Hot water on demand

[Soxfan1957]

Are there any Columbus owners that have hot water on demand systems factory installed on their 5th wheels? And if so, is there any drawbacks or do they work good?

[dblr]

They are coming on a lot of different brands now, do you know which one they are installing, that might get you a better chance for info.

[NMWildcat]

You will get two opinions. Those that love them, and those that hate them. Not much in between.

I also see folks in the 'hate' category that have never used them, so take that for it's worth.

We have a Girard Gen 1 that we absolutely love. I've heard very good things about the new Trumas.

We will always have a tankless in whatever RV we are in for the future. We boondock a lot so we did install shower miser and absolutely love it! We would use it even if we had a standard tank heater. It allows us to save water by recirculating those ounces of water used while getting the water to that perfect shower temp. http://www.aquaviewinc.com/rv/

Using a tankless is different, so there is a slight learning curve. You just have to be willing to adjust. Not a big adjustment, even my grandson had no problems when he was 8, once we gave him a demo.

We have met several folks with a new tankless that were complaining about it. Most allowed us to show them a short demo and give them a few simple tips. We still hear from some thanking us for allowing them to fully enjoy it.

Good luck and have fun!!!

[SYE]

I have it on my Columbus 366RL, amongst our Columbus group, there are many mixed reviews. As from me I love it for the most part, as long as you have water and sewer hook ups, the only drawback is you only get either 10 or 20 minutes, I can't remember, of hot water before it shuts off, then you need to turn the water off then back on. As for dry camping or boondocking, it is much worse. It runs water out of the fresh water tank about 30-45 seconds worth before it gets hot, then it works like normal. But when yo are waiting for it to heat up, that water you are running is filling up your tanks as well. If you don't boondocking much nothing that worry about. Overall I like it, but it does have a few bad things about it. This is my opinion

[dblr]

Sye, what brand are they putting in?

[SYE]

I know the Columbus with the 1492 package, my friend Bill just got a Cedar Creek and it has it too

[dblr]

I have not heard anything real good about the Suburban brand, we had the Girard 2 at first and it was ok but did take a learning curve to use. We now have a Truma and feel it is the best one you can get.

[SYE]

The Columbus uses Girard, not sure about Cedar Creek

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by SYE

I have it on my Columbus 366RL, amongst our Columbus group, there are many mixed reviews. As from me I love it for the most part, as long as you have water and sewer hook ups, the only drawback is you only get either 10 or 20 minutes, I can't remember, of hot water before it shuts off, then you need to turn the water off then back on. As for dry camping or boondocking, it is much worse. It runs water out of the fresh water tank about 30-45 seconds worth before it gets hot, then it works like normal. But when yo are waiting for it to heat up, that water you are running is filling up your tanks as well. If you don't boondocking much nothing that worry about. Overall I like it, but it does have a few bad things about it. This is my opinion

I learn something every day. My Girard generation 1 does not have a 20 minute limit. Apparently they added this to later generations as a safety feature. That's too bad. I will ensure what ever I buy in the future either does not have this feature or can be bypassed. Our granddaughter frequently surpasses that time limit

If you are waiting 30 to 45 seconds for your water to get hot, something is amiss. On average, every tankless I have played with is 8 to 13 seconds. Which is still more water than you want to waste while dry camping. Look at the Shower Miser to eliminate this. It returns all that water to your fresh tank, then let's you know when the water is warm so you divert the water to your faucet or shower valve.

[Trawlerphil]

Yes, tankless on demand hot water heaters work fine, but the question you have to ask yourself is how many nights are you going to be in a full hook-up campsite vs. boondocking. If you have a combo propane/electric, the "juice" is already included in your rate. We're retired and have over 35,000 land cruising miles under our belt and the propane/electric Suburban has been just fine. We have a Waiwella on-demand in our house and Palomas in my rental properties. Everyone loves them. The closer you put the on-demand heater to the high use area, the happier you will be. I had a big Bosch unit on the side of the house next to the shower and got old waiting for hot water in the kitchen. I put the Waiwella in the garage under the kitchen and the hot water is quick. Always ask who the underlying manufacturer is because there are very few manufacturers and the "off name" brands are in many cases the same as the $$ name brands. Here's a list of all the vendors, but many are really Rheem, Rannai, Takagi or Paloma.
https://www.pwessig.com/blog/2014/au...eater-manufac/

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by SYE

I have it on my Columbus 366RL, amongst our Columbus group, there are many mixed reviews. As from me I love it for the most part, as long as you have water and sewer hook ups, the only drawback is you only get either 10 or 20 minutes, I can't remember, of hot water before it shuts off, then you need to turn the water off then back on. As for dry camping or boondocking, it is much worse. It runs water out of the fresh water tank about 30-45 seconds worth before it gets hot, then it works like normal. But when yo are waiting for it to heat up, that water you are running is filling up your tanks as well. If you don't boondocking much nothing that worry about. Overall I like it, but it does have a few bad things about it. This is my opinion

Maybe hold a clean bucket under the shower head while it warms up. Then use the water for dish washing or hand washing.

Larry

[SYE]

Then how do you heat it up quickly to wash your hands, plus don't need it for dishes, we have a dishwasher

[Soxfan1957]

Originally Posted by dblr

Sye, what brand are they putting in?

I don't know what brand they're installing. I just figured Columbus uses the same brand on every unit.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by SYE

Then how do you heat it up quickly to wash your hands, plus don't need it for dishes, we have a dishwasher

Cool water works fine with a little detergent. This is for serious dry camping, right? Rough it a little.

If you have water and sewer hookups, why would you care about running a little cool water down the drain?

Larry

[SYE]

If you read my post it said when boondocking

[dblr]

Between the Girard and the Truma the Truma gets hot water where you need it faster. With the Girard we would run water into a bucket until the hot came out then used that water for the toilet, now with the Truma just use as normal. The worst was when conserving and taking a shower especially if you would turn the water off when soaping up then waiting for hot again to rinse

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

You will get two opinions. Those that love them, and those that hate them. Not much in between.

I also see folks in the 'hate' category that have never used them, so take that for it's worth.

We have a Girard Gen 1 that we absolutely love. I've heard very good things about the new Trumas.

We will always have a tankless in whatever RV we are in for the future. We boondock a lot so we did install shower miser and absolutely love it! We would use it even if we had a standard tank heater. It allows us to save water by recirculating those ounces of water used while getting the water to that perfect shower temp. RV – Aqua View, Inc.

Using a tankless is different, so there is a slight learning curve. You just have to be willing to adjust. Not a big adjustment, even my grandson had no problems when he was 8, once we gave him a demo.

We have met several folks with a new tankless that were complaining about it. Most allowed us to show them a short demo and give them a few simple tips. We still hear from some thanking us for allowing them to fully enjoy it.

Good luck and have fun!!!

X2 to everything they said, this is our first tankless and we will always have one.

We don't boondock so the ability to have ENDLESS showers with no running out of hot water is a dream come true for most RVers.