Travel Days with Tankless Water Heater?

[reubenray]

In my past two motorhomes I very seldom turned on the propane. I don't travel when I need the heat, I do my cooking outside (most of the time) and I had the electric/propane water heater set on electric. Now that I have a propane tankless water heater I have a question (maybe more).

Do you turn off the propane on travel days?

[DougW9876]

No, I leave the propane on unless required to turn it off for a tunnel or something of that sort. I have never left the water heater on for travel days anyway, we don’t need hot water while driving and the tankless heater takes so long to get hot water to the faucet that I am done washing my hands before the water gets warm.

[Second Chance]

We leave the propane on except for tunnels where it has to be turned off. Our water heater is a 12-gallon tank style but we use it on electric-only anyway. If it's cold enough that the furnace may cycle, I turn off the thermostat. The fridge is a 120VAC residential unit, so it runs off the battery bank and inverter while on the road or during power outages.

Rob

[Soundsailor]

As with others, I leave the propane on for travel days. Since no one is using the hot water, I don't think the TWH uses propane, occasionally the furnace has kicked in though.

[reubenray]

The main reason I asked I did not know if the pilot light would get blown out while traveling.

[Second Chance]

The main reason I asked I did not know if the pilot light would get blown out while traveling.

The LP appliances in modern RVs don't have pilot lights - they are DSI (direct spark ignition).

Rob

[KIMandALLEN1988]

In my past two motorhomes I very seldom turned on the propane. I don't travel when I need the heat, I do my cooking outside (most of the time) and I had the electric/propane water heater set on electric. Now that I have a propane tankless water heater I have a question (maybe more).

Do you turn off the propane on travel days?

I don't know what model TWH you have, but ours is a - Furrion Tankless Gas Water Heater with Antifreeze Protection- 2.4GPM, White #FWH09AFA-AM. We just got home from a multi-month trip out west. We traveled on a number of days in below freezing weather. My interpretation of the manual was to drive in freezing weather with the propane on and the TWH on. We also had the tank pads on and the furnace on and set to a low temp. This resulted in a great trip, no problems with the TWH, no problems with the furnace and really no problems with the rig whatsoever after driving through some very challenging conditions. Good luck. AP

[kb0zke]

Our dealer told us that the tankless water heaters only come on when there is a demand for hot water, so they will never come on while driving. The furnace, though, could come on if it got cold enough, and that could result in flame going where it shouldn't. Accordingly, we turn the furnace off on winter travel days. We had one day a few weeks ago when the trailer was in the mid 50's when we landed. Turned the furnace on, turned the fireplace on, and turned on the small electric space heater in the bedroom. Fifteen minutes later it was back to normal.

[llr2800]

I don't know what model TWH you have, but ours is a - Furrion Tankless Gas Water Heater with Antifreeze Protection- 2.4GPM, White #FWH09AFA-AM. We just got home from a multi-month trip out west. We traveled on a number of days in below freezing weather. My interpretation of the manual was to drive in freezing weather with the propane on and the TWH on. We also had the tank pads on and the furnace on and set to a low temp. This resulted in a great trip, no problems with the TWH, no problems with the furnace and really no problems with the rig whatsoever after driving through some very challenging conditions. Good luck. AP

This is the only case I can think of where you would want it on. In other cases on or off doesn't really matter.

[ajg617]

Wondering why folks would leave the propane on during travel if nothing is using propane?