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thadd View Drop Down
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Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Tankless water heater?
    Posted: 25 Dec 2012 at 2:42pm
Has anyone swapped out their water heater for a tankless/on-demand one? The one that comes with the R-Pod is so tiny and even though it heats up quickly, it would be nice to not have to worry about having enough hot water to rinse when we have full hookups.
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Posts: 3990 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Dec 2012 at 10:13pm
a few things about tankless water heater are that they only increase water tempature by a certian amount aount like 30-35 degrees above what the water is.  So you may see warm water but not Hot water.  
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Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:25am
Originally posted by rpodcamper.com

a few things about tankless water heater are that they only increase water tempature by a certian amount aount like 30-35 degrees above what the water is.  So you may see warm water but not Hot water.  

I've heard that about them, but my in-laws have one in their Airstream and swear by it. 
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Posts: 466 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 8:58am
The RPOD has the same size HWH (6-gallons) as most other standard sized travel trailers.  The tankless HWH you mention does to really get the water "hot" in my opinion and I don't think it would be practical to retrofit into the R-Pod.
"Ray & Connie"

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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:26pm

Biggest problem long-term with tankless water heaters is the narrow tubes clog easily with sediment and chemical deposits (calcium, etc).  Probably not a big problem for a heater that won't be used daily.

Do you have a model number so we can look up the specs?
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 7:48pm
I haven't done any research yet and I'm not sure which model my in-laws have, I was mostly just curious if other R-Podders had swapped one in. My early searches landed on this one: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/atwood-on-demand-water-heater-50-000-btu/58893 but I'm sure there are other options. 
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Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Dec 2012 at 11:37pm
The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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Posts: 53 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 7:07am
Originally posted by Seanl

The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 

We're actually more interested in it for times when we have full hookups than for energy savings when boondocking. If we're at camp and had a tankless, then we can take as long a shower as our propane supply would permit, without worrying about running out of hot water.

We think it may become a challenge once our daughter is old enough to shower on her own to explain to turn off the water except for rinsing. If it works more like home, it'll make camping more comfortable for everyone.
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Posts: 633 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 8:34am
Originally posted by thadd


Originally posted by Seanl

The main advantage of a tank-less water heater is that you only heat the hot water once unlike with a tank so you use less gas. I only boondock once a year the rest of the time I use the electric heater in the Pod because I don't have to pay for the electricity.  So for me a tank-less did not make a lot of economic sense. 

We're actually more interested in it for times when we have full hookups than for energy savings when boondocking. If we're at camp and had a tankless, then we can take as long a shower as our propane supply would permit, without worrying about running out of hot water.
We think it may become a challenge once our daughter is old enough to shower on her own to explain to turn off the water except for rinsing. If it works more like home, it'll make camping more comfortable for everyone.


That's true. We have never had problems with running out of hot water but if you wanted an endless supply then tankless is the way to go.
Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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Posts: 335 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Dec 2012 at 4:05pm
For tankless water heaters to work, there needs to be certain amount of water pressure to get it going.  The flow of water can be adjusted once it's ignited, but some have an auto switch-off as a safety feature if the water pressure falls below a certain point.  I'd think that your grey tank would fill up in no time unless you had the line open in a full hookup site.  

Most of the campsites we've been to in the Northeast have not had the best water pressure so I'd be reluctant to switch for that reason alone.  Also, the better tankless water heaters are larger and require more space and better ventilation, not to mention more water pressure so it does not burnout the pipes.  There are some "cheats" online to decrease the amount of minimum water pressure needed to get a tankless system going, but it was factory set at a certain point for safety reasons so it's not really recommended to tinker with that.

Another common cheat that is safer is to replumb and loop your hot water through the heater again so that the water heats up a second time.  This enables hotter water and use of a smaller system.  However, it does not solve the water pressure issue.

  
ChaiPod
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2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6
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