Pros and Cons with tankless water heaters vs tank water heaters

Velos · July 8, 2021

What are the Pros and Cons of tank-less water heaters in your experience in RV's and or stick n bricks?

Chalkie · July 8, 2021

In RVs I do not have an opinion, but in a home I think they are awesome! We had a gas one in our home in Spain and an electric one in our home in Scotland. The gas one was more efficient by far.

They are far more common in Europe than the US but then I think the US is behind a lot of other countries when it comes to things like this.

I think it could be good in an RV but I would sure like to see more real life feedback on that before I would change.

steiny93 · July 8, 2021

We currently have both tanked and tankless in a couple homes. Tankless are slick if you need unlimited hot water, pressure washer in a shop for example, or zero cost when not in use, at a vacation home. We haven't been happy with the temperature variance on the tankless however, like during a shower.

Solely because of the temp variance issue our new place is multiple tanked water heaters; incredibly happy. Absolutely no way we would go tankless in a house based on our current experience with tankless.

lappir · July 8, 2021

I treat my water heater as "tankless" even though it has a 10 gallon tank. I can turn it on in the morning while making coffee. Turn it off once I hear the gas burner go out and have plenty of hot water for my shower (during the Spring, Summer and early Fall). Winter time I do have to leave it on depending on the outside temperature.

I'm on a metered electric site currently so won't be leaving the electric on as I do with a site with no meter.

Rod

Chad Heiser · July 9, 2021

We have a Truma tankless system in our current RV. I am extremely happy with it and won't go bank to a regular RV tank water heater again. Our Truma system works flawlessly with no issues related to temperature fluctuations when showering. No issues with turning the water off at the shower head when trying to conserve water either. The best thing is we can take multiple showers, run the dishwasher and the clothes washer all back to back or simultaneously without running out of hot water.

LindaH · July 9, 2021

We had a Girard tankless water heater which I hated. I hated it so much that this year we took some of our money received from the government and had it replaced with a tank water heater.

People with the Truma tankless water heaters seem to like theirs and I might have switched to that, but to have one installed was even more expensive than having a tank water heater installed (the Truma alone cost as much as what we paid to have the tank water heater installed).

Edited July 10, 2021 by LindaH

dblr · July 9, 2021

Our unit came equipped with the Girard 2 water heater which was just ok, had a big learning curve with it but while at a rally for FROG the manufacture upgraded us to the Truma which of course we did not object to and have been very happy with it. They switched to the Truma in their build about a year or 2 after ours so that yea at that rallyr they switched 12 units as a good will offer, pretty nice in my opinion.

fpmtngal · July 11, 2021

A friend of mine and I were boondocking together. She had the Girard tankless water heater and decided it wasted more water than having a regular water heater - the heater doesn’t come on until there is a sufficient flow of water through the system, so there’s water being wasted just getting the system to turn on. She ended up replacing it with a regular tank water heater.

My sister loved her tankless system in her house, only she ended up installing a water return system because one of the showers was a very long way away from the unit.

I know several people who have trailers built with the Truma Combi system. They say there’s quite a learning curve but once they figured it out, they love it. I don’t know about Truma’s Aqua-Go system.

Velos · July 12, 2021

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It has been very helpful. We thought we might have to replace our water heater but it was just a loose connection and are now much more informed for when it does start "pushing up daises" for real.

Safe Travels,

Ropeshaft · July 12, 2021

I think it is very important to note that not all tankless water heaters are created equal just like most things. My Florida condo had one when I bought it. I was never crazy about it with the temperature fluctuations even though I never ran out of hot water even with two separate showers and the washing machine running at the same time. It eventually started acting up so I replaced it with a highly recommended model made in Germany. The replacement has been flawless and I love it. I realize this isn’t real helpful because I'm not in Florida from May to October and I don’t have the names of either brand handy. But the point is if you are considering a tankless heater, you need to do your due diligence just as you would for anything else you buy. They are not all good and they are not all bad.

ms60ocb · July 12, 2021

One item not addressed is the utility connection. If your in an existing RV or stick built home you may not have electric or gas capacity to run tankless heater. If your buying new with the tankless installed, there should be no problem. Then for the RV, the only problem may be pulling into a RV Park with out adequate Electric Service.

I'm a firm believer in Tankless water heater operating on propane or Natural gas. Example; my daughters live in a southern climate where water heater are located in the attic. The amount of water drawn to do anything requiring warm water is time wasted. The Tankless WH on the first floor is a real water saver.