewer, and paying the price.

Too late now, few read the entire thread before they make their post, so you are going to get more comments.

I agree however, you need to learn and practice the "navy shower" method for those occasions where you decide to stay in a state park or a national park and enjoy the beauty, scenery and nature, and don't have hook ups. Many parks in the west only have power.

I have the standard RV type shower head with the shut off valve, it leaves the head dribbling so the water temp stays OK and you don't forget it is still turned on.

Being constantly pressurized with park water is another whole discussion, as many have issues with having pressure on all the time (I do) knowing the design and quality of the plumbing fittings, fixtures, etc in a RV. Quality of park water is another discussion also.

You don't give any info on your MH but I find it hard to believe that any MH built in the past 15 years doesn't have 120v in addition to the propane for the water heater.

Charles

[T18skyguy]

Sorry to sway a little off topic, but I looked into the tankless for my home also. There are plenty of Youtube video's on it. The flip side for tankless is they are complex, and the cost of parts and maintenance is high. They sock it to you good. For that reason alone some homeowners with tankless switched back to regular water heater. I suppose we'll find out if the principle is the same with tankless in our rigs.

[Rick_Jay]

Thanks for the reply T18skyguy. The on-demand unit we have in our house actually came with a wired temperature control remote that can be mounted in a convenient location. I was going to install it near the kitchen sink, but so far we've seemed to settle on the 122* setting for most uses.

You brought up another good point about trickling water to wash dishes. The system needs a minimum flow to fire the burner, so if the hot water is trickling, the burner won't fire and the water turns cold. I suspect this is what also happens in RVs with the shut-offs on the shower head which allow a trickle. The on-demand heater shuts off and starts filling the hot water line with cold water. When the valve opens up, the person in the shower gets the dose of cold water before the hot water starts flowing again.

Thanks again,

~Rick

[Bumpyroad]

what you need to do is combine a tankless WH with a whole house RO system so that you could require draining hundreds of gallons of water .
bumpy

[T18skyguy]

Rick Jay wrote:
T18skyguy,

Just a question if I may. If you keep the water heater set at 105 degrees so you can bath without adding any cold water to the mix, is the water at the sink hot enough to wash dishes with? 105* is probably hotter than I like my showers, so I'm just curious. The tankless system we have in the house is set at 122*, and I think it should be a bit hotter for dishwashing. We keep it set low at 122 so in case any of the "little kids" visiting hit the hot water at a sink, they won't scald themselves, otherwise I'd bump it up a bit. 105 seems a bit on the cool side, but I guess it depends upon what you're used to.

~Rick

I don't know how high the thermostat will go, but the beauty of tankless is you can set it what ever you want and within a minute it's there. The issue would be if you want to do dishes while someone showers then that would be a problem. The rule for dishes would be the same. Set the temperature and turn on the faucet and leave it. Tankless does not like on and off. Where there can be a problem is when you want to trickle the water to rinse plates. If it doesn't get the flow the tankless shuts down. Tankless is not so good for people who do a lot of dry camping. It's not made to save water. We use 105 degrees for everything including dishes. I did try setting it at 112 to shower but it was way too hot for me. I don't miss the campground showers, but my wife and daughter still use them out of habit. One important thing to remember is that static pressure is always higher than running pressure You need to have the static pressure high enough so that the running pressure keeps the tankless happy. I find running pressure to be about 20 PSI lower than static. I can't say enough good things about the adjustable Rinaldo pressure gauge. Very high quality and go it on Amazon.

[paddykernahan]

I wish I would have had an option when we bought our MH. Came with a Girard tankless water heater. very difficult to maintain constant temperature. Will fluctuate between freezing and melting your skin off. I designed a hot water recirculation system that has made this unit more tolerable. Have heard that Truma works better than the Girard. I'm still seeing if I can live with it but wish I had a tank water heater.

[shastagary]

so here is the one the op should buy and let us know how it works On Demand Tankless RV Water Heater and he could add the fancy controller for it On Demand Control Center here is a video i would be interested to know how well it works Tankless Water Heater

[nosebreaker]

I didn't expect to keep getting replies on this!

I say that it isn't a problem because 90% of the time we will have hookups. There are a few times we won't but during those times my wife won't wash her hair. I'm not talking about 45min showers, just more than the 6min you get with the existing 6gal system.

[Rick_Jay]

T18skyguy,

Just a question if I may. If you keep the water heater set at 105 degrees so you can bath without adding any cold water to the mix, is the water at the sink hot enough to wash dishes with? 105* is probably hotter than I like my showers, so I'm just curious. The tankless system we have in the house is set at 122*, and I think it should be a bit hotter for dishwashing. We keep it set low at 122 so in case any of the "little kids" visiting hit the hot water at a sink, they won't scald themselves, otherwise I'd bump it up a bit. 105 seems a bit on the cool side, but I guess it depends upon what you're used to.

~Rick

[T18skyguy]

I have a tankless in my 2017 Greyhawk and really like it. You have to know how to operate it properly. Tankless needs correct pressure and constant flow.The typical brass pressure reducers for RV's will frequently drop the pressure too low. You need an adjustable pressure regulator like a Rinaldo to maintain 40-50 psi in the rig. You don't need to add any cold water. The tempearture is set at the thermostat(105 degrees) and you just turn the hot on full and leave it that way. Nice long hot shower. I leave the grey valve open and attach a hose so the grey doesn't overflow. I have a Girard, but if you retrofit I would go with the Truma. It is able to be cleaned of scale easily and the Girard is not.

[garyhaupt]

nosebreaker wrote:
I appreciate everyone telling me that basically my wife needs to "tough it out" and deal with navy showers, but I'm saying that if that's the case we are not going on any trips and we are selling the RV. My wife isn't the "roughing it" kind of woman, she has long hair and takes time with her appearance. One of the reasons we got a motor home instead of a trailer is that it makes the trip easier. I don't view installing a tankless system as being a big problem, if it makes her ok with the RV then it is well worth it. That being said, I will investigate that the system is working properly before switching over. I shower just fine without shutting hot water off at all!

And you are not alone. My partner, she of long red hair and a lady that has to do her 'face' before anything else, is a case in point. The thing is, for us, is that she loves being out in the RV, so making it work, was a great motivator. The Navy shower thing she decided if that was had to happen? She would do that. Hair...well, that is truly a 'red-line' for us. We boondock all..ALL.. the time, so this is our deal. If we are off in the weeds, she will go three days without doing her hair. Then..it's hair day, she still does the Navy shower thing, to ensure hot water. (At home..let her try the hot water on steady and see where it ends.) And then we are off to replenish the water tank. Wouldn't be the first time I was dumping and refilling..showering and hair and then refilling all in the same spot, too (moving out of the way off course).

Gary Haupt

[Photomike]

nosebreaker I understand your issues. My wife has a thing that she will only camp in campgrounds with washrooms / with showers and the campgrounds cannot be to remote, makes for a challenge. I have started to leave her at home more than I take her as she is happier that way.

I have had an instant hot water heater at home and I loved it as once you turn it on you NEVER run out of hot water but if you are not on hook-ups with the RV forget it. You will be out of water or your waste tanks will be full before she is done a shower. Your comment of " I was planning on replacing with a tankless propane system as we won't always have hookups. Water conservation isn't a concern." Without hook-ups you are in BIG trouble. The only RV that I have seen with big enough tanks is a huge Class A and even with that after a day of long showers the fresh water was low and the waste tanks high.

AS far as if they work giving hot water for long showers yes they work. Our church bought a pile of portable ones that we used at a kids camp and they would run for 3 or 4 hours while the girls all showered. Only issue with the portable ones were they used a D cell to fire them and these died after a day but that will not apply to a built in one.

I wish I had a solution for you but honestly long showers without hoot-ups will be a problem. Maybe go with the instant hot water heater and with hook-ups, yes you will be more limited to campgrounds but that would allow what your wife wants.

[Blutoyz]

nosebreaker wrote:
I appreciate everyone telling me that basically my wife needs to "tough it out" and deal with navy showers, but I'm saying that if that's the case we are not going on any trips and we are selling the RV. My wife isn't the "roughing it" kind of woman, she has long hair and takes time with her appearance. One of the reasons we got a motor home instead of a trailer is that it makes the trip easier. I don't view installing a tankless system as being a big problem, if it makes her ok with the RV then it is well worth it. That being said, I will investigate that the system is working properly before switching over. I shower just fine without shutting hot water off at all!

Happy wife = Happy life

In all honesty though it is really not "toughing it out" to shower like that on trips. It is just a matter of changing a habit during a shower, it won't change how clean you get. I would give it a try before you think about changing things out or worse, just throwing in the towel.

In the end it is your rig and your $$$ so whatever you decide is the correct choice