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Tankless Water Heater Conversion

Jim Beletti

Jim Beletti

Elite Member
I haven't done this in my Paradigm 340RL but I do have some experience. I've had this done in past RVs using the Girard and Suburban models.
Quick review:
- I liked the Suburban better
- It takes some getting used to as they operate different than a traditional water heater
- If I was doing this today, I'd choose the Truma brand
 
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Trent Mills

Active member
Curious what the advantage would be that you are looking for. I am not knocking the thought, just wondering. Energy, amount, weight, etc.

We have plenty of hot water, just on electric heat. I can't speak for really cold weather yet.
 
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Mjgodz+3

Member
We are awaiting our 37v13 in a couple weeks. Prior to December we really wanted tankless as a requirement on our next unit. We spend Christmas at Disney with family and they had tankless and we had traditional. Towards the end of the stay they started to worry about their propane and the burn rate on their tankless WH. We rethought the idea and will stick will gas/electric and let the campground pay for our hot water
 
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BirchyBoy

Member
We were looking at a Truma conversion but I’m second guessing it. With the 12 gallon tank and dual heat, my wife has never run out of hot water. That has never happened before! I turn the gas heater on before her shower and off when she’s done. The electric heater is more than enough for my showers.
 
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DWKX31

Active member
BirchyBoy said:
We were looking at a Truma conversion but I’m second guessing it. With the 12 gallon tank and dual heat, my wife has never run out of hot water. That has never happened before! I turn the gas heater on before her shower and off when she’s done. The electric heater is more than enough for my showers.
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We had a tankless and didn't care for it because you had let it run a while till it got hot and for a shower it was good.But wife didn't like for doing dishes had wait for hot water if you didn't leave running. Also if you have low water pressure it would cut off and on go in error code. They say fill up tank and run pump. Not.
 
Jim Beletti

Jim Beletti

Elite Member
@BirchyBoy - I've had a couple different brands of Tankless water heaters over the years and the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) was pretty low with them.
And while I'm not personally a fan of them, they seem to be all the rage and we just might see them turning up in some Alliance products down the road. If I was putting my own money down on one, I would choose the Truma. I've never had theirs but I learned quite a bit about them.
 
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Trent Mills

Active member
Jim Beletti said:
@BirchyBoy - I've had a couple different brands of Tankless water heaters over the years and the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) was pretty low with them.
And while I'm not personally a fan of them, they seem to be all the rage and we just might see them turning up in some Alliance products down the road. If I was putting my own money down on one, I would choose the Truma. I've never had theirs but I learned quite a bit about them.
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WAF is important!!!!
 
Jim Beletti

Jim Beletti

Elite Member
Trent Mills said:
WAF is important!!!!
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OMG - for sure. If Momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy :

I dabble a lot in Home Automation both at home and in the RV. So I always have to be mindful of WAF. Dabbling while keeping WAF in mind usually means I can't create solutions for problems that don't exist :)
 
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LarryFOA

Member
I did the conversion as a DIY project on a previous travel trailer. I had to do some pex plumbing due to location connections and figure out the electrical from the suburban gas/electric. But it was a two out of five beer job! My wife referred to the conversation as a total game changer! So on the Alliance fifth wheel, I had the dealer install a Truma. My wife said no way to the gas/electric tank heater. Good Luck if you undertake it yourself, you can do it!
 
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Long Islander

Well-known member
My wife and I don’t really care for our tankless water heater. It takes way too long to get hot water into the kitchen sink and wastes too much water. Having said that it is nice for showering, but we didn’t have any issues with the old fashion water heater when showering. I dislike it so much I’d like to (if possible) remove it and install an old fashion water heater that will use either AC or gas.
 
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MTPaul

Member
Long Islander said:
My wife and I don’t really care for our tankless water heater. It takes way too long to get hot water into the kitchen sink and wastes too much water. Having said that it is nice for showering, but we didn’t have any issues with the old fashion water heater when showering. I dislike it so much I’d like to (if possible) remove it and install an old fashion water heater that will use either AC or gas.
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EXACTLY!! For those, like us, who regularly boondock and are some distance from a fresh water source, the tankless water system wastes FAR TOO MUCH WATER while waiting for the hot water to finally reach the kitchen faucet (Alliance All Access 25RL). The wait for the hot water to reach the bathroom sink/shower is less, but the plumbing distance to the kitchen requires the faucet to run far too long, particularly when we are off grid. We have often just washed dishes with cold water to help avoid this issue and preserve our fresh water supply.

Is there a "bypass method" that would allow the water to circulate thru the tankless system and the plumbing lines leading to the kitchen sink, thereby providing a more instant hot water delivery? :unsure:
 
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Long Islander

Well-known member
I don’t know of any “bypass method” other than letting the water run into a container until it gets hot and use the cold water to flush the toilet or cook with. I’ve been looking into installing a small water heater (one gallon approximately) under the sink. Most of the ones I’ve found are AC powered (there’s an AC outlet under the sink) but that isn’t useful when boondocking. I have seen a couple DC powered units but they pulled something like 10 amps of DC and there’s no easy way to get that much DC power under the sink. Replacing the instant on water heater with a traditional one does not seem easy either. I’m not sure if it will fit into the same space and on our trailer there is no easy way to get access the back of the unit so I could gain access to the bypass valves that I would need to add for wintering.
 
Jwtsg

Jwtsg

Well-known member
MTPaul said:
EXACTLY!! For those, like us, who regularly boondock and are some distance from a fresh water source, the tankless water system wastes FAR TOO MUCH WATER while waiting for the hot water to finally reach the kitchen faucet (Alliance All Access 25RL). The wait for the hot water to reach the bathroom sink/shower is less, but the plumbing distance to the kitchen requires the faucet to run far too long, particularly when we are off grid. We have often just washed dishes with cold water to help avoid this issue and preserve our fresh water supply.

Is there a "bypass method" that would allow the water to circulate thru the tankless system and the plumbing lines leading to the kitchen sink, thereby providing a more instant hot water delivery? :unsure:
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Good morning,,,not to my knowledge & experiece,,,,definitely agree w your boon docking assessment w tankless.
FWIW,,,our 382RK was equipped w a 12 gal.tank when we bought it (2nd Owner),,it is a different rig, for sure,,,but since we live in ours full time in a stationary site on our property w stackable washer/dryer,,,,and lag for us does not impact our storage needs,,,,we opted to have a tankless installed & dealer was able to do that for us for NC,,,,
agree w Long Islander May not be sufficient space to add tank but Mobil rv tech or dealer service dept can prob shed some light via phone call. Good luck 👍🍀🌞!
 
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