Truma on demand water heater

[ammobob]

We had our Truma installed this weekend. A little pricy at $1800 but worth it to not listen to wife about crappy facilities at some campgrounds.

[tinkeringtechie]

Have you tried it out yet? How stable is the temp? Does it fluctuate when someone turns on the sink while the shower is running? Is there a pilot light on all the time or does it spark up every time you turn on the tap?

[ammobob]

[quote timestamp="1472481348" author="@tinkeringtechie" source="/post/24268/thread"]Have you tried it out yet? How stable is the temp? Does it fluctuate when someone turns on the sink while the shower is running? Is there a pilot light on all the time or does it spark up every time you turn on the tap?[/quote]Have not tried it yet but we are off this coming Labor day weekend for 3 days at our local campgrounds. Will fill you in next week after we have a chance to test it out.

[kycamper]

We are BIG fans of tankless water heaters, and have installed them in our last two houses, and many others that I helped build or remodel. We envy your purchase, but the price is CRAZY!!  We have installed Rinnai systems in big houses that cost less. I wonder why companies like Rinnai are passing up the market for these heaters for RVS. It would be great if " on demand" hot water was standard in all units. We don't leave our cars running 24/7 for the few hours we drive them. Why should we "cook " water and use up our LP gas heating unused water. I think the cost, installed should be more like $500 !! Guess I will have to wait.........
Happy Trails.......

[tinkeringtechie]

[quote timestamp="1472586259" author="@gleamb" source="/post/24305/thread"]I wonder why companies like Rinnai are passing up the market for these heaters for RVS. It would be great if " on demand" hot water was standard in all units. We don't leave our cars running 24/7 for the few hours we drive them.[/quote]For the same reason there aren't a bunch of RV manufacturers creating all-aluminum trailers/motorhomes.... most people don't want to pay for it. Rinnai wouldn't be interested unless they could manufacture in high volume and the Truma price is just what low volume manufacturing prices look like.

I've gone through about 20 gallons of propane since we bought the trailer two years ago. At $3/gallon that's a whopping $30/year. At that rate it will only take about 100 years for the Truma to pay for itself. Obviously there are other advantages to the on-demand system (more consistent temperature, longer showers, etc...), but most people would rather have short cold showers and pocket the savings.

[ammobob]

[quote timestamp="1472481348" source="/post/24268/thread" author="@tinkeringtechie"]Have you tried it out yet? How stable is the temp? Does it fluctuate when someone turns on the sink while the shower is running? Is there a pilot light on all the time or does it spark up every time you turn on the tap?[/quote][p]So we got to try the Truma this weekend. Water temp stay stable during a long shower (forgot to try the sink at the same time but will next time out). It kicks on once you open the tap but there is a delay of a few seconds at the tap until the hot water pushed the cold in the lines out.[/p][p]
[/p][p]We got the upgrade version which has an eco mode so water stays at outside temp and the comfort mode keeps the water hotter (100 degrees plus) at the water heater. Comfort mode is nice but the water heater kicks on and off frequently to maintain temp. We kept it in the comfort mode all 3 days. We used 1 bottle (minus what they used during install and test) of propane over the 3 days.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The door accepts paint just fine too.[/p][p]
[/p][p][attachment id="1682" thumbnail="1"][attachment id="1681" thumbnail="1"]
[/p]

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/24406/thread" timestamp="1473265502" author="@ammobob"]Comfort mode is nice but the water heater kicks on and off frequently to maintain temp. We kept it in the comfort mode all 3 days. We used 1 bottle (minus what they used during install and test) of propane over the 3 days.[p]
[/p][/quote][font size="3"]Bob,

If 1 bottle equals 20# that seems a lot for 3 days. Did that include running the furnace and/or really long showers?[/font]

[ammobob]

Yes 3 cold night with furnace running a lot. Thermostat set at 72 and probably did not kick off until 9 AM or so.

[tinkeringtechie]

So is the "comfort mode" just a tiny tank to supply hot water until the burner gets going?