Tank less 1 more time

[a_magyar]

I can't make a decision. I see Suburban with very good feedback around $300 on Amazon, also I see some for $700
I have a 2009 Flying Cloud 25. And I would like to have a tankless water heater. We not using the tanks, so i was wondering if tankless would be a better solution, only camped where is a hook up. Any of these tankless fits in the original space or need a cut out?
Can you guys recommend some reliable models?

[ROBERT CROSS]

No tank you, I wouldn't.

Don't use the tanks, where's the poop & grey go?

Bob
🇺🇸

[a_magyar]

I just bought it, and the seller said, she didnt do a winterizing , and something broke, and the rv "specialist" "fixed it" bypassed the holding tank. So I have no idea what they did ... Gray and black tanks are ok, but i have no idea how he bypassed it...

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by a_magyar

I just bought it, and the seller said, she didnt do a winterizing , and something broke, and the rv "specialist" "fixed it" bypassed the holding tank. So I have no idea what they did ... Gray and black tanks are ok, but i have no idea how he bypassed it...

You might want to get that looked at...at the least you should know what's wrong with your trailer. Besides, you never know when you'll be stuck somewhere and really wish you had a working toilet - something you won't have without water in your fresh water tank and a way to get it pumped around.

You never know when you'll be forced to spend the night somewhere without hookups, or when the campground where you are parked loses power and can't pump water for the night. We've had that happen as well as having a boil water advisory suddenly issued for a campground where we were staying. Our plans were to be there for another few nights, and having water in our fresh water tank allowed us to do that without skipping a beat.

The problem might have been something simple to fix, like a water pump gone bad from the freeze.

Eventually you'll sell this trailer and possibly have to get it fixed anyway to make the sale. Might as well get some use out of it before then.

[Justen]

I'd sure want to know what was wrong with my holding tanks before I really used the trailer- you never know when you'll need them.

As far as tankless water heaters go, we got this one, which has worked very well for us.

https://amzn.to/4ieS354

[franklyfrank]

Egy Magyartol visza ,

What is your reason for wanting to this ?
I for one wouldn't mess with that system.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Ok, I'm *really* confused ( .... and not for the first time ).

The OP seems to be talking about water heaters. Then they seem to be talking about tanks in general. Which one are they asking about? Is the intent to get rid of *all* tanks? It certainly could be read that way.

If the idea simply to convert over to a tankless water heater: The "shore hookup" part has no bearing on that conversion .....

It would be nice to get some clarification before we head down way to many rabbit holes ....

Bob

[Mollysdad]

"It's a tankless job, but somebody's gotta do it!"

Let's not confuse the 6 gal. tank built into the water heater for the tanks that hold fresh, grey and black products.
The hot water, from a tankless water heater still flows into a grey tank, or perhaps a sewer hose.

[MrPickle]

Originally Posted by a_magyar

I can't make a decision. I see Suburban with very good feedback around $300 on Amazon, also I see some for $700
I have a 2009 Flying Cloud 25. And I would like to have a tankless water heater. We not using the tanks, so i was wondering if tankless would be a better solution, only camped where is a hook up. Any of these tankless fits in the original space or need a cut out?
Can you guys recommend some reliable models?

Our 2024 has a tankless water heater. Here are the issues we have with the one airstream uses.

1) it takes awhile to get hot water.
2) if we turn off the water while soaping and then turn the water to rinse, the hot water is cold and it takes awhile for it to get hot again.
3) A couple of times the hot water has gone cold while using. This is because the water pressure from the spigot is to low. To get around this problem, we also turn on the pump and also use the fresh water tank while showering.

I've never tried the Truma instant water heater. But, from talking to people who switched to it and from what I read on the Forum, it works well. Though it is expensive.

Our previous trailer (2018 Grand Design 5th wheel) had a tank 120 volt/propane water heater and I was much happier with it than what we have in our Airstream.

Scott

[kb0zke]

Scott, we also came from a Grand Design, but a travel trailer, Reflection 315 RLTS. It had a tankless hot water heater, propane-only, and I was less than impressed. I've got a similar one in this Airstream, and it isn't any better.

[a_magyar]

Tested the system today, everything is good. Wasn't bypassed as the lady said. 2 valves were off lol. That is the bypass.

[a_magyar]

Frank, csak gondoltam hogy jobb lesz, de sokan azt mondjak , ha mukodik akkor tartsam meg az eredetit

[O-side Jimmy]

A lot of “negative” comments about “tankless” hot water heaters. We added a Showermiser to ours and couldn’t be happier! I’d rather have a tankless (w/Showermiser) than a tank at this point…
https://showermiser.com/

[ricjones]

Tankless ecosystem in a nutshell.


There are two distinct types of tankless water heaters.
A. Truma type that has a small reservoir that keeps water hot
B. Girard type with no reservoir


1. both seem to work great with full hookups
2. are not great when boondocking because they take time to heat up water and you must run the water to make that happen, then time for hot water to get to faucet, wasting both water from your tank and grey tank space
2B. worse by far - if you run some hot water (after waiting) then shut it off, then need hot water again, you then get a little hot left in the line, then cold as the heater heats up AGAIN, then hot water - this is really bad trying to take a navy shower
3. can be finicky with water pressure - without enough, no heated water - some people turn on their pump while boondocking
4. addition of the showermiser is nice - it eliminates all the wasted water and grey tank space issue - but it has a procedure you have to follow with a knob on a bypass valve, and they take some work to install
5. most have a freeze protect feature you have to turn off in winter if you winterize and back on in spring
6. generally, both the Truma and the Girard are similar footprints to the Suburban type tank heaters and installers have told us they can be swapped relatively easily


Airstream up until 2025 at least installs the Girard units. We have one. We have showermisers. It works OK. To get the tankless to turn on and heat water for the kitchen sink, we have to first turn on the bathroom faucet and it triggers the heat. Others have said they have this same issue.

We are planning to swap in the Truma for our Girard which has the reservoir and virtually eliminates the wasted/wait for hot water issues.

Lots of talk about these things on the forums, just search "tankless water heater".

Oh, and on our 23cbb, it is almost impossible to run the return cold water line from the kitchen sink to the water tank to install the showermiser. We have an extra showermiser somewhere because of this. Would be happy to donate to someone. PM me.

[nickclifford]

Originally Posted by a_magyar

I can't make a decision. I see Suburban with very good feedback around $300 on Amazon, also I see some for $700
I have a 2009 Flying Cloud 25. And I would like to have a tankless water heater. We not using the tanks, so i was wondering if tankless would be a better solution, only camped where is a hook up. Any of these tankless fits in the original space or need a cut out?
Can you guys recommend some reliable models?

I put a Precision Temp in my vintage camper about 7 years ago ... It's been used quite a bit, in fact I had somebody living in the camper for a year using it every day. It's been working fine, although very difficult to use with a single faucet. The best way to use this would be to have two taps, one hot, one cold. Turn on the hot water, then feed cold to adjust the temperature as needed. The single faucet was extremely difficult to get the temperature right.. I would not recommend.

[nwebb]

I’ll take a 6 gal propane/electric hot water heater over propane only tankless any day of the year! Hands down, I’ve owned both. Never ran out of hot water with tank. Have suburban tankless now and it is a tremendous disappointment. Even though globetrotter has recirc pump, still uses too much water to get to the right temp. Also, right or wrong, the dealer tech said it will only heat 40 degrees above ground water. If the ground water is 65 or colder, that would mean no hot shower. Just one man’s opinion.

[geo]

I upgraded the factory installed water heater to a Truma. It's much better at delivering hot water quickly, but as others have noted, it requires running the water a bit for the hot water to reach the faucet. But that was also the case with the original water heater.

One hack that works well when off the grid is to place a dishpan in the kitchen sink, and empty the bucket outside instead of allowing the dishwater to drain into the grey tank. I've been able to extend grey tank capacity by at least one day this way. Also, on long boondocking trips I will also bring along an extra water jug that I can use to add to the fresh tank. Using a funnel makes filling this way easier.

[dan20]

A simple solution is a 2.5 gal clear plastic rectangular water container. one end has a filler cap, the other a pour spout.
Use a wide mouth funnel on the filler end, when you turn on the shower let it run into the funnel until warm. Good for about 3 showers.
When near full dump it into the outside clean water port.
For dish washing I heat up a couple of quarts of water on the stove, doesn't take long, pour that into the sink and run enough cold water to get the temp you want. Takes a little work, but way cheaper than switching
hot water heaters...
Bear in mind most NPs don't have water hookups for RV sites..

[Jeff Bittner]

2021 International 25FBT. We've had no problem managing water with the tankless system. We keep a bucket in the shower and catch any cold water in it then dump that into the black tank. Have a water savor shower head and you'd be surprised how little water is actually in the bucket. While showering, when you turn off the water to soap up remember the water will be hot immediately when you turn it back on for about 10sec or so until the cold water sandwich hits. This is enough time to start rinsing off. We boondock a lot but this system is also really nice when you have full hookups. Long hot showers with your gray take the only limiting factor. We always use the water pump and fresh tank to shower. Love the plexus. We also keep a small Rubbermaid container in the kitchen sink to catch that water and use it to fill the toilet for those morning bathroom issues. The 2 of us have gone 5+ days without a water issue.

[Keys Dave]

We had the Girard factory tankless. After half a dozen trips I had had it. I replaced it with the Suburban 6 gal. electric/propane unit. Couldn't be happier. No extra buckets or jugs of water in the shower, no extra valves to explain. Easy install fit right in the same place. It only takes about 10 minutes to heat water up when we arrive at a new campground.
IMHO the tankless is a solution looking for a problem. Like so many things today companies create new products to solve a problem that no one knew existed.