I was just wondering, how is the HH or AH when boondocking? Is it a good choice over LP or does it use a lot of battery power?

With all this talk about water heaters I thought I should put in my 2 cents. If I were a full timer I would certainly consider a tankless water heater. I am thinking about installing one of these and we are not using our trailer full time. A friend has one and he says it works as advertised: hot water as long as you need it with less propane use.

Think about it:

No tank, less weight, no heating 5 to 10 gallons of water for 5 minutes of dishwashing.

No need to keep 5 to 10 gallons of water hot all the time or wait for it to heat up to do dishes or take a shower.

Way less propane use.



Find it at this link:

http://www.precisiontemp.com/pt_rvmd_rv500.html

Hydronic heating is a big benefit when boondocking. Diesel fuel has more BTU than propane and your 150 gallon fuel tank leverages that into much longer runtime than a 32 gallon propane tank. The ability to run for extended periods of time really makes a difference. The battery power isn't a big issue. With a propane furnace you have a large blower system to circulate the heated air throughout the coach as well as the usual ignition and control power required to run the furnaces. HydroHot uses electricity to run the burner andcirculating valves as well as the small muffin fans that circulate air from the heat exchangers throughout the coach. I find that my 42QRP with HydroHot doesn't burn any more "juice" than my 2004 40DP with two propane furnaces did.

For a good overview of hydronic heating check out the following link and refer to the following link - http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/heatair/hydronic_overview.htm and check out the "Is Hydronic Heating For Me?" section.

I'm relatively new to the hydronic heating, but over the last week, coach has been parked in 5-20 degree temperatures and I've been working in it every evening in shirt sleeves.

The heat is evenly distributed, quiet, and the rig doesn't seem to fluctuate in temperature like it did with the propane furnaces. I think it's fantastic!!!

Oh, and just to illustrate how it's more energy efficient for boondocking, one of the modifications I'm doing to is replacing the breaker panel in the rig with a energy management system. With a propane furnace running batteries, I wouldn't have ripped out the total electrical system in the middle of Winter. With the hydronic heat I was very comfortable with it running on the batteries for an extended period of time.

My buddy has HydroHot in his Bus. We often park together. When the wind is blowing towards me, and my windows are open, I get diesel fumes in my coach.

-Tom