Hot water is a luxurious that RVers ought to by no means take as a right. From showering to actually cleansing your dishes, it’s important to your general RV hygiene. When contemplating an improve to a tankless RV water heater, you will need to know the benefits and downsides of this water heater kind.
What is a Tankless Water Heater (and How Does it Work?)
Traditional water heaters boast a storage tank that fills with water out of your recent water tank or whenever you’re related to metropolis water. That water is then heated utilizing a propane burner or an electrical heating component, which might typically take so long as half-hour earlier than you possibly can take pleasure in a sizzling bathe. Tankless water heaters work somewhat in another way.
Tankless RV water heaters, also referred to as on-demand water heaters, warmth your water instantaneously, eliminating the necessity for a storage tank. When you open a sizzling water fixture in your kitchen sink or RV bathe, chilly water runs by way of a warmth exchanger powered by propane fuel. This design permits them to ship fixed sizzling water with out you ready for water to be heated in a tank.
Benefits of Tankless RV Water Heaters
Here are just a few of the benefits of tankless RV water heaters:
- Increased vitality effectivity as a result of there’s no warmth loss from standing water.
- Reduced danger of spillage and decreased potential for RV water harm.
- No ready in your water heater’s tank to warmth up.
- Longer life expectancy than customary water heaters.
Disadvantages of Tankless RV Water Heaters
While they’re an incredible choice for some, some RVers nonetheless swear by their customary water heater as a result of tankless RV sizzling water heaters can:
- Waste a whole lot of water earlier than sizzling water is disbursed.
- Only function on propane fuel.
- Require complicated retrofitting in case you don’t do your analysis to discover a appropriate mannequin.
Many newer fashions have labored out the unique kinks associated to water consumption and vitality utilization, nevertheless it’s value realizing about these potential downsides when deciding if a tankless sizzling water heater is best for you.
How to Choose a Tankless RV Water Heater
Before you get overly enamored with the concept of sizzling water on demand, there are just a few key stuff you’ll need to think about:
Water Usage
You’ll need a ballpark determine of your water utilization earlier than you start purchasing for a tankless water heater. Here is a fast reference for the typical water consumption of RV home equipment:
- Toilet: ~0.8 gallons per flush
- Bathtub: ~2-4 gallons per minute
- Shower: ~1.5-3 gallons per minute
- Kitchen Sink: ~0.5 gallons per minute
- Dishwasher: ~4-6 gallons per cycle
- Washer: ~8-20 gallons per load
When selecting a daily water heater, you’d think about how typically you would possibly use these home equipment in someday. With a tankless water heater, the extra essential query is how typically you suppose you would possibly use a number of home equipment concurrently.
Tankless RV water heaters can present an on-demand water heating capability from 1.5 to six gallons per minute, relying on the mannequin. Compare and distinction fashions to fulfill your water utilization calls for.
Installation
While one of many advantages of a tankless water heater is that it requires much less space for storing, you continue to want to make sure compatibility together with your RV. Some fashions are supposed to be retrofitted in the identical house that housed your previous water heater.
This is the best resolution, and the Suburban Nautilus On-Demand Water Heater is an effective instance of a tankless water heater designed to exchange customary Suburban water heaters. Retrofit kits can be found from most producers to assist with a protected, aesthetically-pleasing set up.
Because you’ll want to securely disconnect propane and shut off your RV’s electrical energy to put in a tankless water heater, it’s possible you’ll need to schedule a service appointment for this RV improve.
Service technicians will guarantee correct set up location and adherence to all codes and laws concerning correct water heater air flow. If you often RV in areas that drop under 32℉, ask your RV efficiency specialist about putting in an antifreeze equipment together with your new tankless water heater.
Winterizing
Speaking of freezing temperatures, you must know that winterizing your RV will change in case you improve from a typical water heater to a tankless mannequin. A fundamental winterizing course of makes use of air to blow out water traces, however there’ll all the time be a small quantity of water left behind.
That water will destroy a tankless water heater if temperatures drop under 32℉. If you could have a tankless water heater or hydronic heating system and produce your RV to a Camping World Service Center to be winterized, you must obtain the Deluxe Winterize bundle.
That bundle requires technicians to pump RV antifreeze by way of your whole freshwater system to displace water and shield your unit from freeze harm. It’s a extra pricey service, nevertheless it helps you keep away from even bigger restore prices in case you winterize your RV improperly.
Additionally, the bypass valves in your customary water heater ought to be eliminated when retrofitting your RV with a tankless mannequin. These valves serve no objective for a tankless design and may typically result in confusion in case you’re winterizing your RV at dwelling.
Electric or Gas? Is There Even a Choice?
Standard water heaters might be set to make use of LP fuel or an electrical heating component to warmth your water. These fashions make the most of a 1,400-watt electrical heating component that produces round 6,000 BTUs per hour (BTUs are British Thermal Units).
To ship comparable efficiency, a tankless water heater powered by electrical energy would require a minimal of 40,000 BTUs/hr, which equates to roughly 75 amps of 120 VAC energy. That’s rather more than the 30 or 50 amps most RVs are wired for.
A tankless water heater will limit you to using solely propane to warmth water, whether or not boondocking or plugged into an influence pedestal in an RV park.
Some hydronic heating methods with the aptitude to furnish your RV with sizzling water (not all can) provide an electrical choice. As at the moment designed, an electrical tankless water heater would require 220 volts of AC energy, which isn’t obtainable in RVs.
Gas-powered tankless water heaters geared up with a small battery financial institution are your best choice. That battery financial institution gives the ignition supply whenever you aren’t plugged into 120 VAC energy. Many RVers additionally discover propane-powered variations straightforward to put in and don’t thoughts changing or refilling RV propane containers usually.
There are moveable standalone tankless water heaters that function on 120 VAC energy. Still, these fashions usually solely ship a water temperature as much as about 95℉ and provide a low water move fee of 0.5 gallons per minute, which wouldn’t be efficient for a lot in an RV.
Design
Tankless water heaters are usually easier to keep up than water heaters that depend on a pilot gentle or direct spark ignition (DSI). When buying a tankless water heater, select one with a show you possibly can function.
If you want sizzling water in your RV bathe, there are many compact designs to select from. For these with camper vans, there are additionally moveable tankless water heaters you possibly can briefly arrange for luxurious out of doors showers on a heat summer season afternoon.
Cost
It’s additionally essential to think about your monetary state of affairs. Some moveable tankless water heaters are inexpensive than their conventional counterparts, however it’s possible you’ll spend extra to exchange an previous water heater than you’d spend to restore it.
If you’re set on upgrading, you’ll have to issue within the potential long-term financial savings of a tankless water heater. These extra energy-efficient models can cut back your general vitality prices in comparison with changing your previous unit with a typical DSI water heater.
If your customary RV water heater isn’t functioning, begin by studying extra about troubleshooting water heaters or schedule an appointment to have your water heater points recognized by a licensed RV technician.
Tankless Water Heaters from Camping World
For those who have dedicated to going tankless, listed below are just a few choices:
Excel Vent-Free Tankless Propane Water Heater
Designed for indoor or out of doors use, this unit’s Oxygen Depletion Safety (ODS) shut-off characteristic is what permits its vent-free operation. It doesn’t require a standing pilot gentle, lowering propane consumption by as a lot as 25% in comparison with older models.
Instead of a pilot gentle, it makes use of two D-cell batteries to ignite the unit’s digital spark module. The copper warmth exchanger gives quick and environment friendly warmth switch, and it’s geared up with a magnetic move sensor that enables it to start out up at water pressures as little as two PSI.
Find the total checklist of specs and options for this tankless water heater.
Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater
Ideal for class B RVs or pop-up campers, the Eccotemp L5 is designed for out of doors use. You can modify the temperature output from 80 to 120℉, and the unit simply connects to a backyard hose or a typical RV water hose.
Like the Excel mannequin, it makes use of two D-cell batteries to energy the ignitor and runs off a 20-pound RV propane container. As examined, this unit is finest used at or under 2,000 ft of elevation and isn’t beneficial to be used above 5,000 ft.
Learn extra about this tankless water heater.
Marey Tankless LP Gas Water Heater
Marey makes one other nice choice for a tankless water heater for RV use. It produces as much as 2.6 gallons of sizzling water per minute and is rated to deal with a warmth enter of as much as 68,240 BTUs per hour.
It’s designed for indoor use and gives winter-to-summer versatility with adjustable temperature management. It may set up virtually wherever in your RV, and it doesn’t require {an electrical} connection to ship on-demand sizzling water.
Check out the specs and options of this tankless water heater.
So whether or not you’re hoping to keep away from household fights over who will get to bathe when otherwise you simply need to be extra vitality environment friendly in your RV travels, a tankless water heater is the way forward for instantaneous sizzling water for RVers.
For direct help with RV upgrades or remodels, converse to a design specialist at a Camping World Design Center close to you.
Do you could have a tankless water heater in your RV? Share your expertise within the feedback under!
Tucker Ballister is a Technical Content Writer for Camping World and a lover of the open highway. You can take a look at extra of his adventures and out of doors recommendation at thebackpackguide.com.