Replace hot water heater with tankless?

[Aariel]

Hello Sunliners


On my 1997 Sunline Solaris model T-2653, the hot water heater sprang a leak and I have to replace it.


It's been recommended I go with an outdoor tankless propane heater. My Fix It guy says I should buy a Rheem which costs about $800 plus all the fixtures and the cost of labor for him to install, probably about $1200 to 1500 all told I'm guessing.



The cost is killing me, and it seems like overkill to me because it has a 7 GMP flow and I'm figuring the shower uses something like 1.5. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of complaints about tankless units not getting the water hot enough because the water flow isn't strong enough, and the Rheem has 0.4 GPM minimum activation rate which is the lowest I've seen.


I live in northern New York State with average water temp 47 degrees, so I need a good temp / flow rise.



Does anyone have experience with all this that you can relate? Opinions? Thanks so much!



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[Tinstaafl]

Tankless water heaters have their place, but not in an RV as far as I know. It'll gobble gas at a great rate to heat the water quickly.

And yes, one big downside in practical use is that you can't expect it to kick on and heat worth a dang unless you're running the water full bore--and most of us seldom do that.

I haven't priced them, but IMO you can do much better pricewise by looking for a replacement heater of the same type.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi,

I can't help you much with the tankless heater, I know they are getting attention in campers now, but there is also the type of camping you do. Are you full hook up all the time? Or do you tow the camper from camp to camp and use the onboard fresh water tank?

If you are towing camp to camp and using onboard tanks, we try to use as little of water as possible and we boondock too, so we are more conservative on the water. For us, since there are only 2 of us, we both can take showers one after the other and not run out using the 6 gallon tank setup as we do not used a full tank showering anyway. We can go 4 days on our fresh water tank before I have to refill it. For us, the tank type works well.

As for cost, I may be able to help with other options on an RV tank type that will drop into your existing hole in the camper.

The new Dometic tank water heater is now more available then last year when it was close to non existent. And you have to search for the best cost from a good source as the pricing is all over the map by a factor of 2 to 3X.

Suburban also makes a special unit that will fit in place of the older Atwood if you want to change brands, it is not the standard Suburban.

Here is the new Dometic at the lowest cost I could find. I see it has gone up in the last few months, maybe they realized they where out selling a lot of others in the lower cost. This is a combo gas/electric https://www.amazon.com/Atwood-Dometic-WH-6GEA-Heater-94002BP/dp/B08Q4LN7M9/ref=sr_1_25

The nice surprise, this new Dometic is made here in the USA, at least for now anyway. I was skeptical at first, but after seeing the new build, I was a lot happier. I have not used one yet, but will be installing it soon.

I bought two of the combo gas electric ones in Jan this year for $385 plus tax from that Elk Mountain dealer and had a good experience . That was the cheapest I could find anywhere, some where selling it for $900. You have to buy a door conversion kit as the heater is narrower then the old Atwood but the height is the same.

Here is all gas only, but it has electronic ignition, not sure what you have in your camper. https://www.amazon.com/Atwood-Dometic-WH-6GA-Heater-94001BP/dp/B08MB2ZKT2/ref=sr_1_7


I bought the white door kit here, they are out of them right now, but they will restock, I'm not sure how long. https://www.boatandrvaccessories.co...lon-water-heater-door-conversion-kit-34-white

But I have bought the door kit from Panther RV also. https://pantherrvproducts.com/94016/

There is a plumbing change required in the back as the older Atwood had the pipes in a different place.

If this has any interest, I will be installing one of the ones I bought within the next month and can post pics of the install. There is a little wood work to do with the new door kit to frame it in.

Hope this helps

John

 

[Aariel]

Hi John, Thanks very much. Great to get those other options and to see the pricing. My camper is permanently parked with hose/well water supply and rented to vacationers, so i think for a little more money the tankless option will be better. The problem with tankless is that if there's too much of a water pressure fluctuation, the shower can run cold! I'm looking into a pressure regulator; not sure if that will do the trick. When I get this all sorted out, I'll report back on what I did and how it works.