Instant Hot Water Heater Myths And Realities Revealed

All RVers know what it’s like to run out of hot water during a shower. Those tiny RV hot water heaters just aren’t made to provide comfortable bathing water for more than a few minutes.

Thankfully, instant hot water heaters hitting the marketplace are solving that problem, including the Truma AquaGo, a German-made marvel that’s certified for the American and Canadian RV marketplace.

“. . . we have used the Truma Comfort for two months. The bottom line is that it has met our expectations, and works quite well,” writes iRV2 member Jack Mayer in his Truma Report Review. Mayer documented his Truma findings for the iRV2 Discussion Forums Product Evaluations topic, where members freely share the good and bad about recent RV products they’ve purchased.

Billing the AquaGo as “A new generation of instant hot water heaters,” Truma says the unit features:

• Most powerful and efficient instant water heater
• Hybrid technology with constant temperature – no scalding
• Endless hot water regardless of flow rate
• All-season use with optional anti-freeze function (comfort and comfort plus)

The unit works just like a domestic home “tankless” water heater: the unit is connected between the vehicle’s fresh water supply and a hot water plumbing system.

When the appliance is switched on, the burner fires up as soon as the hot water faucet is opened and the flow of the water is greater than approximately 0.4 gallons per minute (1.5 l/min).

The stepless burner control adjusts heater output based on flow and inlet water temperature, maintaining an outlet temperature of approximately 120 °F (49 °C).

When showering, the temperature stabilizer minimizes outlet temperature fluctuations. A comfortable water temperature at the faucet or shower is achieved by mixing with cold water. The burner switches off automatically when the faucet is closed to conserve LP Gas.

A huge selling point of Truma’s instant hot water heater is the fact that it can work with any RV, whether you own a 45′ fifth wheel with a factory installed 16-gallon hot water heater unit like Mayer’s, or if you have a more common 6-gallon unit.

In his seven-page detailed AquaGo review, Mayer covers many of the more interesting aspects of the instant hot water heater, such as:

• Truma water heaters run only on propane, so you won’t need to switch to electric when you plug into hookups.
  

  “While the unit clearly uses more propane that an all electric hot water heater, it uses so little propane that we had a hard determining the amount. The fact that there is no electric setting concerned me prior to testing, but at this point I don’t consider that to be a factor at all,” says Mayer.

• Truma water heaters don’t have an on-off switch. Mayer explains how he installed a workaround that works great.
  

  “However, we tied it into our whole-RV automation system by simply connecting the wiring and it works fine. We can turn the unit On/Off at our switch panel, with our iPad automation controls, or with our phone app. In reality, you would only turn the unit off before travel, and the door is very simple to operate to get to the controls – far easier than a conventional water heater.”

If the thought of taking a leisurely hot shower in your RV sounds appealing, check out Mayer’s Truma AquaGo review. And if you have a RVing product review of your own, share it with the iRV2 community in the iRV2 Product Evaluations topic where fellow campers are eager to learn about great products that make the RVing lifestyle even better.

Rene Agredano

Often called “The O.G. of full-time RVing,” Rene Agredano and her husband Jim Nelson hit the road in a fifth wheel trailer in 2007, after their dog Jerry lost a leg to terminal cancer. Sixteen years later they are still traveling and sharing their nomadic adventures at LiveWorkDream. As a self-employed wordsmith, Rene shares her expertise for many RV industry videos, publications such as the Escapees RV Club Magazine, and has authored numerous books, including the Essential RVing Guide to National Parks, and  Income Anywhere, a guide to earning money on the road. She has been featured in global media outlets including the PBS documentary “NATURE: Why We Love Cats and Dogs,” The Guardian Sunday Edition, and the Dan Pink book Free Agent Nation.