Tankless water heater

[shirleyj62]

We are new owners of a Jayco Precept MH. We are currently in our second week of using it. One thing we are having a difficult time with is the tankless water heater.

Not only are we suffering from the scorching hot/freezing cold syndrome of the water, but we are also concerned about the amount of water usage. Most of our camping is done at state parks, COE, or county parks. The majority of these are not full hookups. In the past we took "navy" showers so we could limit the amount of gray water in our tank. The tankless water does not seem to like the off/on of the water. In addition prior camping units ran on either propane or electric. We always used the electric conserving our propane.

We have tried talking to our dealer about switching out the tankless water heater for the conventional water heater. So far he has been reluctant to even discuss it.

Has anyone else switched out their water heater? If so, may I ask how expensive it is to do so?

Any other advice/suggestions you may have would be welcome.

Thank you,

Shirley

[xctraveler]

As mentioned above we have a Precision Temp Tankless WH. I am considering changing it out for a Truma. It is not "tankless" as it has a 1.5 liter tank that is kept hot so long as it is on. Therefore there is always hot water available while the heater is firing up to provide a constant flow of hot water.

It seems they have studied all the other tankless heaters and tried to avoid the issues they have. I am not employed by or related to Truma in any way, just a volunteer shill 🙂 because I WANT one:B

[et2]

Thanks for this post. I was considering switching to a tankless. I wondered about their performance. Now maybe not so interested.

Just a thought, I know a tank style water heater has a mixer valve. Our was bad since we had it. Just replaced it a few weeks ago. We were getting inconstant water temps due to it being bad. Does a tankless have one? If so maybe that's something to look at for troubles.

[tsetsaf]

The space taken by a tankless is the same as the smallest of normal water heaters. You will need to measure the opening and depth to make sure it will be plug and play. There are many that would gladly trade straight up your on demand for their standard wh. If the rig is not already wired for it your biggest hassle will be adding 120 service for the new water heater.

I would guess the price to swap to a 10-12 gal wh will be about $2-2.5k including the new wh.

[xctraveler]

shirleyj62 wrote:
Thanks for the comments.

To answer some of the questions:

Our tankless heater is a Girard. It is propane fired since our MH is a gasser.

When I mentioned that our dealer won't talk with us about replacing it we have been trying to get him to give us an estimate on replacement of a conventional water heater. Instead he has contacted other past buyers in our area and they have phoned us trying to resolve our problems. We are not asking them to make the change for free, we are asking what it would cost US to replace it.

Shirley

Time for you to get in touch with Girard directly for help. I don't have the contact information but surely a google search will get a service number.

I have read several similar complaints about the Girard on other forums. If your dealer won't even talk about swapping it out at your expense it is time to find another service shop for ALL of your work. That is just lame! They make a profit on the unit and on the labor, can't understand their refusal to quote the job.

[Mr_Mark1]

holstein13 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:

holstein13 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Shirley, I guess my question is.... are you sure that the tankless is working properly?

We have a hot water tank AND a tankless for the shower. I turn off the shower to lather up and the water is hot no matter how long I keep it off and then restart.

MM.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'd imagine your tankless is diesel powered, not propane. Am I right?

Ours is electric as we don't have propane on board. Our diesel Webasto system will heat water similar to an Aqua-Hot. We have a 20 gallon electric water heater.

MM.

By definition, the 20 gallon electric water heater is not "tankless." So if you are getting a "tankless" instant on heater, it's coming from your diesel burner. Otherwise, you are getting your hot water from your 20 gallon electric water heater.

I will check, the owner told me that we have a separate tankless for the shower and I have the diesel off as we are connected to shore power.

MM.

[shirleyj62]

Thanks for the comments.

To answer some of the questions:

Our tankless heater is a Girard. It is propane fired since our MH is a gasser.

When I mentioned that our dealer won't talk with us about replacing it we have been trying to get him to give us an estimate on replacement of a conventional water heater. Instead he has contacted other past buyers in our area and they have phoned us trying to resolve our problems. We are not asking them to make the change for free, we are asking what it would cost US to replace it.

Shirley

[xctraveler]

OP has not been back so we don't even know what tankless they have, all else is conjecture. I doubt it is diesel fired given the coach is a gasser. I have aPrecision Temp 500 and have struggled with it for 3 years -love/hate. When the wind is blowing on the heater it blows out the flame, cold shower follows 😞 We have added factory suggested fixes and it is better, not perfect. Maybe the 550 would not be as subject to wind.

Freezing temps are another problem as the freeze protection is inadequate when traveling in freezing weather and the hot water side must be winterized before going on the road. Since we travel often and sometimes run into freeze this could be a real issue.

This is still a work in process.

[holstein13]

Mr.Mark wrote:

holstein13 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Shirley, I guess my question is.... are you sure that the tankless is working properly?

We have a hot water tank AND a tankless for the shower. I turn off the shower to lather up and the water is hot no matter how long I keep it off and then restart.

MM.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'd imagine your tankless is diesel powered, not propane. Am I right?

Ours is electric as we don't have propane on board. Our diesel Webasto system will heat water similar to an Aqua-Hot. We have a 20 gallon electric water heater.

MM.

By definition, the 20 gallon electric water heater is not "tankless." So if you are getting a "tankless" instant on heater, it's coming from your diesel burner. Otherwise, you are getting your hot water from your 20 gallon electric water heater.

[Mr_Mark1]

holstein13 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Shirley, I guess my question is.... are you sure that the tankless is working properly?

We have a hot water tank AND a tankless for the shower. I turn off the shower to lather up and the water is hot no matter how long I keep it off and then restart.

MM.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'd imagine your tankless is diesel powered, not propane. Am I right?

Ours is electric as we don't have propane on board. Our diesel Webasto system will heat water similar to an Aqua-Hot. We have a 20 gallon electric water heater.

MM.

[Mr_Mark1]

Ivylog wrote:
MM, comparing a $100K small Class A with 60 gallons of water and a tankless heater to your $1.8 million DP with 150 gallons of water and a AquaHot were I doubt you shut the water off during a shower???????
OP, follow Doug's advice. It might be possible to move it closer to the shower for less $$$ than replacing it.

Ivylog, the point that I was trying to make is to make sure her tankless is working properly. It might be that this is not the type of hot water set-up that works for her but I've never heard of anyone having problems with a tankless on these forums.

MM.

[Dale_Traveling]

I would first work with the heater manufacture. Tank less heaters work with water flow. Not enough flow and they won't come on. Might be the thermostat is set too high and your attempts to get of comfortable water temp may not be enough to trigger the system.

Replacing the tank less is certainly an option considering both a tank or tank less have pretty much the same foot print but you'll looking at a bill of over a $1000 to make the change (cost of the new heater, new propane lines and associated labor at around $100 hour). Plus the original coach builder warranty probably won't cover the new heater which might complicate matters.

[Ivylog]

MM, comparing a $100K small Class A with 60 gallons of water and a tankless heater to your $1.8 million DP with 150 gallons of water and a AquaHot were I doubt you shut the water off during a shower???????
OP, follow Doug's advice. It might be possible to move it closer to the shower for less $$$ than replacing it.

[dougrainer]

shirleyj62 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
Isn't this a duplicate of a few days ago?
If not, search this Forum for `tankless' and read on.

This is not a duplicate. Since our dealer will not discuss removing the tankless heater, I'm trying to figure out if this is even an option for us regarding costs and hassle. I'm hoping that those persons who had it removed, could give us a ballpark figure of what it costs them.

Thanks

Shirley

What do you mean he will not discuss it?? If you mean you want HIM to replace at NO CHARGE, then I understand why he won't discuss it. You can replace with a conventional Water Heater, but that means spending about $1000. Tankless Water Heaters need continuous operation and doing "navy" type showers makes them run hot and cold. Make sure ALL the air is out of your water system. Check the outside shower and flush a few gallons of water thru it to make sure the air is out of its lines. ANY small air pocket anywhere in the fresh water system will cause Tankless to run fickle. Doug

[holstein13]

Mr.Mark wrote:
Shirley, I guess my question is.... are you sure that the tankless is working properly?

We have a hot water tank AND a tankless for the shower. I turn off the shower to lather up and the water is hot no matter how long I keep it off and then restart.

MM.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'd imagine your tankless is diesel powered, not propane. Am I right?