Atwood On Demand Water Heater Replacement

[Stroker09]

Question for BC: has anyone documented the remove and replace procedures to upgrade the POS Atwood on-demand water heater with the Truma AquaGo unit? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[bclemens]

We have not but several people have.

here is one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyCvLhc8Pm4

[LittleMoose]

What a great thorough video. Do they make those for normal home, non-rv, use?

[bclemens]

Truma does not, but they make on-demand water heaters for home use. I had one put in the current house and I gotta say, its' pretty awesome.

The old house, I put a bigger tank and I ran the temps MUCH higher. otherwise we couldn't; even fill the soaker tub without it going cold.

Now, we can run 3 showers at the same time, or back to back to back, fill a tub. No worries. I am also not sitting here heating 80 gallons of water that I am not using.

[McCormickJim]

I've been considering an upgrade to an AquaGo, so I'm following this thread.

I have an on-demand heater in my TT and like it for propane savings, but it has a significant issue in that it raises the input water temperature only 40-60 degrees. That means that when Spring or Fall camping when the input temperature is aound 40 degrees, I get only 80 to 100 degree output at best.

Talking to the AquaGo folks, I'm told that even with 40 degree input temperature water, the output water will be 120 degrees.

I also had a concern about altitude affecting the efficiency of the AquaGo. Again back to the source, AquaGo testing is at 7,500 feet, and the output is 120 degrees.

I occasionally camp as high as 9,100 feet. I have no information on output temperature at that elevation. I guess I'll find out.

[Rumline]

Originally Posted by McCormickJim

I also had a concern about altitude affecting the efficiency of the AquaGo. Again back to the source, AquaGo testing is at 7,500 feet, and the output is 120 degrees.

I occasionally camp as high as 9,100 feet. I have no information on output temperature at that elevation. I guess I'll find out.

We have an AquaGo Comfort water heater on our current RV. Love it. We live in Colorado and often camp around 9-10k feet in the summer. The AquaGo has no problem at this altitude and the water is plenty hot. Even in the winter, we've had temps in the teens at 7000 feet and the water was too hot to use without some cold mixed in.

If our next RV doesn't come with a Truma AquaGo, we will be looking to upgrade to one. Unless maybe if we get the DX3.

[McCormickJim]

Rumline, thanks for the great information.

What is the difference between the AquaGo Basic and Comfort?

[bclemens]

https://www.truma.net/water-systems/truma-aquago-basic

If you scroll down a bit it lists what they each have. The big thing on the comfort is the "antifreeze" mode. and the decalcification.

Comfort plus has the loop lines.

Also, it looks like the are offering a $300 rebate on tank swaps. So NOW's the time.

https://www.truma.net/2019spring-promo

[Rumline]

I would just like to add to the above that the winter mode is really awesome. The "Comfort" model comes with a small (1 gal?) tank and a circulation pump. This is what enables it to serve up hot water instantly. Well, the water will still get cold in your pipes, so the "comfort" improvement is minimal. However the best part of this feature is it also has a winter mode (I think they call it "eco mode," which is slightly inaccurate IMO) where the unit will keep its internal temperature around 40 degrees by running the circulator pump and heater as necessary. The water heater is a relatively exposed and delicate bit of plumbing, so when camping in sub-freezing temps, you can save propane by enabling this mode when you don't actively need hot water and it'll keep the unit from freezing/breaking.


Also as the website says, it enables an electric antifreeze mode which is an accessory kit you can buy. It basically performs the same function as I described above but on 12VDC, so you can keep water in the unit while driving through freezing temps. I did not purchase this kit however because winterizing the unit is very easy: just turn the bypass valve and open the drain lever.

[Tom in Ohio]

Originally Posted by bclemens

Truma does not, but they make on-demand water heaters for home use. I had one put in the current house and I gotta say, its' pretty awesome.

The old house, I put a bigger tank and I ran the temps MUCH higher. otherwise we couldn't; even fill the soaker tub without it going cold.

Now, we can run 3 showers at the same time, or back to back to back, fill a tub. No worries. I am also not sitting here heating 80 gallons of water that I am not using.

Brian,
We love our truma in the Isata 5! What is the brand of your Home on demand water heater? Hoping to upgrade at home.
Sorry if this is off topic.