Changing Gas Hot stored hot water to Instantaneous hot water system

Rod Mac · Veteran Member

Changing Gas Hot stored hot water to Instantaneous hot water system

Possum3 · Guru

Using search feature of forum I came across 13 previous responses to your question The Grey Nomads Forum -> Search: "instantaneous hot water"

The other alternative is of course diesel hot water.

-- Edited by Possum3 on Saturday 21st of January 2023 03:27:10 PM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

G'day Rod,

When I had my current aluminum tent built back in 2014, I insisted they install a Girrard Instant Hot Water Heater. The builders tried their hardest to talk me out of it but because I had an Instant at home base and loved it, I stood my ground. Bad move! Why I hear you ask?

Well, the Girrard didn't know what hot water was, not even warm water. I had it looked at many times without success and they never found anything wrong. I asked many questions of those that had one, also without success.

So, in 2017 I spat the dummy and I had it taken out and a Suburban 240v/Gas water heater fitted. That sorted the hot water out, well, instantly, for the first time.

It has served me well both with 240v and Gas and so glad I made the change.

There is no comparison between a house or van Instant Water Heater.

That all said, I have spoken to people with a different flavor of Instant water heater and are very happy. I have also spoken to people with a Girrard that have had similar problems like me and had also changed over.

Whatever you decide I hope it works out for you but, keep Safe out there.

yobarr · Guru

Possum3 wrote:
Using search feature of forum I came across 13 previous responses to your question The Grey Nomads Forum -> Search: "instantaneous hot water"

The other alternative is of course diesel hot water.

As Possum suggests, Diesel HW is worth considering. In my van there is a Diesel Heater for both space and HW, with provision to use either or both. When it's -4 degrees, or whatever, the space heater is a God send, using only a litre when running all night, while the HW heats to 60 degrees in less than 20 minutes. In the "bush" you can pay well over $50 for a bottle of gas,(I've seen it more expensive!) if you can actually find any, while diesel is available everywhere. Cheers

AndyCap100 · Senior Member

Hi Rodmac .We have the instant hot water one on our current 2021 Jayco . Initially takes about 30 seconds for the hot water to start coming through at the shower head ,so thats about 6 lts of cold water wasted .Also if you turn the hot tap off for a minute or so (wash your hair etc) then you get cold water coming through again,until it heats up . Not ideal in my book .
On our previous 2018 Jayco we had the hot tank one ,22 lts of hot water sitting there after 20 mins of heating time .
I got up,had a pee , and put heater on ,make a brew, sit in bed and read and enjoy brew ,and then the showers good to go ,more than enough for 2 showers and washing up after brekie .
Same in the evening after a sweaty day ,heater on ,couple of beers later there you go ,and wash up after tea . I would go for the 22ltr tank heater everytime given the choice .
Rock on ,Andy .

Whenarewethere · Guru

AndyCap100 wrote:
Initially takes about 30 seconds for the hot water to start coming through at the shower head, so thats about 6 lts of cold water wasted. Also if you turn the hot tap off for a minute or so (wash your hair etc) then you get cold water coming through again, until it heats up. Not ideal in my book.

We have instantaneous hot water at home. As said above, you waste a lot of water waiting for hot water. A bit of a disaster to say the least in a camping situation.

We have a bucket in the shower & save the water for the plants.

bruceg · Veteran Member

Our home instantaneous uses a ring main, change-over valve, pump and returning water temperature sensor to 'run the system up to temperature' in ~20 seconds, then the only cold water 'wasted' is from the ring main to the shower head (~0.5L). It also allows temperature selection, we use 43°C for showers and 55°C for dishwashing with no waste while setting the 'right' temperature (the cold tap is just for decoration). On an RV the kitchen needs to be before the safety tempering valve and some extra piping is required to make a ring, but these are trivial alterations.

Its about time the RV heater makers followed suit in our modern, technological world. My 2c.

bye.

Cuppa · Guru

Possum3 wrote:

The other alternative is of course diesel hot water.
-------------------------------------------
If I were fitting a HWS to a van diesel is the way I would go. Cheap to run, & quick to heat. A 10 litre tank would last ages.

As it is we have our HWS in our tow vehicle which has a number of advantages if you have the space.
We previously had similar in a motorhome.
- Costs nothing to heat the water
- Fit & forget - no maintenance required.
- *Always* have a tank of hot water on arrival at camp without having to think about it.
- Stays hot for up to 3 days
- Heats quickly whenever the vehicle is driven - 20 minutes has cold water hot enough for a shower
- Adjust temperature with turn of a knob, eg. hotter for washing dishes than for a shower,.
- Heated temp is up to around 90 deg.C - Tempering valve automatically adds cold water to desired output temp & makes hot tank supply last longer.
- Has a 240v element in hot tank, so can be heated via a power connection and/or solar as alternative to driving.
- Tank sizes vary from around 6 litres upward. Ours is 22 litre.
It is a Marine Calorifier, the water is heated by waste engine heat via a heat exchanger coiled pipe inside the tank which carries the coolant from the motor. There are a variety of different brands available in Australia. Ours is made by Surecal. Cost is in the same ballpark as gas storage heaters.
More suitable for motorhomes, but we have ours inside a canopy on the back of our Nissan Patrol.