How well do they work? At kitchen sink? for shower? washing machine? I know they are suppose to but how about actual experience..Just starting to make final decisions as to system components... have been using small elect with quick recovery elements. Bob
I have no first hand experience myself. I first heard of them from my parents. They used several when they lived in California in the '40 and 50's. The problem was they rapidly develop Mineral buildup, become more and more inneficient, and flow drops off until they just burn up fuel while not flowing water. The problem comes about from trying to heat water too rapidly, and especially with water with high mineral content. The heat exchanger becomes clogged with calcified mineral deposits and resticts flow and heat transfer.
I have heard the same issues experienced by others all my life. New buyers love them for their efficiency and simplicity. Long term owners not so much. YMMV.
Perhaps in a conversion RV, where they are not being used continuously 24/7/365, they would work out much better. If it takes a few years in a home situation for them to deteriorate, that could be streched to many years in an RV. Its also possible that mild cleaners could be used on occasion to "de-lime" the heat exchanger and restore its efficiency.
Bob, I learned early in life that the less demands, the less hot water I get into lol.
Bob,we have been using one since Sept. 08 ours is a propane-on demand tankless. we have had no problems so far,and we are full-timers. we are the "cover story" in Sept.10 of BCM. check out our blog. ourbusandus.blogspot.com good luck ron
We have one in our house that we have had for a couple of yrs. So far, so good. We also installed one in the new bus. Sure are nice to not take up so much room, and at home it works out nice for us, so when we are gone, no water heater to worry about turning off, or one just using energy for no reason.
It's all good till you get all soaped up in the shower and the power goes off.
paid $52 for mine works great! runs on propane and 2 d cells
I have 2-10gal electric water heaters straight from Home Depot. I have the water temp turned down so that straight hot water is just under the skin burning level (don't have an exact temp). One water heater feeds the next with the final water heater powered through the inverter for hot water going down the road. When boon docking, I just start the generator in the morning to start charging the batteries and turn on the water heaters also. By the time we have made coffee and have breakfast, the hot water is ready to go (takes about 45 minutes to heat from dead cold-that's why I have two 10gal instead of one 20gal).
Now let's talk about maintenance on my two electric water heaters since I bought them in 1994. Except for draining them (when I remember to), NO maintenance at all! I don't think anyone with an Aqua Hot, Webasto, etc can say that. I like the system so much, I'm doing the same in my truck. Good Luck, TomC
Quote from: TomC on October 02, 2010, 08:39:48 AM
I have 2-10gal electric water heaters straight from Home Depot.
Im wondering if they make any dual type Gas and electric water heaters, or if you could put an electric element into a gas heater. Doesnt seem like it would be to hard to modify?
Quote from: desi arnaz on October 02, 2010, 08:25:00 AM
paid $52 for mine works great! runs on propane and 2 d cells
Sounds very similar to what I have, except I paid $150 on Ebay :(
Works great for the shower, but is a little laggy for regular sink use (so end up wasting a lot of water). With the regulator set around 40%, I can have a nice warm shower with just the "hot water", at around 1.5 gpm flow.
I have had a Paloma on demand system for 20 years and it still works fine. One of the problems with this system (at least on ours) is that the heater is turned on by water pressure. When you turn on the tap the pressure drops and the heating starts.Turn off the tap and the pressure builds causing the heating to stop. The problem arises in the shower where the showerhead "MAY" cause enough back pressure to "fool" the heater into shutting off. It took me a long time to figure this out so I removed the shower head. Its not as nice a shower with a stream as opposed to a spray but then you aren't in the shower long anyway. I never did get around to trying different shower heads but I'm sure I could find one that could work.
Goog luck
Fred.
I've been using the RV500 from http://precisiontemp.com/pt_rvmd_rv500.html (http://precisiontemp.com/pt_rvmd_rv500.html) for the last five years.
It's an amazing piece of engineering, and with the frame mounted, 86 gallon propane tank I have, it's sorta unlikely I'll run out of fuel anytime soon.
I used it for 14 months with no other loads on the propane supply, and 54.9 gallons topped me off.
In the event I do however run out, I had an ExtendaStay Tee put in so that I can hook up a BBQ bottle if I need to.
It is great to turn the hot tap at anytime of day or night, and have hot water...without fail.
I'm also a fan of extended showers, and as long as the water, propane and 12 volts don't run out...you can stay in there until everything is pruney.
HTH
Jay
87 SaftLiner
we have a everhot (early model only 1 element) and a 10 gal elect plumbed so we can use either or both....seems to have worked out well....we are in FL. and our elect bill is $100 ($80 winter) with our 3 ACs,dishwasher,clotheswasher/drier and of course nonstop music......s................
.............puny ?.............