Options to upgrade water heater?

[Robert6401]

Recently purchased a new to us 5th wheel TH. All of the research I did prior to purchase showed a 12 gal water heater. Coming from a 10 gal in previous rig, I was looking forward to a bigger tank. Unfortunately, I didn't check it in person before the purchase, and now after our first trip in the new rig realized that we have a 6 gal heater. What, are my best options to upgrade? I've read negative reviews on the tankless systems, but that would seemingly be a good option.

Please don't go into how I should be using less water, etc. We are a family of 6, so we are going to use water, that's just a fact. And wifey's not real happy right now, so I gotta do something to fix that!

[Robert6401]

dougrainer wrote:

WHERE did you get the replacement? Non RV 120 elements are longer. Both Atwood and Suburban state you can run the 120 elements up to 20 minutes dry with no damage. Doug

I got it at a local RV parts house. It's a suburban element.

[blofgren]

We have the 10 gallon Atwood XT water heater in our fiver and it is great. We can do dishes and then have leisurely showers back to back and not run out of hot water. We can actually shower much like we do at home and not have to have the "soap with water off" military type shower like one needs to with a 6 gallon tank. And this is using electric only. Our last fiver had the 10 gallon Atwood standard (non XT) water heater and the difference is noticeable with the XT model.

The only thing is we have to be careful when first drawing hot water from it because it is HOT!

Overall I would highly recommend it.

[dougrainer]

Robert6401 wrote:
I'm pretty sure I had burned out the electric heating element because I turned it on with the tank empty by accident for a little while this past weekend, so I replaced it. But, I am curious about the size difference. You can see the two different elements in the picture. It fit fine, so I installed it and tested it out and it seemed to work fine, but do I need to be concerned about the size difference? Hopefully by using both electric and gas at the same time, we will be able to reduce recovery time enough that it won't be as much of an issue when we go camping this weekend.

WHERE did you get the replacement? Non RV 120 elements are longer. Both Atwood and Suburban state you can run the 120 elements up to 20 minutes dry with no damage. Doug

[JesLookin]

Years ago when we ordered a new 5er we had a choice between a 6 or 10 gallon. I chose the 6 because that is what we were used to. We camp mostly in state parks that don't have water hookups. With the 6 gallon people were used to taking faster showers. Everybody survived and lived happily ever after.

[Robert6401]

I'm pretty sure I had burned out the electric heating element because I turned it on with the tank empty by accident for a little while this past weekend, so I replaced it. But, I am curious about the size difference. You can see the two different elements in the picture. It fit fine, so I installed it and tested it out and it seemed to work fine, but do I need to be concerned about the size difference? Hopefully by using both electric and gas at the same time, we will be able to reduce recovery time enough that it won't be as much of an issue when we go camping this weekend.

[dougrainer]

Robert6401 wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
Using both Gas and Electric, at the same time, if possible (not always) improves recovery time
Atwood makes a 10 gallon water heater that fits in a six gallon hat. What it does is over heat the water than mix cold in via an automatic mixing valve so you get 2/3 more hot water... NOTE: the mixing valve is an additional point of failure, but I've not heard bad things about them.

I'm not sure if this is what you were referring to with the Atwood, but it sounds pretty intriguing. Anyone with personal experience with one of these Atwood XT Water Heaters?


Atwood XT Water Heater

More info and diagram of system

The XT fits where the 10 gallon fits. What it does is heat the water HOTTER (160) than the normal 130/140 and then uses a mixing valve on the back to give 16 gallons of 130 degree water. VERY good idea. The only problem is the mixing valves do not do well in hard water systems. The minerals and debris clog the mixing valve. Doug

[Robert6401]

wa8yxm wrote:
Using both Gas and Electric, at the same time, if possible (not always) improves recovery time
Atwood makes a 10 gallon water heater that fits in a six gallon hat. What it does is over heat the water than mix cold in via an automatic mixing valve so you get 2/3 more hot water... NOTE: the mixing valve is an additional point of failure, but I've not heard bad things about them.

I'm not sure if this is what you were referring to with the Atwood, but it sounds pretty intriguing. Anyone with personal experience with one of these Atwood XT Water Heaters?


Atwood XT Water Heater

More info and diagram of system

[dougrainer]

Chris Bryant wrote:
Not cheap, but the Precision Temp RV-550 is a pretty good tankless unit- unlike most RV tankless units.

Sorry Chris, NONE of the RV tankless(LP) units are any good. I would NEVER install a Tankless for a customer. I HAVE replaced about a dozen of Tankless over the years with regular LP water Heaters. They (Girard and Precision temp) keep coming out with "fixes" and updated systems. But, I would never tell a customer to install one. Even the ALDE(hybrid Aqua Hot type--it uses LP and 120) system Airstream is using is NOT a good heater(combo furnace and water heater) for colder climates. Doug

[Chris_Bryant]

Not cheap, but the Precision Temp RV-550 is a pretty good tankless unit- unlike most RV tankless units.

[wa8yxm]

Using both Gas and Electric, at the same time, if possible (not always) improves recovery time
Atwood makes a 10 gallon water heater that fits in a six gallon hat. What it does is over heat the water than mix cold in via an automatic mixing valve so you get 2/3 more hot water... NOTE: the mixing valve is an additional point of failure, but I've not heard bad things about them.

Finally there is a type of water heater called a "Tankless" or "Demand". these run on Propane only.. And ONLY when hot water is requested,, So though they burn a lot of propane when running, they burn ZERO when you are not drawing HOT water.. The result is they use less,, over all.

The other advangage is they can heat 2 Gallons per minute easily to shower temp, You never run out of hot water unless you either Run out of A: water or B: propane.

[Old-Biscuit]

TakingThe5th wrote:
I would go with a Suburban gas/electric model. Old-Biscuit's Suburban numbers shows a 50% better recovery rate (BTUs) over the Atwood. If you run the propane and electric simultaneously then recovery will be impressive. Buy the largest heater that will fit in your space and you'll have a good amount of nearly continuous hot water.

Also spend a little time looking at your shower head. You might want to upgrade to something more efficient with water usage. We like our Oxygenetics-it mixes air in with the water to give more flow volume while using less water.

Suburban uses a higher BTU burner BUT the combustion/exhaust chamber is stack vertically on right side of tank
Atwood combustion/exhaust chamber is diagonal 'U' tube thru tank...more surface area
Both brands are very similar in recovery times (advantage Atwood)
Atwood
6.2 gal/hr electric
11.5--13.5 gal/hr propane (6-10 gal)
17.8--19.7 gal/hr combo gas/electric (6-10 gal)

Suburban
6 gal/hr electric
10.2 gal/hr propane
16.2 gal/hr combo gas/electric

[TakingThe5th]

I would go with a Suburban gas/electric model. Old-Biscuit's Suburban numbers shows a 50% better recovery rate (BTUs) over the Atwood. If you run the propane and electric simultaneously then recovery will be impressive. Buy the largest heater that will fit in your space and you'll have a good amount of nearly continuous hot water.

Also spend a little time looking at your shower head. You might want to upgrade to something more efficient with water usage. We like our Oxygenetics-it mixes air in with the water to give more flow volume while using less water.

[Robert6401]

westend wrote:
You sound like just the right user for an auxiliary water heater. This is a system where an additional heater is tapped into the hot water lines to provide auxiliary heating when the main heater drops in temperature.

There was a member,here, who installed this system and had praise for it. Sorry, memory fails but a search of the Forum may turn it up. IIRC, he looped the hot water supply into the auxiliary heater at the back of the RV (may have used the ladder as a holder), no alteration to the RV except lengthening the hot water supply line was needed.

I did a thorough search and wasn't able to find anything on this, but I'm very interested if anyone can help point me in the right direction.

[Aridon]

You cut the opening just like you'd cut anything else. Really not a big deal other than between the ears. After you do it a few times you won't think twice. So long as the exterior is covered and sealed properly it is no different than the 50 other holes that got cut in it at the factory. IN fact your hole will probably be over sealed comparatively.