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CLOC-AdminHi, Interested to know if anyone has the Atwood tankless water heater option or know of the good and bad about them.
CheersPosted: 10:26 AM – Jun 25, 2014I queried a friend of mine who got one in his new 2011 other brand fifth wheel. I believe it was an Atwood, but what he did not like is that:
1) you waste a lot of water, as the tank fires up on demand, but your run a lot of water before you get warm water, and
2) they only run on propane, so you can’t benefit from rv parks electrical service.Others may offer more information, or perhaps the technology has improved over the past couple of years.
Rick
Posted: 10:55 AM – Jun 25, 2014Hi jimjan,I optioned my 2014 LS with the AtWood tankless water system.
For me the verdict I’d still out. I am not completely impressed at the moment.My experience is as Rick mentioned from his friend.. It takes a bit for the hot water to come and yes it only runs on propane.
So far I have found it a little frustrating. It works very well to the bathroom sink faucet, average to the kitchen faucet and not so well to the shower faucet.
I have done some research and have learned that the heater needs good flow to work properly.
With that being said, I have purchased two new high flow water pressure regulators, one being adjustable. I have also replaced the shower head with a high flow 4.5 gpm Waterpic, replacing the less then 2.5 gpm that came with the unit.I haven’t had a chance to go out for a test yet, but am hoping the changes make a difference.
If all goes well, then I could say I like it.The main positive at the moment, is that the water in the bath sink for example, is that within a minute you have as much hot water as you want for as long as you want.
Hope this is of some help.
Brad
Posted: 12:38 PM – Jun 25, 2014Brad,Where is your tank less heater located within the 5er? I suspect that, along with the gpm glow from the tap, would determine what location gets hot water fastest.
JimJan,
I saw a post several months ago by someone that installed a circulating pump under the bathroom sink and put switches close by to (1) they got hot water much faster, and (2) have water stay hot even when using a reduced flow head. This circulating setup pushes the hot water into the cold water lines. That process will make the cold water slightly warmer whenever the circulator is running, and until flushed out of cold lines once circulator is turned off. This warm water can cause havoc with an RO water system if you have one. I don’t but use a circulator in my stick house and had to change the circulator location and cot off temp. Aside from that, the only negative would be the gradual build up of the temperature of a mixed water outflow. This could become dangerously hot if someone used just a trickle of total water for an extended time, which would result being outflow temp rapidly approaching the hot water heater max. This us because the circulation tricks the water heater into thinking you are using a lot of water. I doubt anyone would use such a low flow, but you never know.Posted: 9:09 PM – Jun 25, 2014Hi John,The Atwood is to the rear of the RV from the road side storage door.
I’m not sure where at the moment I got the information to follow but this is what I read. I also talked with Atwood.
They were awesome on the phone.I was using a crapy 40 psi pressure reducer, and having a shower was like, are you kidding me. Very little pressure, barely enough to rinse off soap and shampoo. The stock shower head is very restricted flow. I was also told not to use the on off feature for the shower head as it would make the Atwood pretty much not work at all. It needs a minimum constant 21/2 gpm + flow.
The kitchen aerator is also fairly restricted but worked much better then the shower head. I have a feeling that the new regulators that I have acquired + the new shower head, should hopefully make a difference.The problem that I am having isn’t really with the timing or how long it takes to get hot water, it’s more with the continued flow. As mentioned, the bath sink faucet works great, the kitchen does too if I leave the hot running at a good flow, but once we back off, it doesn’t work to great.
Sadly it seems, that for the tankless to work properly I’m going to be wasting a lot of water.
I don’t know that I would go tankless again, possibly time will tell.
Thanks for your sharing.
Brad
Posted: 7:11 AM – Jun 26, 2014BradThe reason that I ask about location is in case others are thinking about changing out their standard hot water heaters. Most of those are under the kitchen sink. Disconnecting and sealing off the propane line would not be an issue, but I think that the tank less heaters need a larger circuit breaker than 15 amp and larger wiring than a Standard 10-12 gallon tank heater.
The circulating pump fools the tank less heater into thinking it is flowing more than 2.5 gpm regardless of actual use.
Yes a lot more water but should be a great shower if the campground gas decent pressure. The Spa shower head is much better than that oem shower head, giving very good shower even at problems campground pressures.
I find many camps with such low pressure that I fill my holding tank with camp water and use my 12 volt pump.
Posted: 9:33 AM – Jun 26, 2014Hi John:As stated above, the on demand hot water systems are propane and not propane/electric as the conventional hot water tanks are. I believe it would be necessary to seal off the AC power on the tankless systems, which would increase propane cosumption.
We saw a 2015 Lifestyle last week and it has 2 – 40 lb propane tanks – not sure if because of generator prep or tankless hot water, which this unit had both.
Rick
Posted: 10:25 AM – Jun 27, 2014I’ve been using a tankless water heater in my 2008 Cameo since I got it over six years ago. It’s not an Atwood, its a Precision Temp RV500, but I imagine the same principles apply. It does heat only with propane, and electricity is needed only to power the control circuits. I find it reasonably responsive, I don’t have to wait very long for hot water to appear at the tap. I haven’t timed it, but its not like it takes a minute or anything close to that. You only burn fuel when you are drawing hot water, it doesn’t seem to me to be a huge drain on the propane supply. The biggest drawback is that it does need a good flow to work well, so if for example DW is doing the dishes or running a load through the washer while I’m taking a shower it does impact water temperature. On balance, I like it and would probably do it again. I like the luxury of never running out of hot water, and that trumps the downside for me. But it really depends on your own personal preferences and priorities.Posted: 8:12 PM – Oct 20, 2014Although this is an old thread, it’s still a relevant topic. I ordered my 2014 LS32FW with the Atwood tankless water heater. We’ve been full-time since mid-May and I have been very frustrated with this tankless system. The good: (1) it may be propane only, but it is very efficient and I don’t think it uses very much; (2) it can really heat the water! The bad: (1) The temperature setting is VERY temperamental. First, we move from park to park and sometimes the water temp out of the ground differs enough to make the Atwood too hot or too cold. There’s a temperature adjustment valve that will increase/decrease the propane flame, but is it VERY sensitive. At a new park (or even wide changes in ambient air temps), I often have to fiddle with the adjustment numerous times to get the temp hot enough to shower but not so hot I cook. No kidding, a micro-adjustment of a hair’s breadth can be the difference between a scalding shower or a tepid one. It is just too hard to get it right. (2) There’s a small vent tube connected to some sort of regulator or diaphragm. During the first heavy rain, wind blew water into this hose and prevented the heater from firing. I bought some similar hose at the hardware store, made the hose longer, and heated and shaped it to point about 45-degrees down. This improved it, but did not cure it. After heavy rains, it can still “clog” and shut the Atwood down. Sometimes I just have to wait for it to dry out. (3) Randomly, it pops a little circuit breaker/reset switch. In the top left corner is a little red breaker of some sort. Sometimes I go weeks without it popping; and sometime it will pop 3-4 times a morning. I have no idea why. (4) Finally, I echo the comments already posted. Water pressure and flow rater are critical (and temperamental). When the water is too hot, you cannot simply blend in cool water because it eventually cause the flow to drop, then the Atwood shuts off, and your water will go from hot to warm to cold in about two minutes. And it takes it about two more minutes for the hot water to come back… makes for a miserable start of the day.If I had it to do over, I would NOT order my rig with a tankless WH. Frankly, the next time I drive through KS, I will ask my dealer to replace it with a standard 10 gal WH. In my old Class C, I never had to mess with the WH. On this “top of the line” FW, I have had the WH panel open so many times that I’m afraid I have worn out the screw holding the door on. Very, very frustrated.
Now that these units have been out there for a while, I’m interested in hearing updates or solutions that have worked for others.
Posted: 9:56 PM – Oct 22, 2014I have a 2015 32fw and when I tried the hot water system for the first time — the Kitchen hot water was fine but the bathroom sink and shower were both luke warm. After adjusting the temperature setting on the Atwood to several different settings it was still the same. I called Atwood and spoke to a technician and he walked me through a process to figure out why the bath room sink faucet and the shower were luke warm. Come to find out both the sink and the shower had restrictors in them which causes a reduced pressure of the water coming out. After removing the restrictors from both the sink and the shower the hot water flowed just like in the kitchen and was consistently hot. The question is — Why doesn’t the factory know about this issue? You would think that they would talk to their vendors so that they would know how their systems worked. It took me 2 days and 3 phone calls to Atwood to get my water heater working properly.Posted: 7:16 AM – Oct 23, 20141poll1, I had to do the same thing. I removed the flow restriction completely from the bathroom sink. For the shower head, I used a small drill bit to drill larger holes in the flow restrictor–just enough to get it working. After you move through a few parks and endure some climate/temperature changes, let me know if you have any problems with inconsistent hot water. When the Atwood works, it’s great–but when it wants to be temperamental, it can take days and dozens of “adjustments” to get consistent performance.
Posted: 9:03 PM – Dec 22, 2014I removed the restrictors from both kitchen, bathroom and shower head. The sinks work great but the shower is still inconsistent for hot water. I checked the water flow in the shower and I am only getting about 1 gallon a minute. I am looking into different shower heads for ones that get at least 2 gallons a minute but have yet to find one.Posted: 9:11 PM – Dec 22, 2014What spa shower head or what waterpic shower head are you guys using?Posted: 1:52 PM – Dec 24, 2014I’m still using the factory installed shower head that came with my 2014 32FWS.Posted: 7:05 AM – Jan 08, 201511 degrees overnight in Atlanta. One more reason I don’t like this Atwood tankless water heater… no hot water this morning because it appears that the water in the water heater itself is frozen. Cold water is flowing fine. According to my remote thermometer, temps inside basement never went below 32 degrees. In fact, it’s over 40 degrees right now while it is 11 or 12 degrees outside. Using my IR thermometer, the back wall behind the water heater is 40 degrees (it is against the inside kitchen cabinet side) but the water release valve and the copper pipe along the outside edge is about 22 degrees. Ugh!Should be a sunny day although temps won’t get above 32 degrees I hope the warm sun on that side will get me flowing again. Really recommend future buyers think hard about opting for an Atwood tankless water heater for this and many other reasons I’ve listed in previous posts. Here’s to moving south next week!
B.W.Gentry
Owner/Admin
2007 Carri-Lite XTRM5
Breckenridge, TX
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