Girard GSWH-2 3rd generation tankless water heater

[Davidmac]

Jon can you share where the dealer is located that installed your Truma on demand water heater . The Dealers that are in my area stated that they had not install any as of yet and quoted prices from $1500 to $1700 plus any unexpected extras . I was not able to find a supplier to sell it to me directly as I would prefer to install it my self . My dealer after a year replaced my gen 2 with a 3 , although it does work the 3 waste too much water .

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by leeinmt

Mine quit working last week on my 2017 Greyhawk MV. Calls to the dealer and Girard tech support were of no help, so I tried tapping the solenoid as described above. It worked! I now have hot water.
Thank you for posting this 0and2.
I'm thinking of how to rig up a remote controlled solenoid banger-tapper in case the heater fails when I am in the shower.

Girard not being any help is surprising to me in that they were great when I needed support, although my issue was not with the solenoid but rather a temperature sensor malfunctioning. Shipped me a new water heater unit and authorized a remote RV service to swap it out.

As for the solenoid, that has been an ongoing issue and I thought that Girard had authorized the replacement of the older solenoids that were sticking like that?

Now that our Girard is working as it should, I still can see room for improvement and at some point, wouldn't mind getting a Truma as well to mitigate the last few remaining qualms I have with the Girard design. Just gotta get the DW to sign the check!

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Davidmac

I was not able to find a supplier to sell it to me directly as I would prefer to install it my self .

Truma requires a "trained technician" install their units and won't sell them directly to the public. And although the Truma rep didn't actually come out and say it, I got the impression that if they ever found out that a dealer/supplier actually did sell them directly to the public, that they would no longer be authorized to carry/sell/install them.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Jon

It heats hotter than the Girard (120 degrees)

Not quite true. My Girard Gen 3 was set at 115 degrees from the factory but can be adjusted to as high as 124 degrees via the digital control panel. So the Girard can get slightly hotter than the Truma can.

With that said, I have been keeping my Girard set at 120 to simulate water temps for showering, dishes, etc. while overlooking all the other quirks about my Girard for the time being, and in anticipation of getting a Truma in the not so distant future!

[Jon]

I got the Truma installed at Guaranty RV in Junction City, OR. https://www.guaranty.com/content/guaranty-rv-service. They did a great job but it wasn't cheap. The Truma Aqua Go Comfort was $1389, plus $750 installation. I see it as a long term investment in my happiness in my RV. The Truma is continuing to perform perfectly, and every time I turn on the hot water at low flow and it heats just like a tank heater, I can't help but smile.

As for the Girard heating to 124 degrees, mine never did. Yes, it can be set to 124, but I never got water hotter than about 110 degrees and that was while on a snowbird trip to warmer areas in California. When I returned to Oregon where the incoming water temperature is lower, I was lucky to get it to heat above 100 degrees, the max being about 104, and I had to turn down the hot water flow to get it that hot. Girard recommends setting it at 115 degrees. I had mine set at 124. The Truma doesn't have a temp readout and it's 120 degree set point is not adjustable but from feel it provides much hotter water than the Girard. I have to mix in cold water in the shower with the Truma, and I rarely had to do that with the Girard, and also had to put up with many luke warm showers with the Girard. The Girard output water temp is probably fine if you always camp in a warm climate.

[Jon]

Trailer life magazine had an article about Truma installation and performance a year or longer ago. If any of you are planning to do a self-install, that article may have some information that will help. That is where I heard about the Truma in the first place.

[RyRoRyan]

Once I have learned the deal with the Girard, I have learned to like it. Having 9 total people in my rig requires an on demand always available system. There are obviously some quirks, but nothing that I cant say are a big big deal. The bathroom sink does not flow enough on pump to kick it on, so I just turn the shower on too for a second and it fires up. I can solve this by changing/removing the flow restrictor in it. The other kicker is that I have noticed it only changes the water temp by about 70-75 degrees. When I am in cold weather hookups with the water temp right near 35 at the faucet, I could only get about 104 degrees or so out of it. When camping in warmer weather, and the water temp is above 55 or so, then it can easily maintain 124 all day long.

[RFSTech]

Just a heads up that it seems Jayco is finally going to abandon the tankless water heater on the 2018 Redhawk and Greyhawk models (and possibly others). According to a Jayco rep I spoke with a couple of days ago the 2018 units will revert back to the standard gas/electric tank units (6 gallon I assume). Great news for me as I've been wanting to "downsize" from our Winnebago Adventurer 37B to a Jayco Greyhawk (probably 29MV or 30X) for a couple of years now but we mostly dry camp and the issues with the tankless water heaters is unacceptable to me. I also looked into conversions but can't convince myself to buy a brand new motorhome and then have to immediately replace the water heater. By the way, before the Winnebago Adventurer 37' triple slide Class A with an Atwood 10 gallon gas/electric/bypass water heater I owned a 1992 Four Winds 27' Class C with an Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric water heater for 19 years. I've never run out of hot water in either motorhome even with a family of 5 (and sometimes even more with friends) taking showers in them. In fact, I preferred the 6 gallon Atwood as it heated so fast (especially with both gas and electric on) that it's almost like having an endless supply of hot water. Of course, we have never taken "normal" house like showers in either motorhome. Also, the argument about tank water heaters using more propane than tankless doesn't hold water (pun intended) with me either. Because the Atwood tank units heat so fast I only turn on the propane about 10-20 minutes before I need hot water. Of course, if I'm in a RV park with adequate electrical supply I just leave it on electric the whole time. Just my experience over the last 24 years of constant motorhome ownership with lots of use.

[pconroy]

That's interesting. I had guessed that Jayco would keep the Tankless as a way to underscore the vast number of new RV'ers coming in that'll simply camp in RV parks. That was just my guess.

If Jayco's bailing on everything tankless that probably means I'm wrong, that they're tired of all of the issues and perhaps that the other tankless heaters aren't cost effective.

[Midwest Jeffk]

my gen 3 with replacement selenoid is now working flawlessly. We have been on spring break for the last 2 weeks and taking back to back showers with no issues. As far as using more or less gas. Can't say. Set it at 108' and is working as should. I used to drain my old tank after every trip. Don't have to do that.
So I am now a fan.

[JonDirk]

So far all the 2018 Greyhawks I've seen advertised on the internet still have the tankless water heater. Maybe they were just tossing the idea around but decided against it for now.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by RFSTech

Just a heads up that it seems Jayco is finally going to abandon the tankless water heater on the 2018 Redhawk and Greyhawk models (and possibly others). According to a Jayco rep I spoke with a couple of days ago the 2018 units will revert back to the standard gas/electric tank units (6 gallon I assume). ...snip...
Because the Atwood tank units heat so fast I only turn on the propane about 10-20 minutes before I need hot water. Of course, if I'm in a RV park with adequate electrical supply I just leave it on electric the whole time. ...snip

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the tankless update.

We follow the same procedure and the 6 gal has worked out fine for us.

[RFSTech]

Originally Posted by JonDirk

So far all the 2018 Greyhawks I've seen advertised on the internet still have the tankless water heater. Maybe they were just tossing the idea around but decided against it for now.

I thought that also but upon further inspection of the pictures posted of a white (not full body paint) 2018 Greyhawk 29MV by one dealer, I noticed what appeared to be an Atwood water heater compartment door in one of the pictures. I called the dealer to ask what was listed on the build sheet and he said it was tankless. I then asked if he might go to the unit and physically check it. Sure enough, it was an Atwood tank water heater. I then called Jayco directly and they confirmed that it had slipped out with an error on the build sheet but that the manufacturing records confirmed it was an Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric tank unit. They also reconfirmed that they are migrating to the Atwood tank water heaters in the 2018 models but said that some of the early ones might still have the tankless water heaters in them. I guess the moral of the story is to triple check the actual components installed in any new Greyhawk you might be considering.

[rog4kneer]

Heard that the 2018 has returned to the 6 gal electric gas unit because of so many problems with Girard unit.

[Dan-Phyllis]

Truma AquaGo

[leeinmt]

I banged (tapped) the solenoid and it has been working good ever since.

[memphis02]

Our family of 4 used our Seneca around 30 some-odd nights last season. We cooked regularly on the gas cook top and all took regular showers and washed dishes, clothes etc. I finally filled our propane this year after having filled it in April of last year, last week. -It took 5.6 gal. Either I have an infinite supply of propane or the tankless heaters use next to nothing in fuel.

I don't like how long it takes to get to temp and my young ones have a hard time getting a consistent temp. Outside of those issues, it works pretty well. (Until it screws up. Read my other post for that one, though)

[Wendyt]

I’m very new to full timing in my ‘ 17 377rlbh. It has a girard GSWH-2. And I live in Ohio so I am now getting that the water won’t get above 113. Even tho I have it set at 124. (I’m sssuming because it’s colder outside?) But can anyone tell me why for the past several days the heater just turns off while I’m showering ? I have to turn it back on. Several times But it just started doing this recently. Again I’m a woman and very green so any help is much appreciated !

[memphis02]

Welcome to the forum, Wendy!! Would you say that your water pressure/flow is consistent to when it wasn't messing up? I've had issues in the past where a low-flow situation caused the unit to go into protection on account of an over-temp.

[pconroy]

wendy, while we have the previous model, we too noticed that if the water in the tank is cold, the Girard just doesn't have enough oooomph to heat it up to 120*F.

We were camping in 25*F weather and the showers were barely warm enough to tolerate. The water tank on our Greyhawk is exposed to the outside and got really cold.


If I look up the specs on the Girard it has something like 30K BTUs where other tankless water heaters have 40K or more.


As for the sudden cutouts, yeah, it seems to be pressure related. If the pressure drops, the Girard thinks the flow has stopped and cuts off the water heater. The way we get around it is to flip the valves to use the water tank and pump when we shower.