If you had the chance........

BandJCarm · 07-03-2016, 10:21 AM

Let's.....ahem.........say 'theoretically' that the factory would replace the tankless water heater that came in your new 5'er with a conventional one........

A) Would you take them up on it?

and

B) If so, what exact model would you 'choose' assuming such a choice was yours to make?
With no knowledge of them, I'd lean to something like this, assuming it'd fit:

Suburban Direct Spark/Electric 16 Gallon Water Heater with Motor Aid - RV Water Heaters - RV Water Heaters - RV Appliances

duradiesel · 07-10-2016, 01:01 AM

I would have mine replaced. I can't say which one I would pick ; I haven't looked in to it.

CampingGator · 07-10-2016, 07:51 AM

Why do you not want a tankless water heater? We have had one in our house for twelve years and will never go back. Instant hot water that does not run out. In our TT we have to wet down then turn the water off, soap up and shampoo, then turn the water back on to rinse (part to that is to make less gray water).

duradiesel · 07-10-2016, 02:55 PM

We do a lot of camping without water hookups it takes along time to get the hot water to the shower therefore you waste water.

spock123 · 07-10-2016, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duradiesel

We do a lot of camping without water hookups it takes along time to get the hot water to the shower therefore you waste water.

I think the tankless water heater takes the same amount of time

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duradiesel · 07-11-2016, 01:06 PM

We had a hot water tank in our old 5th wheel & the hot water was there a lot quicker then with our tankless we have now. The new ones maybe faster now I am going by what I have in our 5th now. When we are hooked up to water & sewer I don't care how long it takes : we have lots of water but dry camping you only have your water tank .

BandJCarm · 07-11-2016, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampingGator

Why do you not want a tankless water heater? We have had one in our house for twelve years and will never go back. Instant hot water that does not run out. In our TT we have to wet down then turn the water off, soap up and shampoo, then turn the water back on to rinse (part to that is to make less gray water).

Because I can't get any hot water out of it............or almost none. Even if I do get hot water, it lasts about 10 seconds before turning cold for minutes........then sorta hot again. Once, it did go hot/warm in the cycle. That's not dependable hot water.

Why wouldn't I want dependable hot water??

spock123 · 07-11-2016, 07:37 PM

I am looking at a new Cedar Creek 34RL2 but should I get one it will not have a tankless hot water heater. I have heard to many bad reviews on them. I ordered a Wildcat Sterling from the factory and the tankless came standard but not for me. Some people like them but not me

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SeaDog · 07-11-2016, 07:49 PM

I don't have tankless but to answer your question not knowing how big your rig is go with the largest that will fit standard 6 gallon I would like a 10 get one that is both electric and propane. you can run both for faster recovery

NMWildcat · 07-11-2016, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Because I can't get any hot water out of it............or almost none. Even if I do get hot water, it lasts about 10 seconds before turning cold for minutes........then sorta hot again. Once, it did go hot/warm in the cycle. That's not dependable hot water.

Why wouldn't I want dependable hot water??

Sounds like you have a defective tankless. I'm assuming you have tried to get it fixed?

NMWildcat · 07-11-2016, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spock123

I think the tankless water heater takes the same amount of time

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X2. We boondock a lot and we use the same amount of water as we did in our old RV with a tank.

spock123 · 07-12-2016, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

X2. We boondock a lot and we use the same amount of water as we did in our old RV with a tank.

Does your tankless work the same if you are on your 12 volt water pump or if you are at a campground that has low water pressure. I know they work great in a house because the water pressure is always the same. I have a 12 gallon hot water heater in now but if I couldn't get the tankless to work for me I could not replace it with another 12 gallon. It would be a smaller one

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NMWildcat · 07-12-2016, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spock123

Does your tankless work the same if you are on your 12 volt water pump or if you are at a campground that has low water pressure. I know they work great in a house because the water pressure is always the same. I have a 12 gallon hot water heater in now but if I couldn't get the tankless to work for me I could not replace it with another 12 gallon. It would be a smaller one

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The tankless works great on the pump. If we are at a CG that has very low pressure we just fill the fresh tank and use the pump. Only had to do that once so far. We really enjoy the tankless, especially when we have the grandkids. And when at a CG, the long showers are excellent

BandJCarm · 07-12-2016, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spock123

Does your tankless work the same if you are on your 12 volt water pump or if you are at a campground that has low water pressure. I know they work great in a house because the water pressure is always the same. I have a 12 gallon hot water heater in now but if I couldn't get the tankless to work for me I could not replace it with another 12 gallon. It would be a smaller one

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Spock, interesting question.

One of the suggestions a guy made at the CC site, while I was camping, was to get off of city water and go on FWT with pump. Voila, sounded great. So I did..........filled the FWT and turned on the pump.

It will not even work with the pump. Period. Water flows out of tap, and about 1 minute later the DSI/FLT light comes on, 100% of the time. It won't light (or won't stay lit, whichever the FLT light actually means). So I have no idea if it actually produces hot water with the pump should it stay lit!

I will say this........that the FWT and the pump did not produce very high pressure water, even cold.........and I took the regulator out of the loop about 2 hours into this process, so it never was in the line during all the trouble.

NM suggests that the HW Tankless unit is faulty. He may be correct. I languished long and hard over the CC offer to replace it with a conventional one. But in the week after the offer was made, I read no less than 12 online complaints from fellow folks with tankless heaters, and every one was about to pull their hair out. Couple that with the fact that CC made the offer of replacement without even bothering to suggest a repair of the tankless. Their email basically said "Yeah, we tried this Suburban tankless thing and sometimes new stuff just doesn't work out". SO, I believe they know/knew it was going to be dicey keeping this thing working. We're in it for the long term, and a conventional, dependable heater is just too good of an offer to pass up.......especially since it'll be done by factory techs at Goshen, not any dealer.

I know NM and another friend of mine (with the exact same unit) love their tankless units. I would wonder, however, if they have not 100% of the time camped where the pressure is constant and high??? Mine worked (so/so) at the Nashville Jellystone park I was at for one night, because pressure was good. That made me think that most of the complaints, including mine, are at random sites....which is where I'll be rest of my camping life, so.............replacement just seems prudent.

LarryInNC · 07-12-2016, 01:42 PM

The same thing happened to us with a new TT several years ago. Water was hot for about 5 seconds then it went cold. It turned out that a bypass valve was open when it should have been closed. It allowed cold water to mix with the hot water as soon as it left the water heater. The same thing happened to a couple more people on here. May want to check the position of your valves.

BandJCarm · 07-12-2016, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryInNC

The same thing happened to us with a new TT several years ago. Water was hot for about 5 seconds then it went cold. It turned out that a bypass valve was open when it should have been closed. It allowed cold water to mix with the hot water as soon as it left the water heater. The same thing happened to a couple more people on here. May want to check the position of your valves.

Thanks, Larry. I had a lot of things wrong on Day One with my issue. But I was posting here (via phone, with one bar!! LOL) and getting great advice. I followed it all and did fix some of the things that should have been obvious to fix things, including that. Heck, I had a long thread going, with pictures. The folks here were great........even though I felt frustrated and moronic.

But in the end, after ALL obvious fixes were done, it made no difference. It did the same thing. Then it worked sorta ok at the next campground (one night). I realized then that "sorta ok" was probably going to be the best I ever got. That's when I emailed CC Warranty, and then I got the offer of replacement, which is where we're at.

NMWildcat · 07-12-2016, 01:46 PM

BandJCarm, sorry you have had such a bad experience. Sounds like a switch to a tank will get you fixed right up. Good luck and I hope you have no more problems!

guyster · 07-12-2016, 01:50 PM

2016 Sandstorm here. Just had a recall done on our tankless hwh. Would get hot then really hot and blow breaker in tank. Fixed for now. It has an Atwood unit. Still un decided on if we like it better than a tank or not.

BandJCarm · 07-12-2016, 01:52 PM

I have to admit, the CONCEPT is awesome.

The execution is not.

Sorta like Razorback football the last 20 years............

NMWildcat · 07-12-2016, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

I have to admit, the CONCEPT is awesome.

The execution is not.

Sorta like Razorback football the last 20 years............

I'm sorry your experience has soured you on tankless, but in all fairness there are quite a few of us that really enjoy the new concept and will insist on tankless for our next RV. So not all tankless installs are problematic.

I'm usually not one to dive into new concepts right away. But this one we like.

Now, the new concept of residential fridges in RVs just makes no sense to me

.

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