still looking for an isnatant HWH with no tank

[geofkaye]

anyone have any luck with a "tankless" in an RV?....geofkaye

[Dave B]

Geof, the only thing I have found is the Aqua-Hot system found at www.aqua-hot.com. It is tankless, but is a boiler system.

[geofkaye]

....I'll tell you what!..it's hard to find a reasonable priced unite just to heat water for a shower and sink....thanks for the directions....geofkaye

[Dave B]

Geof, Check out this water heater at www.houseneeds.com/Shop/HeatingProducts/WaterHeating/rv/rv500waterheater.

[Dave B]

Geof, here's the correct link on the second try at www.houseneeds.com/Shop/HeatingProducts/WaterHeating/rv/rv500waterheat.

[Dave B]

Geof, third try at www.houseneeds.com/Shop/HeatingProducts/WaterHeating/rv...erheatermainpage.htm .

[Radman]

This looks pretty interesting. I just did a quick comparision between the RV500 and a Suburban 10 gal. Here is what I found out.

Precision-Temp RV500

Recovery - Shower temperature water output at 1.5 gpm (that's a heavy shower) with incoming water temperatures low as 40 degrees
o 20-pound tank of propane provides approximately 940 gallons of shower temperature water. That's 626 minutes or 10 hours of shower time.
Dimensions, 13.5" Wide x 14.5" High x 13.5" Deep
Weight - 35 pounds

Suburban - SSW10DE Combination Gas & Electric Water Heater-Direct Spark Ignition

Recovery - gallons per hour gas = 10.2 electric = 6.0

Output - 12,000 elect / gas 14,40BTU

Dimensions, 16-7/32" Wide X 16-7/32" X High X 20-1/2" Deep

Weight - Empty 45.5bls Full 82.6lbs

Considering cost and performance I think I may change the plans for our new truck over to the tankless variety.

I welcome everyone elses thoughts and comments on this.

Thanks for the post Dave B and thanks for asking the question Geo

Jim

[blizzardND]

I don't have a motorhome at this time, but we do use a Natural gas tankless water unit at home, a drawback that I can see for an rv is the unit wastes a 1/2 gallon or more of water heating up.

When you turn on the "hot" water valve the unit kicks in an starts heating water, and will as long a water flows thru it, of course the first couple of quarts are cool- then they get hotter as the unit reaches its operating temperature.

example; When showering at home, I'll turn the valve all the way to hot, close the door, put the bathmat off the shower towel rack onto the floor, then reach across our bathroom to retrieve my towel, hang it next to the shower, then check the temperature, its usually just then getting warm enough to enter the shower by that time. Note that our tankless unit is on the wall directly behind the shower. It's great for our utility bill, and I love the fact you can shower as long as you want or two showers can run at the same time, or I can fill the wirlpool tube without running out of hot water which is why we converted to tankless in the first place. I just think in an RV you would want to be hooked to a city supply.

Also in our kitchen we have found that you should always crank all hot first as half and half will not be enough water moving to turn the unit up to get water hot enough for rinsing dishes.

At our office we had a 120V tankless unit installed it was a waste of plubming it would not even heat the water in our bathroom sink. It was 1500 watts, like a hair dryer trying to heat water. we replaced it within a week with a 3 gallon electric unit.

[geofkaye]

......The electric unites need 200 amp service to be efficient and the propane unites need to be inside of the vehicle currently....BUT there is an outside unite that only needs propane and a water supply....that is what I'm looking for currently....propane fuel water supply and vent outside of the vehicle....no propane inside when I'm around or vent pipe thought the side or roof....maybe a compact model with a SS case with a handle for easy moving around quick on and off couplings for gas and water and a plug for the electronics......and everything outside.....geofkaye-I'm dreaming and scheeming again

[Radman]

Geo,

I am not sure if anyone makes an efficient portable HWH as you described; totally portable plug and play? But then Im not sure I understand what you're really after?

Are you looking to keep your standard tank type water heater also? The RV500 is a direct replacement for the traditional Suburban or Atwater RV water heaters but its a bit smaller and a whole lot lighter (35lbs). If your feeling industrious you may be able to build a "suitcase-like" enclosure for it and set it on the ground outside your RV when you get to camp?

The placement of our unit is square between the kitchen and bathroom street-side. The lines are very short and the unit does not hold much water so I am expecting a short ramp-up time for hot water. They tell me it should be about the same as a traditional tank type water heater that is already up to temp but a lot more efficient throughout the course of a trip. That makes sense to me and we will soon see.

I went ahead and bought the RV500 and received it a few days ago to install in our new coach. I won't have any performance based feedback for anyone until July / Aug when we finally get it plumbed and fired up. First impressions are that it's a good quality unit and good people to deal with at Precision Temp. Pricing was just a bit more than a standard 12gal gas/elect Attwood. Payback should be a couple of trips worth of propane at today's prices.

I also got the cold weather package because we tend to go west and stay at higher altitudes where we get cold and windy conditions. The "Windy" kit is $55 and tis always windy. The cold weather package (under 20F) is $110 and includes the windy kit so we went ahead and got the "cold weather package".

It will be interesting to see what you come up with Geo. And I will let you know how this works out.

Jim