Girard water heater vs standard water heater

[priv8pilot]

OK I am getting down to the bones on what I want in my trailer. (2017 or 2018 depending on order date) Jayco Pinnacle. My situation is this: Trailer will be parked with full hookups for a few years. Electricity is free. Water is free and I have full hookups. Propane is not.
At first I wanted the Girard tankless water heater but now after reading time after time about all the problems people are having with them I am having second thoughts. I love the idea of long showers without turning the water off as you soap up.
Now on the other hand I hear the Standard water heater is 10 gallons both electric and propane. My question is this: How long can you shower with out turning the water off and on before you run out of hot water? I don't mind paying for propane as long as there are no problems. My Jayco rep state the tankless system is a Girard model # 2GWHM. I try to look this up and can't find any information on this model.

Opinions wanted!
Thanks,
Steve

[Donna]

As long as you want once you get it set up correctly.

[Tunce the traveler]

Originally Posted by priv8pilot

OK I love the idea of long showers without turning the water off as you soap up.
Now on the other hand I hear the Standard water heater is 10 gallons both electric and propane. My question is this: How long can you shower with out turning the water off and on before you run out of hot water.

Opinions wanted!
Thanks,
Steve

I can shower with 6 gallons and not turning the water off and still have hot water left, I only use electric but the trick is changing out the shower head.

[Mopar_Earl]

Originally Posted by Tunce the traveler

I can shower with 6 gallons and not turning the water off and still have hot water left, I only use electric but the trick is changing out the shower head.

Care to share the shower head info?


Earl

[sennister]

If electric is free, then go with a traditional electric/propane system. You can use electric only most of the time then flip on the gas when taking a shower to preserve it. If the water heater is like the one in my unit, you can run both propane and electric on the water heater so you get faster recovery times.

As mentioned showering techniques and equipment (flow of shower head) will greatly impact how long of a shower you can take.

Not sure if this is available for the camper you want but this one is very popular.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZOWSJM

[blujay40]

The Girard they are talking about is the latest version, Generation 3. We were in the same boat as you when we were getting ready to order and decided to take the leap and we are glad we did.

We have it in our Eagle TT which is used for seasonal stays with full hookups and although I have had 2 issues with it (both addressed promptly by Girard), we are happy with it overall and I would get it again over a 6 or even a 10 gal traditional gas/elec tanked heater. If it dies or no longer suits our needs, it has now spoiled me to the point that I will be looking to replace it with a Truma Aqua Go, which addresses one or two of the remaining short comings with the Girard (higher burner temps and a mixing tank to prevent cold blasts when turning on and off) instead of going back to a traditional tank heater.

I may be the exception to the rule around here, but as long as your not expecting it to be the "holy grail" solution to hot water in an RV, it does what it is designed to do. It is NOT suited to water conservation, low water pressure operation, boon docking, or in areas that might have REALLY cold water sources. As for propane usage, it uses very little since it only runs when your using water and for us, is a minimal concession for what we get from it. So as for us, we are happy with the decision to get the Girard.

[sennister]

Originally Posted by blujay40

The Girard they are talking about is the latest version, Generation 3. We were in the same boat as you when we were getting ready to order and decided to take the leap and we are glad we did.

We have it in our Eagle TT which is used for seasonal stays with full hookups and although I have had 2 issues with it (both addressed promptly by Girard), we are happy with it overall and I would get it again over a 6 or even a 10 gal traditional gas/elec tanked heater. If it dies or no longer suits our needs, it has now spoiled me to the point that I will be looking to replace it with a Truma Aqua Go, which addresses one or two of the remaining short comings with the Girard (higher burner temps and a mixing tank to prevent cold blasts when turning on and off) instead of going back to a traditional tank heater.

I may be the exception to the rule around here, but as long as your not expecting it to be the "holy grail" solution to hot water in an RV, it does what it is designed to do. It is NOT suited to water conservation, low water pressure operation, boon docking, or in areas that might have REALLY cold water sources. As for propane usage, it uses very little since it only runs when your using water and for us, is a minimal concession for what we get from it. So as for us, we are happy with the decision to get the Girard.

I have been kind of defending the Girards around here and trying to help out people even though I don't have one. I love our tankless water heater but it is in our house not our camper.

I would agree that they really don't help conserve water. They can help preserve propane but it depends on use.

After trying to help people out recently there are some challenges and quite simply the system will work pretty well on a full hookup scenario but if someone plans on doing much boondocking I really would recommend a traditional water heater.

In my home use I would say my water usage has gone up because we are not running out of hot water mid shower and jumping out. As you mentioned getting wet, shutting off the shower while lathering, and turning it back on to rinse to save water doesn't work well with a tankless because it will shutdown and you will get a blast of cold until it kicks in. Not right away because the water in the lines is warm but eventually it will hit the shower. So when dealing with limited FW tank and Grey tank capacities this will come up.

While they don't save on water, they can save on energy and that is where we see our savings. Our gas bill went way down partly because we were using a really old 40 gallon tank in the house which was inefficient and we had to run it cranked up to something like 160F to try and extend that 40 gallons into an amount of water for a family of 4 to take showers and such. With a traditional tank heater you have keep it hot all the time even when you are not using it. This takes energy (gas or electric). Then since I can't use 160F water in a shower I now have to mix in a bunch of cold water to get it down to 105F or so where it is usable for me. So all that energy used to heat water to 160F and maintaining that heat all day only to then cool it back down to 105F is a huge waste. We now run our tankless system at 122F or so. I bump it up from time to time as needed. Now I am not heating it all day then while using it I am cooling it off with some cold water but not much. Since in a house my has pretty constant water inlet temps it was easier to size a unit to meet the needs.

So how does this apply to a RV? Well the inlet temp variables and camping at sea level vs camping on a mountain are challenges for tankless even on full hookup sites. A tank system can simply deal with these variables better because they can run, impacting more heat on the water for a longer period. The units that are gas /electric combo units are nice if you are at full hookup sites. They will do all the maintain the heat on electric and gas kicks in to boost temps during use. So since the OP said he isn't charged for electric, then that means gas use will be the same or probably less with the tank system. If you are in water conservation mode because you are boondocking, it will handle a "Navy Shower" simply better.

Can a tankless system work in an RV? Sure. If you are camping in warmer climates with limitless water and tank capacity (sewer hookup) they will work great. Not sure how much gas they will save in this situation though. They can do OK with boondocking but it depends on how you use them. I really feel a tank system would be better for this. If you camp in colder temps, then you will want to pull the water in your FW tank and run your tank heaters to try and bring up the inlet temp. Don't have to mess with that in a tank system. Since we largely camp in a boondock style, if I went with a rig that had this option, I think I would go traditional tank heater. If I exclusively camped at full hookup sites in warmer weather it would be a harder decision. As we know, everyone's idea of camping is different and that is fine. There are options which are better for one style than others. So one should evaluate what their idea of camping is and choose options based on that.

[justman]

I've read several issues with tankless RV water heaters as well. I prefer the simpler solution. That means simple to operate, simple to troubleshoot, and simple to fix. For me, that's the standard 6 or 10 gallon tank water heater.

I know you said your site was going to be fixed for a while, but think about this... If your situation changes and you start moving around, there's a good possibility you'll be in a location where you won't have parts or service for a fancy tankless water heater. However, parts and service are typically easy to come by for standard water heater. Parts are usually cheaper too. Also...you can come to a forum like this for potential fixes if something goes wrong. Lots of history with the standard water heater. Not so much with the tankless.

In short, you'll probably LOVE a tankless water heater...until it breaks. :-)

[jrnert]

Originally Posted by priv8pilot

OK I am getting down to the bones on what I want in my trailer. (2017 or 2018 depending on order date) Jayco Pinnacle. My situation is this: Trailer will be parked with full hookups for a few years. Electricity is free. Water is free and I have full hookups. Propane is not.
At first I wanted the Girard tankless water heater but now after reading time after time about all the problems people are having with them I am having second thoughts. I love the idea of long showers without turning the water off as you soap up.
Now on the other hand I hear the Standard water heater is 10 gallons both electric and propane. My question is this: How long can you shower with out turning the water off and on before you run out of hot water? I don't mind paying for propane as long as there are no problems. My Jayco rep state the tankless system is a Girard model # 2GWHM. I try to look this up and can't find any information on this model.

Opinions wanted!
Thanks,
Steve

Girard Products web site is www.greenrvproducts.com.
Jayco rep is correct, Jayco is using the GSWH-2 (introduced in late 2015).
All the comments and concerns RVers had with tankless water heaters have been addressed.

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by priv8pilot

OK I love the idea of long showers without turning the water off as you soap up.
Now on the other hand I hear the Standard water heater is 10 gallons both electric and propane. My question is this: How long can you shower with out turning the water off and on before you run out of hot water?

We have the Atwood 10 in our Eagle and during the summer it's difficult to run it out of hot water. I once stood in the shower for 20 minutes and never had to touch the cold handle. Has to get outta there before I shriveled up like a prune.