Girard GSWH-1M Tankless Water Heater

[cat_and_matt]

So I went through everything with my Girard last year to try to get it to be acceptable. The mode switch was already bypassed which was what Girard first sent me instructions to do. The problem is not being able to regulate the temperature yourself when dealing with changes in water pressure. I have been to multiple camp grounds during my first year with by Greyhawk 31SS and I had to remove my pressure regulator, any quick connects used on the hoses and drill out the hole on the plastic washer between the shower hose and the shower head in order to get enough water to flow so that it wouldn't cycle up to hot and cut off and on. I proved this was the issue by having to turn on water at the sink while showering so enough water would flow through the Girard.

I see that there is now a dial control on newer models. Does anyone know if Girard will provide free alterations to existing models? It is obvious from user experiences that the dial is an requirement and the product engineering didn't account for variences in pressures accross camp grounds.

I would be fine with the product if I could control the temperature setting/flow or what ever the dial does. I haven't emailed Jerry yet but wanted to see what success anyone else had with getting upgraded to dial version.

[jrnert]

Originally Posted by cat_and_matt

So I went through everything with my Girard last year to try to get it to be acceptable. The mode switch was already bypassed which was what Girard first sent me instructions to do. The problem is not being able to regulate the temperature yourself when dealing with changes in water pressure. I have been to multiple camp grounds during my first year with by Greyhawk 31SS and I had to remove my pressure regulator, any quick connects used on the hoses and drill out the hole on the plastic washer between the shower hose and the shower head in order to get enough water to flow so that it wouldn't cycle up to hot and cut off and on. I proved this was the issue by having to turn on water at the sink while showering so enough water would flow through the Girard.

I see that there is now a dial control on newer models. Does anyone know if Girard will provide free alterations to existing models? It is obvious from user experiences that the dial is an requirement and the product engineering didn't account for variences in pressures accross camp grounds.

I would be fine with the product if I could control the temperature setting/flow or what ever the dial does. I haven't emailed Jerry yet but wanted to see what success anyone else had with getting upgraded to dial version.

CAT_and_MATT

Please send me an email with your contact information and I will have our Tech support call you.
jrennert@girardrv.com

[jma0298]

My issues were finally resolved after two months of going back and forth with the dealer, Jayco and Girard in advance of my long summer vacation plans. Girard and Jayco replaced my gen 1 version of the Girard tankless water heater with the new GSWH-1M dial model in my 2012 Greyhawk 31FS. The new model was better, but did not resolve my problem. Even with the dial turned down to the lowest setting the unit would still fluctuate (cycle) between extremely hot and cold. We had some luck running both the facet and shower at the same time. We had been getting just over 1 GPM from the shower head, which is supposedly the minimum to get it to work. Since I was having some luck running multiple faucets, I was convinced it was the shower head. I finally purchased a Camco Shower Head and Hose from the camp store we were staying at in Oklahoma City. Viola... Now, lots of water flow, and the water heater is working like a charm. Thank god. We just set out on a three week tour of the southwest, and the loving wife and three daughters were not going to be very loving if we had to deal with those shower issues we were having. So, for me it was all about the flow. I can't say whether the original heater would have worked with the new shower head or not, but it certainly did the trick with this one. We are on our third RV park and every thing is working as expected.

[knoxcamper]

For those of you still having issues with the Girard water heater, I encourage you to continue communicating with Jayco Service and the folks at Girard, perhaps more diplomatically than I had. The end result of my issue(s) were resolved by exchanging the Tankless unit for a traditional Atwood unit - I'm much happier now, but maybe that's just me being old school. Both Girard and Jayco helped me out, and I am grateful for that. I'm seeing more positive comments recently from those using the Girard product, so hopefully others don't have the frustration(s) I encountered. I saw one comment about someone taking a 35min shower with the Girard product. Nice... but I can't imagine spending more than 5min in the cramped confines of a Jayco Melbourne shower stall...

[edatlanta]

Maybe I am getting in this discussion late, but I just don't see why I would want a water heater that is propane only in an RV. I host in the summers where electric is included. I would have to pay for propane.

[cat_and_matt]

Originally Posted by cat_and_matt

So I went through everything with my Girard last year to try to get it to be acceptable. The mode switch was already bypassed which was what Girard first sent me instructions to do. The problem is not being able to regulate the temperature yourself when dealing with changes in water pressure. I have been to multiple camp grounds during my first year with by Greyhawk 31SS and I had to remove my pressure regulator, any quick connects used on the hoses and drill out the hole on the plastic washer between the shower hose and the shower head in order to get enough water to flow so that it wouldn't cycle up to hot and cut off and on. I proved this was the issue by having to turn on water at the sink while showering so enough water would flow through the Girard.

I see that there is now a dial control on newer models. Does anyone know if Girard will provide free alterations to existing models? It is obvious from user experiences that the dial is an requirement and the product engineering didn't account for variences in pressures accross camp grounds.

I would be fine with the product if I could control the temperature setting/flow or what ever the dial does. I haven't emailed Jerry yet but wanted to see what success anyone else had with getting upgraded to dial version.

So first off I can't say enough about Jerry and every thing he does to track the forums and stay on top of issues that folks are having running this new system through its paces. In the end we figured out that I just to too many places that have varying degrees of temperature to their water so I was never really ever able to get the Gen I system that I have to work with the Auto/Low switch. I could almost never get my system to not be too hot and almost always had to have another hot water tap turned on while getting a shower in order to get enough flow to keep the temperature cool enough. I proved that I had to have the water pressure up to at least 60 psi before I had enough flow. I removed all possible restrictions to the water flow and just couldn't get it cool enough. The internal pump limits at 40 psi so obviously this wasn't going to work for me.

I the end we worked out an exchange to the latest generation of thier tankless heater that comes with a control knob that lets you adjust the BTUs. This is exactly what was needed. One extremely extra benfit this upgrade was the modifications they have done to the blower and vent system. My previous unit was so loud when it came on that I really wished that I had know how loud it was going to be before I picke a Greyhawk model that had the vent on the awning side. It is now so quite that you almost don't hear it kick on when you are out side.

If you do get yours upgraded then watch out for one thing. My RV dealer that did the swap took the Auto/On switch and tied it into ground so that it now acts as another on/off switch. Kind of handy seeing as how I now don't have to open the outside panel anymore to turn it on or off. Which is good because if anything is going to break on this unit it would be the panel locking mechanism. Of course my dealer negeleted to tell me about this bit and I ended up going from the dealer to camping for the weekend and couldn't get the unit to fire up. I spent all day with Girard tech support and an multimeter and believe you me I know exactly how this thing works and the tech now knows how it reacts to having power but no ground. It wasn't until I hooked a jumpstat battery up to the interior connections that we figured out the unit was fine and something was wrong with the wiring. Once the dealer finally called me back and asked if I turned on the on/off switch inside and then began groveling for not telling me about it were things running good. The tech was in disbelief since this was not in the instructions that they provide for the installation, but in the end we both agreed that is was kind of a good idea. Now I have no issues with being able to adjust the temperature and I can run well off of the pump as well.

I recommend the product as long as you the version with the BTU control knob. Thanks again to Jerry and the tech support for sticking with me to work through this.

[overrun]

I have a new 2016 Precept and I was having issues with the water heater till I called the Tech Support line 949-259-4024, they were able to quickly fix my issue and now I have hot water. If you are having issues give them a call, in my case there was a reset button that had to be pressed.

[cat_and_matt]

Originally Posted by cat_and_matt

So first off I can't say enough about Jerry and every thing he does to track the forums and stay on top of issues that folks are having running this new system through its paces. In the end we figured out that I just to too many places that have varying degrees of temperature to their water so I was never really ever able to get the Gen I system that I have to work with the Auto/Low switch. I could almost never get my system to not be too hot and almost always had to have another hot water tap turned on while getting a shower in order to get enough flow to keep the temperature cool enough. I proved that I had to have the water pressure up to at least 60 psi before I had enough flow. I removed all possible restrictions to the water flow and just couldn't get it cool enough. The internal pump limits at 40 psi so obviously this wasn't going to work for me.

I the end we worked out an exchange to the latest generation of thier tankless heater that comes with a control knob that lets you adjust the BTUs. This is exactly what was needed. One extremely extra benfit this upgrade was the modifications they have done to the blower and vent system. My previous unit was so loud when it came on that I really wished that I had know how loud it was going to be before I picke a Greyhawk model that had the vent on the awning side. It is now so quite that you almost don't hear it kick on when you are out side.

If you do get yours upgraded then watch out for one thing. My RV dealer that did the swap took the Auto/On switch and tied it into ground so that it now acts as another on/off switch. Kind of handy seeing as how I now don't have to open the outside panel anymore to turn it on or off. Which is good because if anything is going to break on this unit it would be the panel locking mechanism. Of course my dealer negeleted to tell me about this bit and I ended up going from the dealer to camping for the weekend and couldn't get the unit to fire up. I spent all day with Girard tech support and an multimeter and believe you me I know exactly how this thing works and the tech now knows how it reacts to having power but no ground. It wasn't until I hooked a jumpstat battery up to the interior connections that we figured out the unit was fine and something was wrong with the wiring. Once the dealer finally called me back and asked if I turned on the on/off switch inside and then began groveling for not telling me about it were things running good. The tech was in disbelief since this was not in the instructions that they provide for the installation, but in the end we both agreed that is was kind of a good idea. Now I have no issues with being able to adjust the temperature and I can run well off of the pump as well.

I recommend the product as long as you the version with the BTU control knob. Thanks again to Jerry and the tech support for sticking with me to work through this.

So after a couple of years with the 2nd Generation I now had to get the 3rd Generation that actually has a real temperature setting control. My 2nd Generation which was a replacement for the 1st Generation started ignoring the BTU controller and would cycle up to max temperature again and then cut off. It was intermittent. I worked with Tech Support and provided all of the measurements asked for and only found the resistance slightly lower on the gas regulator value. The tech then advised me that we would need to replace the unit. Not wanting to get another 2nd Generation and have this happen again I opted to purchase the 3rd generation. If you have the 1st or 2nd Generation and haven't given up on Girard yet then I recommend replacing your unit with the 3rd Generation. The temperature control now works just like it should and it is fuss free. Just set the temperature that everyone is happy with and no more messing with everything else. The NO ONE reason to replace is the noise difference. You won't believe how much quieter this model is compared to the first two. Mine vents to the awning side and you couldn't sit anywhere near it while it was running and hear anything else. This one you can almost not hear when you are inside the RV and it is much quieter now outside.

I must say that I wish that I called Jerry again. Tech support was a little slow in getting back to me and I felt like I had to keep emailing and calling to get a timely response.

[LI-Camper]

My 2016 Greyhawk 29MV is still under warranty. My Gen 2 water heater fluctuated temps especially during a shower. After speaking to Jayco Service, they sent me a new Gen 3 water heater. The local Jayco dealer is the only one around and so is very busy. As a rule they do not do warranty work on units they didn't sell. Jayco service told me I could have it installed at any RV place. There aren't many RV dealers on Long Island, so I asked if I could get a plumber/contractor to install it instead. Jayco said ok, just send them the bill. I got someone to install the new water heater. Turns out the cold water inlet and hot water outlets are in different places than the gen 2. The contractor had to move some of the ductwork to get the heater installed. Also the new water heater has a different controller that requires two wires running from the heater instead of one. So the controller had to be relocated. It would have been very difficult to rewire the new controller and put it on the bathroom wall. The contractor with my input placed the new controller on the side of the kitchen counter top where there are many switches where you enter the MH. It is a good location. The new unit seems to work well and is very quiet. I like that I can set the exact temp and turn it off and on from the controller. I think Jayco Service was terrific and Girard has designed a good water heater. I used very little propane with the old water heater because it is only on when you need hot water.