Tankless Hot Water Heater - LP

[John Canfield]

That's positive news.

What would be the typical fuel savings with a gas tankless compared to a traditional gas with storage and do you use a generator to power up the tankless during outages?

I'm sure there's been studies comparing tank vs tankless operating expense - this played no factor in our choosing tankless. We needed to claim the space the traditional tank heater used in our small utility room.

We have a whole house diesel standby generator and a 500 gallon propane tank for the clothes dryer, stove/oven, small fireplace and the tankless water heater. We're completely self sufficient for two or three months .

 

[penman39]

Got the accumulator installed. It does reduce pump cycling at low flows. Pretty small footprint but with the smaller size the capacity is only 25oz. It will get tested next weekend when camping. It should do a quick flush without turning on the pump, but I’m thinking another 16oz of capacity would help.

 

[John Canfield]

Check the air pressure in that accumulator every few months, mine have always leaked a little. We keep a bicycle pump on the coach just for that purpose. Check the air pressure with the pump/city water off and a faucet open.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

There are calculators online that will give you the volume of water you get with a given volume of accumulator at a delta of start and stop pressures. When I was playing around with those I learned that the "RV" size (maybe meant for under sink) doesn't buy you much. A residential 2 gallon accumulator and a pressure regulator set just below the cut in pressure for the pump is what I found to be a fairly balanced system for the volumes I use.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[JayArr]

It should do a quick flush without turning on the pump, but I’m thinking another 16oz of capacity would help.

What was the price and could you put two in series?

 

[Ray-IN]

I bought a 2G metal accumulator tank at Menard's for $35, it came pre-charged at 28psi. The swap was easy since it was a direct replacement for the original installed by Winnebago.

 

[penman39]

What was the price and could you put two in series?

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Series or parallel?? Hmm, I wonder which would be better. You would probably want to tie in the bladders together so you’d put the same pressure in each. Buying two is the almost the same price as a two gallon accumulator. If you could find room, the 2 gallon would be the way to go.

 

[John Canfield]

Our house is on a well and we pull water from a 2,000 gallon storage tank. We have a quite large pressure tank and a smaller one both plumbed in the same line (or parallel as you call it.)

 

[Ray-IN]

Our house is on a well and we pull water from a 2,000 gallon storage tank. We have a quite large pressure tank and a smaller one both plumbed in the same line (or parallel as you call it.)

Wouldn't that be in series, like 2 6V batteries are in the same line?

 

[John Canfield]

No, it's like two 6V batteries in parallel. Which reminds me I need to check the tank bladder air pressures - I haven't done that in a couple of years. Sometimes the bladders will leak air and be useless so that's why the need to check them every so often.

 

[Old_Crow]

Wouldn't that be in series, like 2 6V batteries are in the same line?

Not really most pressure tanks only have one inlet/outlet line. The water doesn't really flow through the pressure tank, just into it and up against the diaphragm.
To be in series the water would have to flow into the first tank, out of it and into the second tank, then out of there back to the system.

 

[Ray-IN]

Thanks for the correction John and Wally I see it now. Getting old sucks.

 

[penman39]

Got the accumulator installed. It does reduce pump cycling at low flows. Pretty small footprint but with the smaller size the capacity is only 25oz. It will get tested next weekend when camping. It should do a quick flush without turning on the pump, but I’m thinking another 16oz of capacity would help.

After an extended 5 day camping trip with only electric hook up the accumulator performed great. The wife is thrilled that it eliminates the incessant cycling at low flow conditions. One of the better mods I have done, and cheap too! #WinWin

 

[rvhometown]

The Eccotemp product worked absolutely fantastic. We full-time in our RV, and use it on a daily basis. The only time we have issues is when the water pressure is too low, not the fault of the water heater. This kept the coils away from the colder outside wall, and yes it got cold this winter, and we never had one issue with freezing.

 

[CharlesinGA]

You can buy variable speed water pumps that don't cycle, they just slow down when the draw is low. Problem is the 12v DC current consumption is much higher than a regular pump.

Remco PowerRV Aquajet - 55AQUAJET-AES - Pump 3.4 GPM 12VDC

Charles

 

[John Canfield]

You can buy variable speed water pumps that don't cycle, they just slow down when the draw is low. Problem is the 12v DC current consumption is much higher than a regular pump.

Remco PowerRV Aquajet - 55AQUAJET-AES - Pump 3.4 GPM 12VDC

Charles

That's the one I've had in use for years, best 12V water pump on the market in my experience.