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Truma AquaGo water heater question


Fargoman

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As mentioned in my post last night, my wife and I are researching which options to get when ordering a Legacy 2 (thanks to those who replied to my questions). I forgot to ask about the advantages or disadvantages of the Truma AquaGo on-demand water heater.

2021 Legacy Elite 2 Twin Bed | Hull Number 894 (9/16/21 delivery) | Ram 1500 Longhorn 4x4 3.0L EcoDiesel 3.92 axleAZARCAIDMTNVNMORTNTXUTWAsm.jpg

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Take a look here, there have been lots of discussions.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/3930-truma-hot-water-heater-questions/?tab=comments#comment-38221

I remain steadfastly in the KISS camp. Keep It Simple Stupid. The standard unit is primitive and inefficient, but VERY easy to maintain by the owner, and cheap to replace it if fails. It is also fairly loud if you are sleeping on top of it, I turn it off at night, then switch it on in the morning when I start to wake up, the switch is easy to reach from that bed without getting up, if your head is toward the galley.

OTOH, if you are plugged into city water and sewer often, you might love the endless hot water the Truma offers. For boondocking, not so much. Where and how do you plan to camp? That is the question....


,John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited by John E Davies
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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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We have the Truma.  Very happy with it.  But as John mentioned, it’s better suited for camping at full hookup campsites.  The point of the Truma is to be able to have more hot water for longer showers, etc.  so that means using more water and filling up the gray tank faster.   So the Truma makes sense at a full hookup site where you have a city water connection so you don’t have to worry about running out of fresh water, and you can empty the gray tank as often as needed.   No problems with ours as long as I remember to turn on the propane.  

Edited by FrankC

 

 

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We’ve got the standard hot water tank.  As JD says, it’s simple and I’ll add reliable.  I’ve switched out the anode once in 5 years and replaced the on/off switch once (both easy to do and cheap).  When we have no shore power the propane works well.  Mike

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Texas Hill Country | 2016 Elite II #135 | 2020 Ram 2500 6.7L

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If you find that you camp more often with hookups, an instantaneous water heater is a direct swap out. Plus a new door.

For boondocking, heating water to a good temp in a standard water heater works fine. Then, turn it off.. if the shower gets cool, you've used too much water. 

Plus, with the standard heater,  you can avail yourself of free electric heating in campsites with hookups, and save propane. But, you'll need to replace the sacrificial anode more often if you use electricity,  I think. We replaced ours at 25 to 30 per cent. Better early than late.

 

 

Edited by SeaDawg
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2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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With 10 days under our belt, I’ll give you a slightly different view.  I’ve had 3 standard water heaters and this is our first Truma.  We love it and wouldn’t go back to the standard.  We can get up from eating, turn on the truma and start washing dishes with immediate hot water.  When we are done, we turn it off.  I believe that is much more efficient than our other water heaters.  Then, after being off-grid, it’s nice to schedule full hookups for a night with a nice long shower.  
 

When we are in freezing weather, I plan on turning the bypass valve and dumping the truma which takes all of 90 seconds. No tools required. We did not get the 12v travel heater for that reason. 
 

Now, was it worth the extra $? For us, yes. 

Edited by BlueHighways
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David and Vicky | Burns, TN | 2020 LEII #686 | 2017 Ford F-250 4x4 6.2L
 

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On 11/21/2020 at 11:27 AM, John E Davies said:

I remain steadfastly in the KISS camp. Keep It Simple Stupid. The standard unit is primitive and inefficient, but VERY easy to maintain by the owner, and cheap to replace it if fails. It is also fairly loud if you are sleeping on top of it, I turn it off at night, then switch it on in the morning when I start to wake up, the switch is easy to reach from that bed without getting up, if your head is toward the galley.

I agree with this, but am leaning toward ordering the Truma unit anyway.  

It's not that we're interested in long, uninterrupted showers.  On the contrary, in our current camper we have a diesel-powered Espar hot water heater, and we generally use it to  simply fill a solar-shower bag at the closest faucet to the heater, and then move the bag to the shower.  This approach uses *much* less water than that which is needed to get the shower-water temperature set at the shower itself.  Less water from the freshwater tank, and less water in the gray tank. 

My current (but not firm) logic behind the Truma is that the Truma should heat water more quickly than the standard heater (thus using less LP), heat just the amount of water needed (which is typicallynot much), and be substantially lighter than the standard option (6 gallons that doesn't effectively add to the freshwater supply weighs about 50 lbs).  50 lbs here, 50 lbs there -- it adds up.  It's appealing to use 120V power to heat water, but we are often not plugged in to shore power.

I'm also hoping that while perhaps somewhat delicate, and Overland's experience notwithstanding, that the Truma will, in fact, be relatively reliable.  How many of you have had ongoing, unresolvable trouble with the Truma?

 

 

2021 Oliver LE2
Ram 2500 diesel

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33 minutes ago, Fritz said:

I'm also hoping that while perhaps somewhat delicate, and Overland's experience notwithstanding, that the Truma will, in fact, be relatively reliable.  How many of you have had ongoing, unresolvable trouble with the Truma?

See my update linked below.  I think part of my problem was a circuit board issue that I believe was unique to the Comfort Plus model, and the rest was Oliver installation issues, which again, may have been related to it being the first of that model they installed.  It seems to be working great now, though of course only time will tell.

 

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On 11/21/2020 at 12:09 PM, SeaDawg said:

If you find that you camp more often with hookups, an instantaneous water heater is a direct swap out. Plus a new door.

For boondocking, heating water to a good temp in a standard water heater works fine. Then, turn it off.. if the shower gets cool, you've used too much water. 

Plus, with the standard heater,  you can avail yourself of free electric heating in campsites with hookups, and save propane. But, you'll need to replace the sacrificial anode more often if you use electricity,  I think. We replaced ours at 25 to 30 per cent. Better early than late.

 

 

Are you saying the anode only comes into play when the water heater is run on electric power?  

Ray and Susan Huff

Elite II Twin "Pearl" - Hull#699; delivered December 7, 2020

2013 F350 6.7l diesel Super Duty 4x4 long bed crew cab

1UP-USA Heavy-duty bike rack

2017 Leisure Travel Van Unity Twin Bed (sold)

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21 hours ago, Overland said:

See my update linked below.  I think part of my problem was a circuit board issue that I believe was unique to the Comfort Plus model, and the rest was Oliver installation issues, which again, may have been related to it being the first of that model they installed.  It seems to be working great now, though of course only time will tell.

 

Is Oliver now installing the Comfort Plus Truma?  This is what we had in our Leisure Travel Van; never had a problem with it.  My concern, however, is that if the Truma requires service, under warranty, certified technicians are few and far between in the PNW.  Before choosing the Truma upgrade, first check on warranty service locations.

As some have stated, we like the simplicity and track record of the standard water heater.  Frequent or long showers are not on the agenda when we camp.  The few times I showered with the Truma, I did not notice a remarkable difference in the hot water supply; if anything, it fluctuated more and was harder to control the temperature at the shower head than it was when our RV had a standard tank water heater.

Ray and Susan Huff

Elite II Twin "Pearl" - Hull#699; delivered December 7, 2020

2013 F350 6.7l diesel Super Duty 4x4 long bed crew cab

1UP-USA Heavy-duty bike rack

2017 Leisure Travel Van Unity Twin Bed (sold)

AZARCAIDNVNMOKORTNTXUTWAsm.jpg

 

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7 hours ago, Susan Huff said:

Are you saying the anode only comes into play when the water heater is run on electric power?  

No, it's mostly a chemistry thing. The anode is sacrificial,  dissolving instead of the steel tank rusting.

I  do think use of electricity may accelerate the dissolving of the anode. We never used the water heater on electricity,  and our anodes lasted a really long time. 

We have an instantaneous heater (not a truma) for the last three or four years. 

Edited by SeaDawg
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2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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I like our Truma, not absolutely sure its worth the added cost. Despite instructions - we only turn it on when needed. We don't leave it on otherwise. So n that respect, I can't see a much more power saving water heater than the Truma - other than my old solar water pouch shower.....

Cindy,  Russell and  "Harley dog" . Home is our little farm near Winchester TN

2018 Oliver Legacy Elite II - 2018 GMC 2500 Duramax 

"Die young - As late as possible"
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