Tankless water heater

[kurteilrich]

I purchased a 2013 Jayco Melbourne 29 D, it has a tankless water heater in it, I have problems with it getting to hot and can not control the temp of the water, it gets up to 135 degrees even on it's lowest setting, it has been back to the dealer twice for this problem and they said it was all fixed, we went on a few night trip and it is doing the same thing. Does anyone have any experience with these. I have had tankless water heater in my house for 15 years and it worked great.

[RVhiker]

I have a standard 6 gallon water heater in my trailer and have no direct experience with RV tankless water heaters. Those disclaimers made, one of the things that caused us to buy a Jayco and not a Forest River Wildcat a couple of years ago is that Wildcat had the Girard tankless heater as standard equipment. I read many posts of poor temperature control on those particular tankless heaters. Here is one long thread: Wildcat Forum Thread. I believe that Girard may have changed their temperature control mechanisms that may mitigate some of the problems mentioned in that thread.

My personal belief is that a tank type water heater makes much more sense for a trailer, unless you are always connected to city water and have a sewer connection.

[tjerrard]

On our first trip out with our trailer equiped with the Girard HWH we experienced the same problem(s) as described here and on the Wildcat Forum. It didn't help when I found that we were not given the manual for the system so it was by guess work to try and get the system to work, never did. We were on electrics only with a potable water tank full of water, gray tank empty and using the trailer water pump. We used alot of water out of the tank and pumped it into the gray tank in an effort to get hot water.
That was at the beginning of last week. Since then I have obtained a manual and watched the Girard how to video. So I will try the system again tomorrow parked here in the driveway. Given what I have read and the small capacity of our Potable Tank (22.5 us gal) I think that the Girard heater is not suited to using potable tank and trailer pump and is probably more suited to a city water connection and campsite sewage connection connected.
I did notice at the campsite that flushing the toilet caused the fan blower on the Girard to operate. After watching the video that may be because of the water system not be cleared of air prior to use. Which poses the problem of limited water supply and gray tank space at sites where one is not connected to water and sewage.
However I will spend some time tomorrow testing both ways and see if I can get the system to work.

[tjerrard]

I tested the water system and Girard heater today.
First: Was with the water hose hooked to the city water connection. I had an elbow and Camco water pressure regulator attached the the water hose with about 30 feet of hose running to the trailer. I cleared the water system of air and then tried the kitchen sink with the Girard set at auto. I managed to get a consistent stream of hot water with no cycling from hot to cold. The tap adjustment to get this was very miniscule to get the hot consistent hot water. Also the water was not as hot as the wife wants it to clean dishes. Connected to waste water dump at the campsite this would not be a problem in terms of my grey tank. The bathroom sink was the same kind of adjustment of the hot water tap only to get a consistent flow of hot water. I found the shower the same with the original shower head which has an adjustment to off thus not having to turn the tap once set. All in all in this configuration it is acceptable for our needs.
Secondly: I tested by filling the water tank and using the trailer water pump. I anticipate in this configuration at a campsite we would not have a sewage connection thus the water would be held in the gray tank. With the Girard set to auto I could not really get a decent consistent hot water flow in any of the kitchen, bathroom or shower. Placing the Girard to low helped the issue and I was able to get hot water the same as the first test. The problem being to attain this in this configuration I can see the grey tank filling up fast and the water tank going down fast. Not a really acceptable situation with no water or sewage connections.
I have to say the hot water I get is fine for us for showers and face/hand washing but will have to be supplemented from the kettle to get the hot for dishes. When the water did get hot enough for dishes the Girard cutout I guess on the overheat switch.
Our trailer is small, we do not use it for 'living' but will be using it for travel. Since the CGs we intend to use will all have showers and most, except provincial parks, will have water and sewage hookups we can accept the system as is.