Tankless vs tank water heater

[bstannard]

We ordered a 10gal. water heater in our 2021 Pinnacle but a tankless was substituted (don’t know brand yet as we are in Fla. and camper is at dealer in Ohio). In the past we have heard of people not happy with tankless units. What experience has anyone had with more recent units? Any suggestions on operation?
Thanks
Bill

[Jagiven]

I don't have one in my tt, and would not want one. I do have one in my house and mostly love it.

If you camp with full hookups, you will mostly love it. If you dry camp. And need to be conservative with water, you'll probably hate it.

Every time you turn off the water, the burner turns off. When you turn on the water, a fan purges the flame chamber for a moment, before ignition. This means you will get a slug of cold water. So if your taking a navy shower, and turning the water on/off you will hate it. Same issue while doing dishes.

[JimD]

Had a tankless in my Greyhawk and hated it. The water flow must be fairly high to get the thing to turn on. It may be OK if you have "full" hookups but anything less will be very painful.

I dry camp a lot and you waste a lot of water with the tankless. Also, with the requirement for a high flow, your gray tank fills up faster. Showers with a tankless are a joke because every time you shut off the flow to conserve water, the water heater turns off giving you a shot of cold water when you turn the flow back on.

I yanked my tankless and installed a 6 gallon tank model and am totally overjoyed. It gives me all the hot water I want. Showers are great and the hot water for dishes is actually hotter.

[pconroy]

I agree with both of the above sentiments.


But we do usually camp with water and we've grown to really like our tankless. If we get another RV it will have a tankless WH in it.

[bender88]

Since it's the 21 it will be a Truma instead of the Girard. The Girards were absolute junk, we replaced ours last spring with the Truma and so far so good. I like the tankless since we rarely dry camp. Wife loves it.

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by JimD

Had a tankless in my Greyhawk and hated it. The water flow must be fairly high to get the thing to turn on. It may be OK if you have "full" hookups but anything less will be very painful.

I dry camp a lot and you waste a lot of water with the tankless. Also, with the requirement for a high flow, your gray tank fills up faster. Showers with a tankless are a joke because every time you shut off the flow to conserve water, the water heater turns off giving you a shot of cold water when you turn the flow back on.

I yanked my tankless and installed a 6 gallon tank model and am totally overjoyed. It gives me all the hot water I want. Showers are great and the hot water for dishes is actually hotter.

This was our experience, and opinion, as well. Do not miss the tankless and the replacement Suburban 6-gallon WH works well.

[glitelover]

Ours is the Girard tankless, 3rd generation, I think.

Once we put in a pressure regulator and moved from the 1-handle faucet on the shower to the 2-handle faucet and used only hot water in the shower (adjusting the temp at the wall unit), it has been fantastic.

We seldom have full hookups, and it works from the water tank just as well. I will admit that the gray tanks do tend to fill up quickly since you can take long showers and not ever have to worry about running out of hot water.

I've heard the Truma is even better. If I were to buy a new 5th wheel, I would definitely get a tankless water heater again.