Furrion Tankless Water Heater - Cold Weather

[RPAspey]

I used 3m spray adhesive ( Medium) and did not cover the vents. There is a lot of dust on the insulation, so I wiped it with a damp cloth and let air dry before gluing it to the door.

I did exactly what you did. You must also cut out for the latch.

[RPAspey]

Update: I added a second heating pad of 15watts, this doubling the eattage. Then we camped a couple of weeks ago in some pretty darn cold weather. 15 degrees at night and 30 during the day. There were some stiff 10-15 winds constantly blowing and gusts to 40-45. The camper furnace was set to 60 and the fireplace ran the whole time. Our kitchen water would freeze overnight but after running the furnace for an hour or so, it would thaw. Anyway, the lowest temperature in the water heater was 45 degrees as measured near the control box. I'd say the modification was a huge success. Now I'm working on a way to heat the underbelly on electric so the kitchen water doesn't freeze and the floor feels warm. Hummmm

[Steveb]

Update: I added a second heating pad of 15watts, this doubling the eattage. Then we camped a couple of weeks ago in some pretty darn cold weather. 15 degrees at night and 30 during the day. There were some stiff 10-15 winds constantly blowing and gusts to 40-45. The camper furnace was set to 60 and the fireplace ran the whole time. Our kitchen water would freeze overnight but after running the furnace for an hour or so, it would thaw. Anyway, the lowest temperature in the water heater was 45 degrees as measured near the control box. I'd say the modification was a huge success. Now I'm working on a way to heat the underbelly on electric so the kitchen water doesn't freeze and the floor feels warm. Hummmm

Thanks Dutch and RPAspey,
I just purchased another bilge heater to place in the basement of our 5th wheel. I have one in my boat and it has worked great and should do the trick for the trailer.

Here is a link to it;https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F996452...roduct_details

[Steveb]

Update: I added a second heating pad of 15watts, this doubling the eattage. Then we camped a couple of weeks ago in some pretty darn cold weather. 15 degrees at night and 30 during the day. There were some stiff 10-15 winds constantly blowing and gusts to 40-45. The camper furnace was set to 60 and the fireplace ran the whole time. Our kitchen water would freeze overnight but after running the furnace for an hour or so, it would thaw. Anyway, the lowest temperature in the water heater was 45 degrees as measured near the control box. I'd say the modification was a huge success. Now I'm working on a way to heat the underbelly on electric so the kitchen water doesn't freeze and the floor feels warm. Hummmm

Thank Dutch & RPAspey,

A good way to heat your underbelly with 120V AC is with a bilge heater. It only put out 60 degrees F but it does it with 50 CFM which provides more heat than a standard heater that might put out close to 200 F at 10 CFM. It can be screwed to the floor behind the pass through storage wall and the 25 foot cord can be draped over the pass through storage wall to the outlet plug. It turns on at 40 F and turns off at 45 F.

I bought one on Amazon but the link will not post on this reply. Go to Amazon and search for "Twin Hornet 45 700W Boat Bilge Engine Compartment Heater. It is $295.00 right now which is a great price.

[RPAspey]

Thank Dutch & RPAspey,

A good way to heat your underbelly with 120V AC is with a bilge heater. It only put out 60 degrees F but it does it with 50 CFM which provides more heat than a standard heater that might put out close to 200 F at 10 CFM. It can be screwed to the floor behind the pass through storage wall and the 25 foot cord can be draped over the pass through storage wall to the outlet plug. It turns on at 40 F and turns off at 45 F.

I bought one on Amazon but the link will not post on this reply. Go to Amazon and search for "Twin Hornet 45 700W Boat Bilge Engine Compartment Heater. It is $295.00 right now which is a great price.

Thanks that's the kind of heater I was thinking about. Something that'll move some air yet do it safely. I have to drop the cloroplast to get a better look as the inspection camera won't show the whole picture.

[Steveb]

Update: I measured the underbelly/basement temps with the bilge heater with 25 degree outside temps. The area never dropped below 44 degrees and warmed to 50 degrees. This was using only the bilge heater, no trailer heat. Therefore I feel if I have hook ups, I can sustain with just ceramic heaters in the 5th wheel and the bilge heater in the basement and only use the trailer heater as supplemental heat if the electric heaters cannot keep up.
In addition, I finished installing a 12 volt-25 watt heating pad in the tankless water heater box. For three nights in the mid 20s I only used this heat pad and measured temps within the water heater compartment. Temperature directly behind the water heater door never dropped below 35 and rose to 44 and temps behind the control panel dropped to 38 and rose to 50.
I am fairly confident that utilizing both the bilge heater and the small 12 volt heat pad in the water heater compartment will allow us to use the unit when temps drop into the low teens and maybe even the single digits. We store our trailer at home in the mountains at over 7000 feet so I plan to monitor the temps next winter when they really drop.

[pnoetzel]

Update: I measured the underbelly/basement temps with the bilge heater with 25 degree outside temps. The area never dropped below 44 degrees and warmed to 50 degrees. This was using only the bilge heater, no trailer heat. Therefore I feel if I have hook ups, I can sustain with just ceramic heaters in the 5th wheel and the bilge heater in the basement and only use the trailer heater as supplemental heat if the electric heaters cannot keep up.
In addition, I finished installing a 12 volt-25 watt heating pad in the tankless water heater box. For three nights in the mid 20s I only used this heat pad and measured temps within the water heater compartment. Temperature directly behind the water heater door never dropped below 35 and rose to 44 and temps behind the control panel dropped to 38 and rose to 50.
I am fairly confident that utilizing both the bilge heater and the small 12 volt heat pad in the water heater compartment will allow us to use the unit when temps drop into the low teens and maybe even the single digits. We store our trailer at home in the mountains at over 7000 feet so I plan to monitor the temps next winter when they really drop.

I’m ordering a hornet 45. Hopefully it move’s enough air to get to my rear bathroom and rear outside kitchen water supply lines.
I’ll monitor next winter, and sleep better on 20 degree nights!

[JustDucky]

There are many good ideas here on how to make the Furrion tankless HWH survive in temperatures below 39 degrees. But it seems that basically Grand Design has left it up to each customer to design, research and build their own fix for a problem that shouldn't be the owners responsibilty to fix. For those that may be interested, I've replaced the tankless with a 6gal Suburban HWH that heats water with either the electric heating element, propane or both. I feel that's what Grand Design should have installed in the first place. The 6 gal install was an easy replacement to make and the cost was less than $600.00 all in. Now I can sleep better on those cold nights and have the option to use the campground electric instead of my propane. The water heats to 137 degrees so mixing it with the cold water should make longer showers possible.

Just my 2 cents.

Anybody wanna buy a Furrion tankless HWH used only 7 days?

Bill

[dfleming103]

There are many good ideas here on how to make the Furrion tankless HWH survive in temperatures below 39 degrees. But it seems that basically Grand Design has left it up to each customer to design, research and build their own fix for a problem that shouldn't be the owners responsibilty to fix. For those that may be interested, I've replaced the tankless with a 6gal Suburban HWH that heats water with either the electric heating element, propane or both. I feel that's what Grand Design should have installed in the first place. The 6 gal install was an easy replacement to make and the cost was less than $600.00 all in. Now I can sleep better on those cold nights and have the option to use the campground electric instead of my propane. The water heats to 137 degrees so mixing it with the cold water should make longer showers possible.

Just my 2 cents.

Anybody wanna buy a Furrion tankless HWH used only 7 days?

Bill

Hi Bill,
That sounds like a very good way to fix things. I did the mod with the heating pad, and I'm not concerned now about it freezing, I tested it down to 19 degrees outside and it never dropped below freezing. However, I still detest the thing. I can't get decent hot water to the kitchen sink, it takes way too long to get hot water to do dishes, meantime I'm filling my 2nd grey water tank needlessly. Since the tankless needs flow before it even starts to heat the water, I think a 6 gal tanked heater is the way to go. water get's hotter, and doesn't need that time to warm up. 124 max temp is a little low too. Can I ask was this a self install, or did you have a dealer/rv service tech do the work?

[4x4dually]

Hi Bill,
That sounds like a very good way to fix things. I did the mod with the heating pad, and I'm not concerned now about it freezing, I tested it down to 19 degrees outside and it never dropped below freezing. However, I still detest the thing. I can't get decent hot water to the kitchen sink, it takes way too long to get hot water to do dishes, meantime I'm filling my 2nd grey water tank needlessly. Since the tankless needs flow before it even starts to heat the water, I think a 6 gal tanked heater is the way to go. water get's hotter, and doesn't need that time to warm up. 124 max temp is a little low too. Can I ask was this a self install, or did you have a dealer/rv service tech do the work?

My wife and girls will NEVER want anything other than this endless hot water system for the shower; however, your spot on with the kitchen sink. It takes forever to get hot water there. I think a secondary, 100% electric, on-demand water heater would be a good thing to mount under the kitchen sink...or anything to speed up that process. That is my only 1 complaint about the Furrion is that it takes 5 minutes to get hot water to the kitchen sink. I sure do love it in the shower thought. Set it at 103F and forget it. Open the grey tank into the trees behind the campsite and bask in greatness. LOL