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Old 08-22-2008, 09:21 AM   #1
dejama
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tankless water heaters

Has anyone out there purchased the Rv 500 tankess water heater? I am wondering if it is worth the money. The web site says that they are very quiet and use 20% less propane, but am wanting to hear it from someone who has experienced it...not what the manufacture says.
 
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Old 08-22-2008, 09:28 AM   #2
bsmeaton
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I never understood the exact purpose for one, other than for maybe tent trailers that do not have hot water. Our built in tank is extremely quiet, and on electric it uses 100% less propane than the tankless one you are talking about.

For boondocking it may have purpose for saving propane, but payback would be slow plus you have to live with looking at that thing.
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Old 08-22-2008, 09:49 AM   #3
exav8tr
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I agree with Brad. I looked into this last year but only model available was a propane model. Since we rarely boondock, we use our HWH on electric. Only use propane when no electric available. I like the concept though and looked into it when we build our house in Alaska. The problem was our well water temp was so cold that it would not heat the water enough. This was in '01 and things might have changed since then (technology being what it is)....
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Old 08-22-2008, 10:45 AM   #4
Exnavydiver
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WE installed a new Bosch tankless in out house in northern Wisconsin about three years ago. It replaces an 8 year old 55 gallon electric tank type. It cost around 1200. Our electric bill dropped from 147.00 a month to 55 the first month it was online. Since we are on well water also (41 degrees at the well head) I left the electric heater inline but disconnected the power, it was wrapped with insulation outside the case so I ripped that all off and now just use the old heater as a tempering tank. The basement is always about 62 degreesso that pretty much saves me 21 degrees of heating. The default temp on the Bosch is 122 and that is pretty hot for showering so I kick it down to about 104 which works nicely and I don't have to adjust the temp at the faucet. If you put one in your 5er you will add about 20 to 30 seconds of water flow to get hot to the bathroom. You are right about not having dual power units yet but the only time you need the gas flowing is when you need hot water. At the rate of savings on just the electric we have paid off the new unit already and are ahead of the game. Our monthly gas consumption is not noticeably higher as we replaced out furnace at the same time so it all works out nicely. I think that I may have opted for the tankless for the Big Sky if it had been offered when ordered but doubt that I would retrofit unless this one goes south... Dave
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Old 08-22-2008, 11:03 AM   #5
bsmeaton
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My neighbor was just complaining about his tankless he had installed in the stick house 4 months ago. It will serve one faucet with hot water for eternity, but opening a second faucet exceeds it's capability. He has had to learn to never run two appliances that use hot water or open a faucet when somebody is in the shower, and he was quite frustrated. The system is either undersized or just plain inadequate for a stick house. I'll keep my twin 60s and my little 10 in the Monty and suffer the cost of gas for now.
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Old 08-22-2008, 11:59 AM   #6
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What some people don't realize on a tankless heater is the amount of gas required to heat water for more than one hot water application. A conventional 40 gal. water heater requires enough gas to produce 35 to 40,000 BTU's. A tankless heater serving two applications requires up to 175,000 BTU's to keep hot water flowing. If you run it very long your gas savings goes out the door. Like everything many factors have to be considered in predicting your savings. These stats are based on stick house units.
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Old 08-23-2008, 10:19 AM   #7
sreigle
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I've thought about going with a tankless but have not really had the need. If we boondocked, I'd do it simply to save all that water that runs down the drain while waiting for hot water in the bathroom, either the shower or the sink. It's not too bad on our 2007 3400RL although quite a bit of water runs down the drain before hot water arrives. But on our 2003 3295RK where the water heater was at the extreme rear of the coach, a lot more water was wasted. We don't currently really have the need but I'd sure consider it seriously if we did much boondocking.

I thought they came in 110v models that could be run with a generator, but maybe not?
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Old 08-23-2008, 11:26 AM   #8
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Bosch makes a couple small point of use units in 120 volt, 168.00 and 249.00 they can be mounted under the sink or in the basement of the rig. they are made for homes but should be able adapted for RV use and there is no duct work since they are electric... Dave
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