Is anyone using a Tankless hot water heater??

[FolkBus]

Hi all

As a newbie to this board I want to thank everyone for all of the great information the is posted here. 

Question?  Has anybody tried using a tankless (on demand) hot water heater?

I replaced my standard hot water heater at home with a tankless and cut my propane usage in half. No pilot light and not reheating hot water I'm not using at the time saves a considerable amount of fuel. 

Just curious. 

--Mike

[oltrunt]

Gol darn Newbees finally got them a coach worth having and now their gonna put in one of them fancy tankless hot water heaters--probably burn down their bus and all of Mt. Rushmore!  Just kidding.  I'm another Newbee and I will most definitely be using a tankless water heater in my '35 Chevy bus.  I'll be using an Ecotemp L5 and will add a water recirculation system so I don't waste any water while the heater is cooking.  With mine at least, the water must be flowing or the heater cuts off.  I am given to understand that these units are fussy about freezing so I'll have mine "inside" (not in the living area) to prevent freeze.  I'd be interested to see how you plan to install your unit.  Jack,  AKA 'Ol Trunt

[Seangie]

Hey guys -

Welcome to the club!  There have been quite a few posts in the past about tankless heaters.  I had wanted to go that way as well.  After looking into it and many discussions on this board and the BNO board I decided that it would take a lot more energy than I was willing to pay for to create hot water moving at the rate I would want it to move at to keep it at the temp I'd like to have.  Search some posts by "Sean" (the original electrical engineer Sean, not myself) who made a few good points about tankless heaters.  I think George Todd on BNO made some good points as well.

Makes for some good debates.  Not that it can't be done, as I am sure there are some that have them but how well they work by themselves and the cost of fuel to heat the water through a tankless system alone seems to be the detrimental factors.

If you do attempt it, by all means let us know how well it works and take lots of pics!

-Sean

www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[Ednj]

I just use a flat plate heat exchanger off a loop on my proheat.
Lot less parts and unlimited hot water in 3 minutes from a cold start.
Kiss.

[Uglydog56]

Sean's logic talked me out of one, and I'm about as stubborn as they come.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Emcemv]

I'm a newbie as well and I have thought about going tankless. Currently we have a 10 gal electric tank and it has a heat exchanger plumbed into the bus motor cooling system. I have 10 gallons of hot water when we stop for the day and its even pretty warm in the morning, we only have to run the genset a little bit in the morning for showers. We also invested in a Bricor 0.5gal/min shower head.  The system works great, no reason to change and if I was starting from scratch, I would do the same.

Good luck, hope to hear what you decide and how it works out.

[TomC]

I'm not very fond of propane. I only have my stove/oven and furnace running on propane-and that's with a cut off solenoid switched from inside. My water heater are 2-10gal electric that sit under my bed. One is plumbed into the next with the final one wired through the inverter so to stay hot while driving. No coolant loop. Just simple 10gal electric water heaters straight from Home Depot. If and when the heating element does go out, they are about $25.00. I've been using them since 1994 and (except for draining every so often when I remember) have done zero with them. You can hardly beat that record. I like the system-I'm repeating it again with my truck conversion. Good Luck, TomC

[lvmci]

Hi All, I have a dual system, an electric 10 gallon in the bay for use when hooked up and this propane tankless, paloma brand, for boondocking and if there is more hot water needed. The tankless hasn't caused any problems and has worked well. I have a full house shower and sink and a double sink in the kitchen, lvmci...

[FolkBus]

Lots of great ideas..Thanks

[Scott & Heather]

Am I a newbie?  Oh well. We wanted to install tankless too when we converted our coach. Problem was, the electric ones are out of the question because they require an insane amount of power...power you'll never get at an RV park...or if you do, you'll have to turn off your lights and shower in the dark so 100% of your 50amp service can go to the tankless electric water heater. So, electric? No dice. Gas on the other hand is possible. Some have done it. Uses a lot of gas, but really, the issue is that your hot water may not be consistent. Hot water, followed by coldish water, and then back again isn't my idea of a nice shower. Read some honest reviews on the smaller units. The large units are huge and require venting...honestly a lot of drama. But, if you want it, by all means go for it! We're all a little nuts here. We opted to purchase and install a Kenmore 30 gallon electric hot water heater. Single 1500 watt element runs off of 110v. For two people, I can assure you this is enough hot water. Just turn the dial up to make really really hot water and you'll mix more cold with the hot at your shower valve and for us, it lasts for 4 showers and we take long showers. It's a "stubby" tank so it is short and fat. Here's a pic: