Tankless water heaters

[livingez123]

Hi everyone, it's been a long time.

I'm going to be upgrading to a tankless water heater and would like everyone's thoughts.

 

I have it narrowed down to the Girard Gswh 2 or the Atwood tankless.

 

There is only $10 difference between the 2 units.

 

I can't see the point on keeping 10gal of water hot 24/7, now I do realize the burners are up 50,000btu compared to the

 

12,000btu of the tank model and I still believe that will use much less propane.

 

Any thoughts or experience with either unit would be greatly appreciated.

[MrSeas]

Lots of info on line concerning these units. Do your research before you decide on going to tankless.

There are some others you did no mention that might be a better choice.

[JC and Angie]

I have the Gerard and it works great.

[Jack Mayer]

I was curious why you did not consider the AquaGo, until I realized you still cannot buy them after-market. Only as an OEM.

 

HERE is my test report on the Truma. After a year of use in very cold weather and up to 8500' elevation I'm totally satisfied. It works exactly as you would want. Highly recommended if you ca get one.

[budeneighe]

Though not one of the units you mentioned, in 2006 I replaced the 10gal Suburban DSI tank heater in my 1999 King of the Road with a PrecisionTemp RV500. I bought it used for about $600. The only problem I have had was that someone let it freeze and I had to replace a couple of the thermistors. I also replaced the circuit board, mostly to get updated electronics and ROM.

 

It has been fantastic and I have never wished to go back to a tank heater. However, diagnosing the bad thermistors took a lot of trial and error frustration, but that was on me because I am cheap and would not just replace all 3 of them on principal.

 

Unlike some of the tankless units, it does try to keep the output temperature constant with fluctuations in pressure and the temperature of incoming water.

 

A few great things about it are:

• doing the laundry, one load right after the other. The 10 gal could never fill a large load on warm with even tepid water and that was with both the Gas and Electric heating on simultaneously. All wash and rinse after that was always cold water.
• warming up my fibromyalgic muscles
• bathing the dog
• Warming up completely after being outside in the cold rain.

Yes, it uses gas but I have honestly found that it uses no more than the tank. I just use it more, because I can.

 

It is the only thing that we use Gas for besides the furnaces so this was easy to track in Florida.

 

If the units you are looking into can maintain a responsive output water temp without having to keep adjusting the water flow in a shower to keep it the same temp, then great. I am just more of a set it and forget it guy.

[richfaa]

We have 12 Gallon tank. We do not keep the tank heaters on 24/7.The tank is heated maybe 6 hours a day Propane or electric. Might save on propane with a thankless but they are high on electric usage.

[LindaH]

We have a Girard tankless water heater that came with the motorhome when we bought it. I would NEVER have another one in any subsequent RV! Although I've learned to live with it, I hate it, particularly when I'm taking a shower and it continually goes from hot to cold. If it could be done or done at a reasonable price, I'd change it out for a 6-gallon water heater. We never had problems with any of the tank water heaters we've had.

[GlennWest]

Do believe Truma loosing a lot of business not offering their unit aftermarket. I would love to have one. Sure others would too.

[livingez123]

Thanks for all of the replies and input.

 

The Precision unit is very nice, but it's twice the cost and I'm sure you get what you do get what you pay for. The new Girard Gswh2 seems to be much improved over the Gswh1. The Atwood, also has a modulating gas valve system. If price was no object, I would get the Precision, but being on a very tight budget and still wanting to upgrade I'm leaning towards the Girard. I live by myself most of the time and I just can't justify keeping 10gal of water hot all of the time. Turning it off doesn't make any sense either because it take so long to heat it up. These are my thoughts though.

[richfaa]

Interesting comments. The water does not take long to heat up in fact if you turn on both the electric and gas it heats fast.

We are never in real cold weather and even when we turn off the tank at night after we are done with dishes, showers the water is still warm in the AM . I do not take long showers or navy showers and have not run out of hot water. The wife takes longer showers but have not heard her scream that the water is cold. After years of Rv'ing we have learned to manage resources. We did investigate tankless hot water for the S&B and the 5th wheel but the systems are expensive and expensive to operate.

Bottom line is it is the individuals $$ and they can spend them as they wish.

[Jim Gell]

I noticed how high I set the water pressure on our adjustable regulator has a major impact on how long it takes to run our 10 gallon tank out of hot water. At high pressure I get a great powerful shower, but can use up the whole 10 gallons pretty quick. On lower pressure, Cathy and I could take showers one right after the other without running out.

 

All we have in the shower is the mixing valve, but I plan to add another valve to adjust the volume to conserve water or turn it on and off for "navy" showers without messing with temperature settings on the mixing valve.

 

I am following this thread as I figure our 11 year old Suburban is probably going to need replacement in the not to distant future. What is the typical life expectancy?

[livingez123]

My Suburban 10gal made it until last week, it's a 2006. I should have replaced it a year ago as preemptive maintenance. All it took was for a big burner back fire to make it start leaking.