R-pod Owners Forum Homepage

This site is free to use.
Donations benefit a non-profit Girls Softball organization

Forum Home Forum Home > R-pod Discussion Forums > Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed: Tankless water heater?
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Calendar   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedTankless water heater?
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>
Author
Message Reverse Sort Order
  Share Topic Share Topic  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
marwayne View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2011
Location: Edmonton AB Can
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1003 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Tankless water heater?
    Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 5:00pm
I dont think it is worth the cost. We considered putting in a tankless system in our house, (cost is to high). We use 1 gigaloule per month for our hot water, cost right now 3,50$.
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
2011 RP172, 2016 Tundra 5.7 Litre, Ltd.


Back to Top
g4royce View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Location: PortStLucie FL
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 335 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 4:05pm
For tankless water heaters to work, there needs to be certain amount of water pressure to get it going.  The flow of water can be adjusted once it's ignited, but some have an auto switch-off as a safety feature if the water pressure falls below a certain point.  I'd think that your grey tank would fill up in no time unless you had the line open in a full hookup site.  

Most of the campsites we've been to in the Northeast have not had the best water pressure so I'd be reluctant to switch for that reason alone.  Also, the better tankless water heaters are larger and require more space and better ventilation, not to mention more water pressure so it does not burnout the pipes.  There are some "cheats" online to decrease the amount of minimum water pressure needed to get a tankless system going, but it was factory set at a certain point for safety reasons so it's not really recommended to tinker with that.

Another common cheat that is safer is to replumb and loop your hot water through the heater again so that the water heats up a second time.  This enables hotter water and use of a smaller system.  However, it does not solve the water pressure issue.

  
ChaiPod
2009 RP152
2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6
Back to Top
Seanl View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Location: Fredericton NB
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 8:34am
Originally posted by thadd


Originally posted by Seanl

The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 

We're actually more interested in it for times when we have full hookups than for energy savings when boondocking. If we're at camp and had a tankless, then we can take as long a shower as our propane supply would permit, without worrying about running out of hot water.
We think it may become a challenge once our daughter is old enough to shower on her own to explain to turn off the water except for rinsing. If it works more like home, it'll make camping more comfortable for everyone.


That's true. We have never had problems with running out of hot water but if you wanted an endless supply then tankless is the way to go.
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
Back to Top
thadd View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Location: Sacramento, CA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 7:07am
Originally posted by Seanl

The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 

We're actually more interested in it for times when we have full hookups than for energy savings when boondocking. If we're at camp and had a tankless, then we can take as long a shower as our propane supply would permit, without worrying about running out of hot water.

We think it may become a challenge once our daughter is old enough to shower on her own to explain to turn off the water except for rinsing. If it works more like home, it'll make camping more comfortable for everyone.
Back to Top
Seanl View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Location: Fredericton NB
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 11:37pm
The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
Back to Top
thadd View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Location: Sacramento, CA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:48pm
I haven't done any research yet and I'm not sure which model my in-laws have, I was mostly just curious if other R-Podders had swapped one in. My early searches landed on this one: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/atwood-on-demand-water-heater-50-000-btu/58893 but I'm sure there are other options. 
Back to Top
techntrek View Drop Down
Admin Group - pHp
Admin Group - pHp
Avatar

Joined: 29 Jul 2009
Location: MD
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 9062 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:26pm

Biggest problem long-term with tankless water heaters is the narrow tubes clog easily with sediment and chemical deposits (calcium, etc).  Probably not a big problem for a heater that won't be used daily.

Do you have a model number so we can look up the specs?
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
Back to Top
this_is_nascar View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Location: NJ
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 466 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 8:58am
The RPOD has the same size HWH (6-gallons) as most other standard sized travel trailers.  The tankless HWH you mention does to really get the water "hot" in my opinion and I don't think it would be practical to retrofit into the R-Pod.
"Ray & Connie"

- 2017 R-Pod RP-180
- 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road
Back to Top
thadd View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 06 Oct 2012
Location: Sacramento, CA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:25am
Originally posted by rpodcamper.com

a few things about tankless water heater are that they only increase water tempature by a certian amount aount like 30-35 degrees above what the water is.  So you may see warm water but not Hot water.  

I've heard that about them, but my in-laws have one in their Airstream and swear by it. 
Back to Top
rpodcamper.com View Drop Down
Admin Group - pHp
Admin Group - pHp
Avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2009
Location: Reading, Pa
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3990 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Dec 2012 at 10:13pm
a few things about tankless water heater are that they only increase water tempature by a certian amount aount like 30-35 degrees above what the water is.  So you may see warm water but not Hot water.  
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Bulletin Board Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 9.64
Copyright ©2001-2009 Web Wiz