Recently there have been a lot of questions on RVillage and Facebook about tankless water systems and whether someone should upgrade. Everyone has their opinion and there is both good information and bad that people share. To write this post, I’ve tried to capture a lot of the feedback other RVers have shared along with some information from the manufacturers and of course my own preferences and opinions. Hopefully, you will find this information helpful but I warn you – I’m biased based on how we use our RV and the heater we have. We love our Truma system!

One thing I’ve noticed in quick replies to questions asked online, at least I’m guilty of it but others are as well, is that we all assume everyone uses their RV the same way we do. Most questions are answered in a paragraph or two and the answers do not do justice to the questions asked. Worse, they could be misleading to someone who uses their RV differently than the person answering the question. For anyone looking into tankless, there is no right or wrong answer. Everything depends on how you use your RV, your preferences, and how much money you want to spend. Do your research and see what others who actually use them have to say about the models you are considering. Be careful about reviews on sites that sell products though as the reviews may or may not be fake. Also be careful on sites that compare the top 5, 10 or whatever number of products. They often don’t do any reviews but just repeat the manufacturer’s information. Often these sites steer you to particular units as “the best” but they may just be the ones that earn the “reviewer” the most money.

When looking at tankless water heaters both minimum and maximum flow rate is important. Manufacturers don’t always make that information easy to find but they should tell you if you contact them. Minimum matters because you need enough flow to keep the burner on. For example, an Oxygenics shower head uses about 1.8 gallons per minute (GPM). If you are using a hot/cold water mix or are turning the water flow down to reduce water usage, you could get below the flow needed to keep the burner lit. For maximum flow you probably need enough for your shower and probably another faucet. You might need more if you have an onboard clothes washer. Truma says their unit supplies about 2.4 GPM and we haven’t had any flow/temperature issues running our shower, clothes washer and a faucet at the same time. Lower minimum and higher maximum flows are better.

Tank type water heaters are typically 6-12 gallons in size. Based on the flow of the Oxygenics shower head, that only allows for the shower to be on 3-1/2 to 7 minutes before your hot water is exhausted. If someone or something else is also using hot water at the same time your shower time would be less. If you plan to dry camp then propane capability is a must for either type of heater. The best option for a tank type is one capable of running on both propane and electricity. Also look for Direct Spark Ignition (DSI) rather than ones that use a pilot light.

Finally, check for any notes about operating at high altitudes if that applies to your travels. Many units explicitly say they may have issues at higher elevations. The time to find that out is not when you’re camping in the mountains!

Many people are rightly concerned about the safety of propane. Be sure you have a working propane detector permanently mounted in your rig. I also suggest buying a portable hand held detector you can use to “sniff” around your tanks, regulators, and lines. Don’t just assume you will be able to smell or hear any leak. We recently found a bad pigtail going to one of our tanks by noticing unusual usage and then sniffing around the hoses with our portable detector. It’s also recommended to have your propane system regularly checked by a professional. If you do these things, you are unlikely to have an unexpected problem or fire due to propane.

Tankless vs Tank water heater guidelines

You might want a tankless water heater if…

• You are a full-timer
• Multiple people camp together in your trailer and everyone wants to take a shower in a short time frame
• Your rig includes a dishwasher or clothes washer
• You like taking long, hot showers
• You typically stay in places with full hookups

You might want a tank type water heater if…

• You want to minimize install cost. Cheaper tankless systems may approach the same price as a good tank type but you may be disappointed in cheaper units
• You don’t use a lot of hot water – if you currently have a tank type and don’t run out of water you may not need to upgrade to tankless
• You go camping infrequently
• You are happy taking “navy” showers
• You typically stay in places without full hookups (see Truma below for how they help in this situation)
• You’re thinking of buying tankless to save money

Pros/Cons of Tankless Water Heaters

Pro

• Unlimited hot water – dishwasher, clothes washer, long hot showers
• No recovery time between uses
• Can be turned on and left alone – provides an experience close to what you would have in a house with minimal manual effort
• Some systems allow for an adjustable output temperature but that may force more manual control effort
• These systems tend to be lighter
• Even though their burners are larger, they use less propane than a tank type in propane mode because the burner is on much less – unless you use a lot of hot water continuously!

Con

• High purchase cost
• You cannot heat the water in a tankless system using electricity (Oasis and Aqua Hot claim to be able to provide “low demand” hot water from 110v electricity but those are not really just a tankless water heater – they are more)
• There may be a learning curve to learn how to effectively use it
• Propane water heaters may not work as well as electric in low temperatures or high elevations
• There could be a delay for hot water when turning on the water although this is typically 2-4 seconds. Truma has largely solved this (see below)
• If you use a lot of hot water you could increase propane usage over a tank type because you can essentially get hot water forever until you run out of propane
• They are rare enough in the field that getting a certified tech to repair them can be difficult
• Even though you may use less propane, don’t assume you can save money in the long run. In our house we installed tankless and cut our gas usage in half but even with a self-install to save money, it was going to take about 5 years to break even on the investment

Pros/Cons of Tank Type Water Heaters

Pro

• Low purchase cost
• Most support operation with both propane and electricity

Con

• Uses more energy, particularly if left on, since it has to keep the tank hot
• Hot water limited to tank size (can take about 30 minutes to heat back up when cold)
• May need to be manually turned on/off to save energy particularly if using propane
• May need more manual interaction if using both electric and propane simultaneously for quicker recovery
• Can be damaged if powered up with no water in the tank
• If propane only, propane water heaters may not work as well as electric in low temperatures or high elevations

Thoughts about specific brands

There are several popular brands of tankless water heaters on the market for RVs. I know most about Truma since that is what we own but I will also mention a bit about some of the other brands that frequently come up.

Truma

As mentioned before, Truma produces tankless water heaters that are arguably the best you can buy. The downsides of Truma is that they are among the most expensive and they are intended to be installed and maintained by a Truma certified technician. As such, it appears that parts would be difficult to obtain including a complete replacement unit although we did meet someone whose unit went bad and Truma did send a unit for him to replace himself. It may also be more difficult to find someone certified to service a Truma unit. We have not had an issue with ours in over 3 years as full-timers so we haven’t been able to see this for ourselves but lack of parts availability and difficulty finding a certified repair center could be a huge issue.

Now let’s look at why Truma are so good (and so expensive). First off, the units use a 60,000 BTU burner so they have sufficient heating power to use in cold weather and to produce enough hot water for multiple outlets to be open at the same time. The unit comes pre-set to deliver 120°F water at up to 2.4 GPM and the temperature is not user adjustable. The flow rate is plenty for a shower and something else at the same time. Even though the Truma does not have an adjustable temperature, we use it just like you would in a house – mixing hot and cold water at the faucet to get the temperature you want. The minimum flow rate to turn on the burner of 0.4 GPM ensures hot water even when flow is reduced to barely more than a trickle.

Except for the Truma Basic version which must be turned off and drained in freezing weather, Truma Comfort and Comfort Plus models when turned on and operating normally will automatically protect themselves in freezing temperatures by running the burner to keep the unit above freezing. For times when you don’t want to use propane to keep it from freezing or when travelling with propane turned off and temperatures are below freezing, they offer a 12 volt electric anti-freeze kit that can be self-installed. 

Some people have commented that propane can be Less efficient in certain conditions such as low temperatures and/or high elevations. We have been in temperatures down to -5°F, below freezing temperatures for days and elevations up to 9000’ and have not experienced any issues with these problems. I can’t say it didn’t use more propane or that it didn’t burn as efficiently at higher elevations but we always had plenty of hot water.

Unlike other water heaters, Truma’s products contain a temperature stabilizer. This is essentially a small .35 gallon water tank that gets pre-heated as the unit runs to minimize outlet temperature fluctuations due to pressure or flow changes that may cause the burner to temporarily shut off. We have found outlet temperatures to stay rock solid even in a variety of operating conditions. This may also help reduce the restart delays when taking “navy” showers if you still want to do that.

While the burner will start within 2-4 seconds after the minimum water flow is achieved by far the biggest disadvantage to tankless is that during that time water is being wasted while you allow the water to start heating. 4 seconds isn’t very long but when you’re boondocking that is a substantial amount of water being wasted. Imagine taking a “navy” shower, you turn on the water for a few seconds, rinse, then turn it off. Then soap up and repeat the process. During that time, you’ll either have hardly any hot water, or you’ll be wasting water. Neither of which you want to do when dry camping. The temperature stabilizer will help by delivering hot water without the huge drop in temperature when washing off the soap unlike other units.

An even better solution to that problem is the Truma Comfort Plus (CP) model. This model allows creation of a continuous loop between all faucets and returning to the Truma CP. In “Comfort” mode, the hot water is circulated through the loop via a small pump in the water heater even when all the faucets are closed. The net result is near instant hot water to the faucets in the loop. When we are in a situation where we need to conserve water or reduce gray water we use this mode and we can take “navy” showers using less water than would be used even with a tank type heater because we don’t have to wait for hot water to flush the cold water out of the pipes before initially rinsing off. WARNING! While handy, comfort mode uses a lot more propane than the Eco mode that does not continuously pump water through the loop. We use it while taking a shower and then put it back to Eco mode afterwards.

The downside of the CP model is that Truma says it can only be OEM installed since it requires a hot water loop to be plumbed when the rig is built. Aftermarket, it would be difficult if not impossible to add the loop. So this model is only for new units being built for the most part.

One comment that frequently comes up on blogs is that tankless systems use more propane because their burners are larger. For example, tankless typically have 40,000 to 60,000 BTU burners while tank type heaters have 10,000 to 12,000 BTU burners. Looking only at the BTUs is misleading because you also have to look at the duty cycle of the burner. A tankless system might run the burner a dozen times a day for short periods of time whereas a tank type, if left on, will cycle the burner on and off throughout the day to keep the water in the tank hot. Of course, you could turn the tank type system on and off manually but with tankless it’s all automatic. How annoying is it to go to take a shower only to realize you never turned on the heater? Now you’re waiting up to 30 minutes for the water to get hot!

Girard

Over the years, I have consistently heard of problems with Girard maintaining a constant temperature. Some problems may occur when limiting water flow to conserve water as it needs more than twice the flow as Truma to keep the heater on (0.9 GPM according to their Troubleshooting Guide). Others say you must be sure no one else opens a faucet when you are taking a shower. Other problems occur if the park’s water pressure varies. There are also many reports of it never reaching the set temperature. I could not find a flow rate for their GSWH-2 model online but it appears to be less than 2 GPM. The burner on this unit is 42,000 BTUs which is 1/3 less than Truma and could be a contributing factor to a lot of the problems. These problems may contribute to more water use which could be a major issue if dry camping. To work around these issues, many people set a comfortable temperature for their shower and then use only hot water (no cold mixing) to keep flow up. They also make sure nothing or no one else uses hot water during a shower.

Some newer reviews are more positive than older ones which may indicate that Girard is making improvements. Still, most reviewers talk about it being finicky, talking a learning curve to figure out most efficient use, and subject to variations due to water flow (too much or too little), water pressure, and low outside temperatures. Support from Girard also seems to be a bit hit or miss as well with people saying it took numerous times sending emails or leaving voice messages before they got a reply. Then Girard wanted them to do a bunch of tests before telling them there wasn’t anything wrong with the heater. Others reported good customer service however and many of those were more recent so maybe that is improving as well.

In comparing to Truma, Girard is much less expensive by about 1/2 (<$600 retail) and for DIY types it is available for self-install although they do not recommend you do that. Parts are also readily available. The manual also states that it can provide anti-freeze protection as long as it is operating and has propane but it does not offer any protection while travelling so it must be drained if freezing temperatures are expected. Unlike Truma, it does not have a temperature stabilization tank so there may be a larger dip in temperatures if the burner is stopped during a shower and then restarted. Girard also does not offer a model with plumbing loop capability to provide instant hot water like Truma does.

Others

I have seen other people’s reviews of Suburban and Dometic tankless and reviews have been somewhat positive, particularly for the Suburban model. Reports say it will handle multiple faucets at once with little or no change in temperature. The temperature can be adjusted via an optional remote control. Some set the temperature they want and only use hot water (no cold-water blending). It has multiple burner settings and up to a 60,000 BTU burner. For Dometic, there seemed to be a larger learning curve and it might be necessary to only run one thing at a time. Interestingly the Dometic review I found might have been on a discontinued model. I even see some Dometic “Tankless” models advertised online but in looking at the Dometic site, I don’t see one. The model I saw online wasn’t tankless even though it was claimed to be – again do your research,

Some VERY inexpensive (<$500) units are made by CampLux, Marey, Eccotemp, Excel and others. Some have flow rates too low for even a single shower while others seem to have very high flow rates. Most of these don’t seem to be designed specifically for RV use and most are not in the typical footprint of an RV water heater. I’ve seen great reviews for most of these online but I personally would stay away. I’ve learned when something sounds to good to be true, it usually is.

Conclusion

For us, even though tankless systems are at best break even in cost over a LONG period of time, we prefer our Truma over tank type costing 1/4 as much due to the ability to turn it on and forget it no matter what our situation is whether in full hookups or dry camping. We take showers as long as we want and never have to worry about running out of hot water even if we’re washing clothes and doing dishes all at the same time. It’s much more like the experience of being in a sticks and bricks. Just because we’re in a campground doesn’t mean we have to give up too many comforts – especially since our RV is now our house. That’s just us, your goals and wishes may be different,

I hope that this information is helpful if your are buying a new rig or replacing the water heater in one you already own. There is no right or wrong decision, decide what’s important to you and go with it after doing your research to make sure it will be what you want and expect.

What made this event particularly difficult was that nearly the entire state was blanketed in freezing weather with lots of snow and even worse thick ice from freezing rain. Travel became extremely hazardous and utilities like power and water were out for millions of people – often for days. The finger pointing between the utility companies, politicians and the media has been intense. While I think mistakes were made, in the end this was a once in 100 year storm pattern that I may well not see again in my lifetime.

Speaking of mistakes, we made a few as well but overall it was a good learning experience and we were blessed to only lose power for about 2 hours early on. Our first mistake was assuming the actual weather would not be as bad as they forecast. It’s common in Texas to get a bad forecast a few days ahead of time and by the time we get to the forecast day, the new forecast is much better. This is especially true when snow is forecast as it feels like it only snows once for every 10 forecasts of snow and that is usually no more than a dusting. This time the newer forecasts just kept getting worse and the actual weather ended up being worse than forecast.

In many ways, living fulltime in an RV has advantages over living in a sticks and bricks house during emergency situations like this, particularly if you have a rig designed for colder weather like we do. In order to survive you need to be prepared and have backups for critical infrastructure – power, water, heat, sewer, etc. An RV is the perfect venue to have multiple sources for each of those but you need to know how your equipment works and how to avoid or work around any limitations you have. Also, be sure you have a hairdryer! We’ve needed one in cold weather to unstick frozen sewer connections, open a stuck sewer valve (happened in Colorado even before this storm), and this time to open outside storage compartment doors that froze stuck. Make sure you have one on your required “tools” list if you plan to RV in freezing temperatures.

Although our insulation is not as good as most houses, we have much less space to keep warm. Luckily for us, we also have 3 sources of heat. When temperatures are above 40°F we have heat pumps on our air conditioners. These work really great for keeping the RV warm with moderately cool temperatures. Once the outside temperatures drop below about 40°F, we usually switch to our fake fireplace and 2 ceramic space heaters. These work quite well as long as you have shore power but they are very power hungry. One issue we have with the fireplace and one of our space heaters (one that has a digital thermostat) is that if there is a power loss, when the power is restored these heaters stay off and have to be manually turned back on. That’s something really important to keep in mind if you won’t be around to turn them back on. Yes, I know – you really shouldn’t leave them on and unattended. Be sure you get ones with over temperature sensors and tip over sensors and keep flammable materials away from them. Another issue is that when we added Solar and updated our inverter (provides 110 VAC from our batteries) we configured most of the plugs in the rig to run off the inverter when shore power is lost. A side effect of this is that the ceramic heaters, if on a plug supplied by the inverter, will continue to run with a loss of shore power but that will run our batteries down very quickly and could even cause the inverter to shut down due to an overload. Because of this, we installed a plug in the bedroom that is not on the inverter and we use a plug in the kitchen pantry that was installed for a coffee machine that is also not on the inverter. With a loss of shore power, our heat source will then drop back to our propane furnaces as a fail safe.

You might wonder why we don’t use our propane furnaces for heat before some of the other options. First, they use a huge amount of propane. With temperatures this cold our propane would only last about a week and in weather like this, propane will sell out very quickly. In fact, half way through the weather event, the park we are in has sold out and we don’t expect to be able to get more for at least another week. We’ve heard there isn’t any available in the entire area. After that, we turned off the water heater and put it into an “anti-freeze” mode that uses 12 VDC power to keep it from freezing to reduce propane consumption. Otherwise, even though it is tankless, it will light the burner on occasion to keep it from freezing. Second, the heater in the bedroom works pretty well but the one in the living room barely outputs any air and really doesn’t warm the room much. I’ve traced the ducts and as far as I can tell there are no obstructions – I think a lot of the air goes to heat the basement even though I’ve closed those down some to try to help. We do run the living room heater enough to keep the basement above 35°F. Last year I added a separate thermostat that controls that heater based on temperature sensors in the basement. Before I had to guess what the temperature was and set the indoor living room thermostat to try to keep the basement above freezing. Now I know that I don’t need nearly as much heat down there to start above freezing as I thought and we are using much less propane.

After investing a good deal of money in solar and lithium batteries I sometimes wonder if it was money well spent. Well after snowmageddon 2021 I’m glad we had them even though we didn’t need it – this time. Again it’s about having options. During the day, even when it was cloudy, the solar panels provided enough power to charge the batteries and power the lights so we would have been ok if we lost shore power – if not a bit cold since our space heaters would no longer work. Our propane furnaces need 12 VDC to run and solar could keep those going without shore power. The major reason for solar and lithium, however, was to power the inverter to provide 120 VAC to the refrigerator. It takes a lot of power to keep a residential refrigerator running. We didn’t lose power for a significant time so we never got to test how long we’d actually be able to run the refrigerator given some level of charging from the solar. We expect it would last for 2-3 days but someday we’ll test it so we know for sure. In the case of cold weather we’d likely prioritize running the propane heat to keep the bedroom and basement warm and the battery would probably run them forever – or at least until we ran out of propane. We also have a gasoline generator that we didn’t use. But we made another mistake there as I didn’t fill up our gas can. We could have run it for a few hours on what I had but I really should have filled up the can before all this hit.

We encountered the problem I mentioned in the prior winter lessons learned post where lithium batteries can’t be charged below 32°F. Since that time I had added a light bulb “heater” on a thermostat in the front battery bay. The light bulb works great down to about 20°F but then it can’t keep the battery temperatures above freezing. When that happens the batteries not only won’t charge but 12 VDC loads are also not supplied by the 120 VAC to 12 VDC converter/charger even if shore power is available. That means the batteries will likely run down in a few days because they can’t recharge until the battery temperature goes above freezing. I think the solution will be to have a very small ceramic heater or possibly some small heat pads to use when outdoor temperatures are expected to go below about 25°F. ** Specific information for our rig only ** It would also be possible to turn off the battery disconnect switch and then install a large jumper (car jumper cables) across the over voltage contactor so that loads can be driven by the inverter / charger. Another method would be to turn off the battery system at the control panel and then turn on the old converter that came with the rig. Neither method would automatically fail over back to the batteries if shore power was lost, however.

We went into this weather event feeling pretty good with our propane level at about 80%. With the extreme cold, we were down to about 50% half way through the event – about 4 days in. That basically means one of our two 40# tanks was empty. We found out the park we were in had propane and they were filling tanks so I ran out and got the empty tank loaded in the truck only to find out the truck wouldn’t start (more about that later). We carried it over, were one of the last to get filled before the park ran out of propane, and then one of our neighbors took pity on us and brought us back to our trailer in his truck with our now full tank that weighs about 70 lbs. full. Thanks David!!

After that I began to wonder why the back part of the basement stayed colder than the front part – particularly since the back part has more insulation than the front. One thing that always bothered me was a large opening on each side of the frame in the back where the slide actuators go through. They have to be large so that there is play as the slide moves in and out so they can’t be fully sealed off. I took some insulation and stuffed it into the holes and it made a huge difference. No longer did we get some intermittent freezing of the kitchen faucet pipes in the basement but it also significantly reduced the propane heater usage needed to keep the basement above 35°F. I’m searching for a way to weather seal those holes more permanently while still allowing their movement as needed to open and close the slides.

Knowing that water might freeze or if the park lost power we could be without water for a while we decided to fill our water tank half full. Up to this point, water in the park has remained available with a couple of relatively short times where we think it was actually frozen lines (like when the power went out for 2 hours). Of course, having water in the water tank didn’t always help when lines froze inside the basement but it was nice to have water available when we needed it. Sealing off the slide actuators as mentioned before stopped these lines from freezing so that is definitely something to continue in cold weather going forward. Next time I will fill the tank full as we heard there could be longer term outages at the park once things start to thaw out. Unfortunately after the cold weather started, we were no longer able to add water to the tank even when park water was on. We still haven’t figured that out yet but it likely will resolve once the temperatures rise.

One thing we did right was to close off our internal sewer valves and allow water to collect in our tanks. With tank heaters on, it’s better to have some water in them anyway but with them closed there isn’t a slow release of water every time a sink is used that might freeze in the sewer line. We can open them as needed to release a lot of water at once or wait until the outside temperature is above freezing as long as our holding tanks don’t reach 100%. Some people suggest dripping a faucet to prevent freezing like you would in a regular house. I personally think that is a bad idea since you would need to leave valves open to the sewer or at least monitor tank levels carefully. We a slow drip going down the sewer hose it’s highly likely the water will start to freeze in the hose eventually causing the tanks to fill anyway. One note about closing the valves – we left the external valve (where the sewer hose connects) open and only closed the internal valves that are in the heated basement. Last time we left the external valve closed in freezing weather, we had to use our hairdryer to thaw it out so we could dump before leaving Colorado.

Finally, one thing we should have paid more attention to was our diesel truck. When the storm was just about to hit we filled up when we saw a station with a decent price – we were in a time where prices were going up pretty fast. That was a good thing but we didn’t add anything to the fuel to keep it from gelling in cold temperatures. Diesel fuel will start to cloud as the temperature drops below 32°F and can gel around 10°F. Cheaper fuel can gel at higher temperatures. The bad thing is, we talked to friends the day before the storm hit and he asked if we put in any additive. I said no, we’ve been in temperatures down to 0°F before without issues. Well, we had been in New Mexico / Colorado at those temperatures. It’s likely that their diesel had been pre-treated for freezing temperatures. In Texas and other states where extended temperatures below freezing is not that common (or when buying cheaper fuel) then you cannot count on it being pre-treated. The lesson learned is to always add a diesel fuel supplement to prevent gelling that does not contain alcohol if the temperatures will fall below 32°F unless you know for sure the fuel in the tank is pre-treated. Water in the fuel can also cause problems so you should probably drain water from the fuel filter regularly as well in freezing weather.

This time we got lucky and only lost power once for about 2 hours in the middle of the night. It quickly got down to about 55°F inside the trailer and it took hours for it to get back to even 65°F. It could have been much worse if we had lost power for several days as did many across the state. At this point we have one more night of temperatures in the teens then we should stay above freezing for the next 10 days at least. Maybe the worst of this winter will be over for Texas this year. At any rate, next time we are going to encounter temperatures below freezing for an extended period, we’ll be better prepared!

Although it is usually somewhat easy to replace the brake piston seal and dust seal after honing out the cylinder to remove any places that might be causing the leak we decided to just replace the caliper (Kodiak part number DBC-338-HD-E). Replacing the caliper is much quicker and easier than servicing the original and if you include seals and a set of new brake pads the total cost wasn’t much different since the caliper came with pads.

Replacing the caliper is easy, first you have to remove the wheel (DO NOT LET THE WHEEL COME DOWN ON OR REST ON THE POLYCARBONATE DUST CAP AS IT IS FRAGILE), then there are two bolts and two clips that attach the caliper to the bracket. After those are removed the caliper and brake pad assembly can be lifted from the bracket. It may be necessary to use some penetrating oil (I used PB Blaster) on the brake line to caliper fitting to remove the brake line from the old caliper. The caliper can be twisted around as the brake line unscrews to keep the brake line from being kinked.

Once disconnected, hold the end of the brake line up to keep brake fluid from leaking out. Clean the brake line fitting to remove any contaminants that might be introduced into the new caliper then connect the line to the new caliper. As with removal, you can twist the caliper while tightening the brake line fitting to the new caliper to keep the brake hose from kinking up. Do not over tighten the fitting. Reinstall the new caliper on the caliper brackets using the new bolts and clips that came with the caliper. Ensure that the clips are installed properly and that the brake line is not twisted. Torque the bolts to 45 ft. lbs.

I bought a vacuum bleeder kit to bleed the brakes since I wasn’t sure how it would go bleeding trailer brakes and I wanted to be able to do it without another person helping. That didn’t work well. I could get fluid to flow but I could also see air which seemed to be leaking around the bleeder hose at the bleed valve. At that point I went to plan B.

Plan B was to use the breakaway switch to engage the hydraulic pump. Be sure the brake fluid reservoir is full of clean brake fluid of the proper type (ours uses DOT 4) then pull the breakaway cable out to engage the brakes. I bled the caliper I replaced first since I knew it had air in it. When I opened the valve I got a quick flow of fluid ad it was easy to see when the air was removed. Be sure to have a hose attached to the bleeder valve and a container to collect the fluid as it comes out fast. I let about 4 to 6 ounces come out to flush out some of the old fluid then I closed the valve. At this point I reinserted the breakaway cable to let the hydraulic pump rest and cool down.

Now it’s time to bleed the entire system starting at the master cylinder and then moving to the farthest wheel cylinder cylinder away from the master cylinder and working toward the wheel cylinder closest to the master cylinder. For my trailer this is right rear, left rear, right front, and finally left front. Use only a 5/16″ 6-point wrench or deep socket to loosen the bleed screw. Open the bleed screw by hand then close finger tight. When all done use a 6-point wrench or deep socket and tighten slightly more than finger tight (maybe 1/8 turn). DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN OR IT WILL BREAK! (The replacement part is DBC-NPT-ADP-BBS-ASSY and the threads in the caliper are 1/8-27 NPT. A Dorman 13960 brake bleeder repair kit will fit but the bleed screw is smaller and takes a 1/4″ 6-point wrench.) Before starting each one, make sure the master cylinder is full of fluid – NEVER LET IT RUN DRY! Pull the breakaway switch to engage the brakes and then go bleed the next cylinder using a clear plastic hose and collection container to collect the fluid. Never let out too much fluid without checking the level of fluid in the master cylinder. When done with each cylinder reinsert the breakaway and refill the master cylinder before moving on. When done with all cylinders, top off the master cylinder to the bottom of the filler neck.

Plan C – a better process if two people are available might be to plug the trailer into the truck and have another person press on the brake pedal rather than using the breakaway switch. There should be no need to pump the brakes like you would when working on a car – just press and hold until the person bleeding the cylinder says stop at the end of each cylinder.

Additional information can be found in our post about packing the wheel bearings: https://keepupwiththejoneses.net/2019/11/13/re-packing-wheel-bearings/

Our rig includes RCMHS-13-10H-HD Kodiak hubs and disk brake assemblies for an industry standard #99 spindle. The major parts that make up each of the 4 assemblies include the following parts:

HUB/SPACER-99-SW – 10,000 pound hub/spacer for #99 spindle
ROTOR-13-10 – 13″ Kodiak rotor
DBC-338-HD-E – Loaded E-coated caliper for 10K rotor; ceramic pads; nickel chrome piston; with mounting clips. The brake pads by themselves are DBC-2250-CERM-PAD (1 set per axle)
CMB-13-10QHD-E – E-coated caliper mounting bracket for 5 bolt 10K brake flange, 13″ rotor.

Each complete hub consists of the following parts:

Q-10-14K-PCAP – Polycarbonate dust cap. The O-rings on these caps are not available separately from Kodiak. However, I was able to buy #239 Viton, 75A Durometer, round, brown O-rings from Amazon. They are 3-5/8″ ID, 3-7/8″ OD, 1/8″ width.
Q-10K-RUBBER PLUG – Dust cap plug
28580 – Inner bearing
28521 – Inner bearing race (Cup) (Note: The Kodiak expanded view shows 28520 but this is wrong for my axles based on measurement and the actual part number on the part. 28521 is correct.)
25580 – Outer bearing
25520 – Outer bearing race (Cup)
568303 – Seal (Cross Reference: Chicago Rawhide CR27438, Hayes 091030, National B370352BG, Transcom OB27377) Our original parts were 27438.
Cotter pin – ¼” X 3” to 4-1/2” (The original cotter pins were 4” long, 3” works fine)
DBC-HD-CLIP – Caliper retaining clip*
DBC-HD-FLBOLT – Caliper retaining bolt*
DBC-2250-CERM-PAD (also called DBC-2250-CRM-PAD) – Brake pads (1 set per axle)
* Caliper clips and bolts should probably be replaced when replacing the brake pads. Part DBC-HD-CLIP-REPL contains two retaining clips and two bolts.

Supplies needed to get started:

“Bag of Rags” (shop towels) – Package of 25
Lithium Grease – 30 Oz. Use NLGI GC-LB Grade #2 product with a minimum dropping point of 440F with EP, corrosion and oxidation inhibitors. I use Lucas Red-N-Tacky grease.
Permatex® Silicone Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant or Permatex® Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant – High temperature brake lubricant. One tube should last for many repacks.
CRC Brake Cleaner – 1 can
Spray Metal Parts Cleaner – 4-5 cans (1 for each hub)
Liquid metal parts cleaner – 32 Oz. – You can use Kerosene, Mineral Spirits, or in a pinch Gasoline (DANGEROUS).
Permatex Blue or Loctite Blue 242 thread locker – 1 tube NOTE 9/17/2021: Using thread locker on the caliper clip bolts is critical when re-using existing bolts. New bolts should already have thread locker on them. Without it, the bolts are known to back out causing the caliper to dislodge from the bracket resulting in loss of brakes and damage to the wheel. A DRV recall specified the use of red thread locker instead of blue. The issue there is that the bolts must be heated to over 500 degrees in order to remove them for future maintenance. Red is designed for parts that do not need to be removed normally for maintenance where blue is designed for removal and maintenance. Red would provide additional strength. Use blue at your own risk!
Paper Towels – several rolls
Large boxes (broken down) – To put under work areas.
Large Nitrile Gloves – Lots of them, we went through a box of 100.
Cotter Pins – 4 (one for each hub), 1/4″ X 3 to 4-1/2″
Seals – 4 (see above) Seals MUST be replaced whenever the hub is removed. They are almost always destroyed when the hub is removed but even if they aren’t, they might not seal correctly which could cause other more expensive problems.

Procedure

Remove one wheel

1. Be sure the other wheels are securely chocked.
2. Lift the side of the trailer to be worked on with the leveling jacks so that the tire is about 1/4″ off the ground.
3. Put a jack stand under the frame or axle being worked on.
4. Remove the wheel. DO NOT LET THE WHEEL COME DOWN ON OR REST ON THE POLYCARBONATE DUST CAP AS IT IS FRAGILE.

Remove the brake caliper

1. Using a 9/16″ socket, remove the two bolts that hold the caliper in place.
2. Remove the two metal clips.
3. Lift the caliper off the mounting bracket. Note that it might stick and you may need to carefully pry it up or even use a bit of penetrating oil.
4. Inspect the caliper for leaks and/or damage.
5. Inspect the rotor for damage.
6. Inspect the brake pads. From the 12,000 mile wear it looks like pads should make it to 24,000 miles and possibly 36,000 miles. Update 2/15/2022: Replaced brake pads at 24932 miles. The caliper clips and bolts should probably be replaced when replacing the brake pads.
   Note: The picture shows the dust cap already removed but it should not be removed until the next step.

Remove the hub

1. Using an 8 point 3-1/2″ socket (Or large slip joint pliers if you must) to remove the dust cap from the hub.
2. Using needle nose pliers, remove the old cotter pin and discard it. You may have to cut the pin or bend it back and forth until one leg breaks to remove it.
3. Using a 6 point 2-1/4″ socket (Or slip joint pliers) remove the castle nut holding on the hub.
4. Remove the spindle washers. Kodiak shows only 1 in their exploded view but ours has 2.
5. Remove the outer bearing cone by pulling on the brake rotor. You will likely need to apply a rocking motion on the rotor.
6. Pull the hub assembly toward you being careful not to damage the outer bearing race or the spindle threads. It’s likely that the seal will prevent pulling off the hub without carefully putting something behind the rotor to pry outward on the hub. I used the handles of my large slip joint pliers to do that as they are soft and protect the rotor.

Disassembling and cleaning the parts

1. Using a suitable seal puller (I used our hub cap tool) remove the seal. With the hub cap tool I inserted the tip as far as I could and was able to get the seal about half way out by working my way around the seal. When half way out, I could angle the tool slightly to get the seal out the rest of the way. Discard the seal.
2. With the seal removed, the inner bearing can be removed. Clean the inner and outer bearings with a clean lint free rag then soak them in metal parts cleaner, Kerosene or Mineral Spirits. Gasoline can be used if you must but that is dangerous! Swish them around every so often to help loosen the old grease.
3. Thoroughly clean the bearing races and hub with clean lint free rags and metal parts cleaner.
4. Clean the spindle washers, dust cap, dust cap plug, dust cap O-ring and castle nut. DO NOT USE brake or part cleaners on the polycarbonate dust cover, O-ring and dust cap plug as these will be damaged – just wipe clean. See the note at the top of the article about replacing the O-rings.
5. After the bearings have soaked for 10 or 15 minutes, use spray metal parts cleaner to blow out any remaining traces of old grease. Allow to dry completely before continuing with the next steps.
6. After cleaning and drying, inspect the bearings and races for pits, scoring and abnormal coloring. Replace the bearings and races as needed. Bearings and races must be replaced together at the same time.

Pack the bearings with grease

1. Once the bearings have been cleaned and dried, it’s time to pack them with grease. Place some grease in your palm then force grease into the bearing from the wide side until it comes out from between the rollers on the narrow side.
2. Once packed, coat the outside of the bearing cone with a thin layer of grease all the way around.

Prepare the hubs

1. Insert the inner bearing into the race narrow side first.
2. Spread a thin layer of grease on the outside surface of the seal.
3. Place the seal onto the hub (wide side first) then using a rubber mallet slowly hammer the seal all the way in by applying pressure with a finger opposite to where you are hammering and working your way around the seal. Ensure the seal is fully seated and is straight within the hub. NEVER use a metal hammer directly on the seal. A wood block can be placed over the seal when hammering it into place to protect it.
4. Apply a small amount of grease to the rubber part of the seal to aid in installation of the hub.
5. Flip the hub over, placing it on a clean paper towel, then apply a thin layer of grease to the outer bearing race and hub.

Reinstall the hub

1. Clean the spindle of any grease and inspect for wear. When cleaning the spindle, first remove any remaining parts of the old seal.
2. Coat the entire spindle with a thin layer of grease.
3. Insert the hub onto the spindle with the outer bearing removed. If you install it first, the spindle will just push it out and it will fall on the ground likely getting it dirty and forcing you to re-clean and re-pack it. Push on the hub to get the seal to seat on the spindle. Don’t worry if you can’t get it to fully seat, we’ll fix that later. Be careful not to damage the seal against the spindle.
4. Holding the hub up, insert the outer bearing with your fingers and keep a finger on the bearing to keep it in place.
5. If the hub did not go in and completely seat the seal (you can tell this because not many of the spindle threads will be exposed) then put on the castle nut (without the spindle washers if necessary) and tighten it down enough to get the seal to seat, then remove the castle nut.
6. Put the lightly greased spindle washers on the spindle and then reinstall the castle nut finger tight.
7. While spinning the hub, tighten the castle nut to 100 ft.-lbs. of torque, back off the nut one full turn, re-tighten the castle nut to 50 ft.-lbs. of torque to pre-load the bearings.
8. Back off (never tighten) the castle nut about 1/6 to 1/4 turn until the cotter pin can be inserted. The hub should turn freely and if you grab the rotor on two sides and apply a rocking motion you should not hear noise or feel any detectable motion. This would be the time to check the run-out with a dial gauge but I don’t have one.
9. Bend one leg flush over the end of the spindle and the other leg flush against the spindle nut. With a hammer lightly tap the ends to make them as flush as possible so they do not contact the dust cap or dust cap plug.
10. Apply a small amount of grease around the castle nut and spindle washer area.
11. Apply a small amount of oil or brake fluid on the O-ring, cap and hub where the O-ring contacts it to lubricate the O-ring. Install the dust cap ensuring the O-ring is properly in place and torque to 20-30 ft.-lbs. Be sure the cotter pin does not interfere with the rubber plug on the dust cap or it may cause it to leak. The plug should be flat against the dust cap.

Install the caliper

1. This step probably isn’t needed unless replacing the pads: Using only a 5/16″ 6-point wrench or deep socket loosen the brake bleeder screw. Put 1/4″ tubing over the bleeder and route the other end of the tube into a suitable container to catch the brake fluid. Open the screw as you use a large C clamp to compress the disk brake piston. Close the bleed screw hand tight then use a 5/16″ 6-point wrench or deep socket to tighten slightly (maybe 1/8 turn). DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN! Discard the old brake fluid.
2. With a wire brush, clean the caliper and mounting bracket where the two contact.
3. You probably need to use a C-clamp and compress the caliper piston slightly. Be sure to put a rag around the brake fluid filler cap to collect any fluid that leaks out.
4. Apply a small amount of high temperature brake grease to the contact point of the caliper and the caliper mounting bracket.
5. Insert the rear brake pad on the caliper mounting bracket and insert the front brake pad in the caliper. Place the caliper back on the caliper mounting bracket being careful not to twist or kink the brake line.
6. Clean the caliper retaining clips (or replace them) then apply a small amount of high temperature brake grease to the clips where they touch the caliper.
7. Unless replacing the caliper retaining bolts, apply blue thread locker to them then install the bolts through the retaining clips to hold the caliper in place. New bolts should already have thread locker on them. Torque each bolt to 45 ft. lbs. Be sure the clips are installed in the correct direction. NOTE 9/17/2021: Using thread locker on the caliper clip bolts is critical. Without it, the bolts are known to back out causing the caliper to dislodge from the bracket resulting in loss of brakes and damage to the wheel. A DRV recall specified the use of red thread locker instead of blue. The issue there is that the bolts must be heated to over 500 degrees in order to remove them for future maintenance. Red is designed for parts that do not need to be removed normally for maintenance where blue is designed for removal and maintenance. Red would provide additional strength. Use blue at your own risk!
8. Reinstall the wheel and torque the lug nuts to 150 ft.-lbs. DO NOT LET THE WHEEL COME DOWN ON OR REST ON THE POLYCARBONATE DUST CAP AS IT IS FRAGILE.
9. Using a rubber mallet reinstall the hub cap. DO NOT HAMMER IN THE CENTER OF THE CAP, JUST THE OUTSIDE EDGE.

Repeat for the remaining hubs. When all done apply the brakes several times checking the brake fluid level. Add fluid as needed.

The following file is an exploded view of the parts that make up the RCMHS-13-10H-HD Kodiak hub. Again note that the exploded view shows the Inner bearing race (Cup) to be 28520 but it should be 28521 instead.

As full time RVers with relatives in Colorado our thoughts about never going to really cold places in the winter was maybe a bit short sighted. In our first winter we decided to go to Colorado for Christmas and as luck would have it, the warm weather the area was enjoying before Christmas was forecast to change. In fact, we decided to stay in Capulin, NM and there was already snow on the ground when we arrived about a week before Christmas. Low temperatures were already in the mid-teens and low 20’s and this provided a good opportunity for us to figure out how to survive cold weather in our RV. We had been in freezing temperatures at night before but daytime temperatures had been above freezing. Now we had several days of temperatures below freezing.

One of the first things we learned even before getting to Capulin was that wind in the winter can be quite strong, particularly in west Texas and New Mexico where there is little in the way to slow them. In Amarillo we had a 24 hour period with wind gusts over 50 MPH. We decided to close the slides as we had been told to do to protect them and our slide toppers. We spent all day closed up but it really wasn’t that bad. We just had a movie day sitting in bed. The only disadvantage was that we couldn’t get to the refrigerator for food without at least opening the slide a little. We did get three lessons from this experience. First, before you close the slides get some food and drinks to have available until you can open back up. Second, use a checklist to close up. We have a cabinet door for our tech cabinet (computer, internet, satellite TV, etc.) that we leave open so that things don’t overheat. If we leave the door open, the slide catches on it when you extend it and the cabinet door breaks in two. Luckily, it’s fairly easy to fix and you can’t even tell it was broken. Finally, we didn’t take our tire covers off before the wind hit during the night. We never saw them again as they could have blown miles away in the open fields surrounding the park.

Also, while in Amarillo, the park required us to disconnect our water hose at night and turn off their water spigot or risk having to pay for a repair if it froze up and broke. We saw full timers in the park who left theirs connected and realized we needed insulation and possibly a pipe heater to protect the water riser. Lesson learned, keep extra pipe heaters, insulation and tape handy to wrap exposed pipes. This not only protects from liability but also ensures you have a constant supply of water even if freezing temperatures exist for several days. Another lesson learned was that even though we have a heated water hose it doesn’t protect the water regulator. We have a nice regulator with a gauge to see the pressure going to the RV. I assumed the heated hose would keep the regulator warm enough to be ok. The regulator did not freeze but the gauge did. Fortunately, replacing the gauge with another one from Home Depot repaired it. After that we started using our simple regulator without a gauge while freezing temperatures are expected.

One night we suspect our heated hose froze up even though it was plugged in. After some thought I realized there was a problem with it’s design when used with our RV. On the outlet end of the hose there was a thermostat about 6″ from the end. Our bay where the hose connects is enclosed and it stays warmer than the outside air due to our furnaces being nearby. One night in the middle of the night I realized this was a problem – funny how things just come to you at the strangest times. The next day I cut the cord to the thermostat and extended it so that the thermostat is now outside where it can now sense the outside temperature rather than the temperature of the bay. This had the added benefit of making the hose easier to route within the bay.

Since we were going to be away for several days leaving our cat in the RV and also wanting to keep our pipes from freezing we spent some time before leaving trying to figure out how to optimize our propane use. In warm weather we go through a 40# bottle in about a month. In cold weather we can go through one bottle in about 7 days, maybe less. If we had added the arctic package with it’s larger heater we would have used up our propane even faster. We found that using our fireplace and a space heater in the bedroom we could actually keep the inside quite comfortable even in 10 degree weather. In fact, we could make it uncomfortably warm. The problem there is that we need to have the rear propane furnace come on to heat the basement thus keeping our tanks and pipes from freezing. The tanks have 12v electric heating pads on them which helps keep them from freezing but there still needs to be heat to protect the pipes. After some experimentation, we found that we could set the fireplace to 65° and the rear furnace to 62°. This allowed the propane heat to come on to keep the basement warm while using the fireplace to reduce propane consumption. For the bedroom, we would set the propane furnace to 64° and adjust the space heater to make it comfortable for us. The space heater could keep the small area as warm as we wanted without the propane heater running at all.

As Murphy would have it, we had issues with one of our space heaters and with the front furnace when we needed them most. The fan on the space heater quit working and I assumed we just needed a new one which we bought. I took apart the broken one and checked the internal connections but found nothing visibly wrong. When I put it back together it just worked and has worked ever since but I’m glad we have another as a backup. I’m sure we will see the problem again. The furnace was much the same. It would light and then shut off a few seconds later. The control board would retry 3 times and then lock out further tries. I checked the limit switch and the sail switch but both were good. At the same time I checked each of the wiring connections. After that it started working again. It’s not uncommon for corrosion and/or vibration to cause these kind of issues. It’s been working for several weeks since then but as with the space heater who knows when it might fail again. The next step would be to check the electrode and possible clean it with fine steel wool when it does fail. The lesson learned is that you should know how your equipment works and be ready to either hire someone or do some troubleshooting yourself. Given that we were in the middle of nowhere and it was close to Christmas it was great to have the knowledge to look into this myself. Gas appliances can be dangerous so make sure you know what you are doing before attempting to fix them. Never bypass any of the safety features of the appliance.

A lesson learned after having issues with critical appliances is to have options. We have tank heaters, good insulation, two propane furnaces, a fireplace and now 3 space heaters. We have both propane and electric heat sources. When something fails we have options to stay warm and safe.

Sewer connections was another area ripe for lessons. We had heard about poopsicles but being a bit hard headed we had to see for ourselves. We left our sewer hose connected and our gray valves open and had no issues – at first. When I would check there was a small amount of ice buildup but no real problems. Then we had a couple of days where it never got above freezing. When we got ready to move, the ice inside the hose was very thick. We connected the ends of the hose together and threw it in the back of the truck hoping it would thaw out on the way to our next site. It didn’t. I had to work the ice out of the hose to clear it. Not very pretty. If it’s going to be below zero for more than a night, you should close the valves. Some people even say you should disconnect and stow the sewer hose. Speaking of valves, we have a valve at the end of our sewer outlet on the RV. This valve froze open and so I just capped it and we went on. When I went to connect at the next place I forgot to close the valve and well we had some seepage from the main valves closing off the gray and black tanks. Again not a pretty sight when I opened the cap. Silly me, by the time I was doing this the valve was unfrozen and I could have closed it to prevent most of the mess. One final lesson learned was the sewer adapter connection to the park sewer pipe. We have a screw in adapter and I like to screw it in as far as I can to reduce the risk of it coming undone. When we went to remove it, it was frozen in place. We had to use a hairdryer to thaw it enough to remove it. Lesson learned, keep a hairdryer handy in cold weather!

One final problem we encountered, maybe more of an education than a problem was with our Lithium batteries. I installed them so I should have known this but I didn’t really think about it. What happened was that the front bay where our batteries are located dropped below 32°. When that happens, a solenoid cuts off the charger so that the batteries are not damaged by charging them. That’s a good thing, but the problem is that it also forces the 12v power for the coach to come exclusively from the batteries even when we are plugged in to shore power. If you were in an extended period below 32° that could be a real problem if the batteries became depleted as the lights and furnaces run from 12v power. Unfortunately there is not an obvious and easy solution to resolve this problem. It is simply a known limitation. I may look at it some more to see if I can find a way to solve this but in the meantime I added a 120v plug in the front bay so that we could add some heat there when needed. I also ordered a thermostat to control when the heater comes on so we don’t waste energy or overheat the bay. In the summer the thermostat also has a cooling output I can use to drive a fan to help lower the bay temperature. High temperatures can shorten the life of Lithium batteries.

Finally, when RVing in the winter you need to be flexible. Several times we had to modify our plans to travel during better weather or road conditions. This is not the time to just take off with all 16 tons of our home when waiting a day or going a day early would provide better conditions. Take recommended precautions when driving in cold weather including having food and water and blankets available. Don’t just assume you can get them from your RV because after an accident you may not be able to get to those things. Also keep in mind that your pipes can freeze while moving if temperatures are below freezing. Take necessary precautions to prevent that from happening.