On demand water heater??

Howdy all. The DW and I were looking at (and fell in love with) a 2012 3650RL today at our local RV lot. While talking with the salesman, he advised we look into replacing the water heater with an "On demand" heater. My question to all of you "in the know" is have any of you had any experience (good or bad) with this type of water heater?
Our plan is to be full-timing in the next few years, and we are planning to boondock approximately 30% of the time, maybe a little more - don't really know for sure yet. Thanks for any insight y'all can give.

Brian

Old age and treachery shall overcome youth and skill! :)
 

caissiel

Senior Member
They are getting very popular.
For me its a luxury that I would realy think about it before getting one.
There is a lot more things that can be added to my RV before a water on demand unit.
If its an option that only replaces the standard tank and you are credited for the std tank it might be the time to get one if you realy want one.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Corsiarian and welcome to the forum. Lots of good information here.
I know that the idea of changing over to an on demand water heater has been brought up before but I don't know if anyone has actually done it.
Personally I think the cost would out weigh any benefits from having the conversion.
Just curious, how much does your dealer want to do the conversion?
Also, does your salesman own an RV or have any real world experience using that conversion in an RV?

Peace
Dave
 
Hi Dave,
The price quoted was around $800.00 for the unit plus installation costs, whatever they end up being (he was going to get a total price worked up later). I'm tending to agree with you regarding price outweighing the benefits. I've never used one myself, but according to him it's the cats' meow. I'm thinking maybe a small homemade solar heater for shower water may be the best bet. Don't know for sure, as this is all pretty new to me, but I'm keeping my options open. I do know I have to keep the DW happy when it comes to her shower though or I'm in "hot water". According to him, he has been RVing over the past 30 years, uses one in his 38' 5er, and swears by it. I'm skeptical though, and figure I had better do quite a bit of research on it before deciding.
I also agree with you caissiel, and was kind of thinking along the same lines - there are probably more important items that could be added that would be more useful. I'm hoping someone here has used, or uses one, and can share some thoughts on the pros and cons.
Thanks all for the responses. I've been lurking here for awhile now and am impressed with the knowledge base and friendliness of this forum. It's very much appreciated.

Cors
 

Netem

Well-known member
I'm curious, if you replace the water heater with the tankless then you would loose the option of hot water with LP gas when your boondocking right? I do alot of boondocking and although I have a generator its alot easier to turn on the gas when I need hot water then I turn it back off. I go up to 2 weeks with no hook ups and this has worked the best for me.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
We use Bosch tankless in the house at the Bathrooms that are far away from the hot water heater. They are 220V 20 amp and work well. Seems that they would be large enough for most users if you only run one faucet at a time, and are about $200. They shut down when the hot water from the large heater reaches them. The savings is the reduced amount of water that is required to waste waiting on the lines to warm up.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
With the tank on our unit I can take a shower while the washing machine is running. I wonder if a demand one would be able to. specialy running on a 120V supply.
 

slmayor

Founding California Northern Chapter Leader
Take a look at the on demand units by Girard. They should run about $600 plus a door kit @$49. Slightly more for a "freeze protected" unit for cold weather. Should be under 2 hours install as they are built to be a direct replacement for both Suburban and Atwood water heaters. The units operate on propane, heating water as you use it. You adjust the temp by adjusting the flow. IE, the slower the flow, the hotter the water, the faster the flow, the cooler the water. There is no tank to keep warm and no pilot. The burner only runs when you use hot water, thus they use a fraction of the propane a conventional water heater does.
We've done several installs, mostly for folks that are living in their units, and only when their conventional unit died or was damaged beyond fixing. They're a pretty pricey option to change out just for fun.
 
Yes Ray, the Girard is the one the salesman was telling us about. It looked pretty darned good in the brochure, but I'm usually leery of promotional hype. I normally like to get opinions and reviews from users, or as in your case, installers, of items like this and hear the pros and cons before making a decision. Thank you for your input. As a few of you have stated, this is something that my DW and I can get along without, but reading about the 60% savings in propane makes it sound pretty good.
Another plus is that I get a chance to get involved here on the forum and talk to y'all. That's worth it in itself. Thanks for the input everyone.

Cors
 

caissiel

Senior Member
From what I read there is no Propane savings when parked at a Site with electricity. And how much 12Volts does it use to keep the electronics going. To me its not worth the cost as electric hot water heating is very effective. And I have the option to shut the hot water tank off. Its an other complicated item that will fail someday and leave us with no hot water. and the wasted heat of the tank only helps in heating the basement of the RV. I ripped of the insulation on our previous unit to save the tank and for 13 years never felt it was gone as it heated the bathroom due to the tank under the bath sink.
 
B

bwwalczak

Guest
We have tested and considered the on demand system. There are still many things that need to be worked out. As stated above, the only systems available are LP ONLY.

If this was better than the current Atwood XT system we use now, we would change.

What concerns me the most is that a dealer rep was pushing it. As I said, if there was something better, we would already be using it.
 

Rickhansen

Well-known member
I can't imagine any benefit exists for utility savings or capacity. We have never run out of hot water, especially if you run propane and electric simultaneously. We often are doing dishes, washing clothes, and back-to-back showers without running out of hot water.
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
I can't imagine any benefit exists for utility savings or capacity. We have never run out of hot water, especially if you run propane and electric simultaneously. We often are doing dishes, washing clothes, and back-to-back showers without running out of hot water.

Sounds like the only reason to have one is if you are doing extensive boondocking.
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
I have had/used on demand water heaters for the past 20+ years in my home. Both electric and LP. They are expensive to acquire, they save me money... But, the real reason I got them is to supply me with endless hot water NOT to save a buck or save the earth !

That being said, if you stay in campgrounds when you full time the hot water is free because it is included with your daily stay rate so why spend the extra cash for an on demand hot water heater when basically you get hot water for free in the daily rate charge ????

Some facts, a LP on demand LP hot water heater burns some serious amounts of gas. Because of this the chimney needs to be big, as in 6 inch diameter or close. If you go electric, watch out, the parks you stay in may not be able to satisfy your need for watts !

My suggestion, stay with what HL puts in, they basically have got it right, this was solved many years ago by other RV makers. Use the electric only when in parks. If you need more hot water, use both gas and electric. I have had many RV's and never needed more then I just suggested. I think your RV sales guy wanted more $$$ in his pocket and he may have sensed you feel good factor.
 
Thank you all for the input. I feel pretty much the same way ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have been thinking the same as most of you that there isn't a very good reason to replace what HL engineers have worked hard to put in these RV's with this on demand unit. Also, after reading more about it I feel pretty confident I'll stay with the stock unit and put the money towards something else more useful like Honda generators, additional batteries - something to make the DW's life a little more comfy and fun, and less heartache for me. :)

Cors
 
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