↓ Episode 154 – The New Trend – On Demand RV Water Heaters and What You Should Know!

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;21;23

Eric Stark

The hot new trend is on demand for RV water heaters. That's what we'll be talking about today in Staying on the Road. But before we get into that, we're going to hit the enjoying the RV Live segment. Today, we're going to talk about Jase Medical Cases. A Jase Case is a must-have. And now we're going to go to the next stop and visit Biloxi, Mississippi.

00;00;21;23 - 00;00;46;13

Eric Stark

We were going to talk about the Lippert LatchXtend door lock. This is Eric Stark with the Smart RV podcast, delivering the Smarts. You need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. Let's talk everything. RV Today is episode 154, so let's dig right into this. Now, I'd welcome Alexis at this point, but she's not here today.

00;00;46;13 - 00;01;05;02

Eric Stark

She's taking a little holiday, but that's how it goes. So it's just me. So I get to cover all this. Hopefully, I can do the same justice. It's easier with two people, but we'll see how it goes. Now, for those of you who are watching some of this on YouTube, because the staying on the road section gets put out on YouTube, we're behind on that.

00;01;05;02 - 00;01;25;14

Eric Stark

We have so much else going on. But it does get out there. And if you see the video, my eyes aren't always looking at the camera because we have a unique set up here. We got smarter showing our cameras. We have more than one camera. We have screens with text on it, reminders, websites. So my eyes are sometimes all over the place because I'm looking at things.

00;01;25;14 - 00;01;43;25

Eric Stark

That's why I am always looking for a way out. Yeah, I go to a store, and I find the emergency exit right away. Oh, he's got to have an escape plan, right? Well, maybe not, but let's get into the show today. Let's talk everything. RV So we're going to start with enjoying the RV life as travelers. You know, we need to be prepared now.

00;01;43;25 - 00;02;07;12

Eric Stark

We can't be prepared for every single emergency that comes up. That's impossible. There are so many different things, but we can be prepared to the best of our ability. And sometimes, simple little things get overlooked. You know, Jase Jase Medical makes his probably called a Jase Case. And I don't know if we've talked about this in the past, and something's been on my radar for a while.

00;02;07;12 - 00;02;26;01

Eric Stark

So on our websites and smart our reader dot com, if you go there, there's a link to JaseMedical.Com, and I believe there's a discount code they're seeing save a couple of bucks when you buy one of their Jase Cases and it's an affiliate link so hey I might make a buck or two as well we appreciate you using the affiliate links off our Web site.

00;02;26;02 - 00;02;50;11

Eric Stark

You know, it helps pay for the show. It all adds up because the show does not make money. We are doing this solely because we like doing it now. So he wants to pay us to do the show. Certainly, we will take their money. And anyways, back to Jase Case. So a Jase Case, if you go check it out, comes with certain products in it, prescription-type products, medical products.

00;02;50;13 - 00;03;10;13

Eric Stark

So if you're out traveling, you have this case with you, and if something goes wrong, you have a certain thing that happens. The medication will probably be in the Jase Case to help you get through the situation. You know, like one of the things they have there is amoxicillin. Some of these words I can't even pronounce because they're medication.

00;03;10;13 - 00;03;34;11

Eric Stark

You know how that goes. But you know, there's amoxicillin, and it treats different things like pneumonia if you have a dental infection. Sinusitis sounds like something you made up on the Seinfeld show. Sinusitis. These things come up, and these things happen. You get pneumonia on the road. Maybe not, but a dental infection. Sure. Sinusitis, I guess, has new sinus problems.

00;03;34;13 - 00;04;03;00

Eric Stark

Yeah, there's these other medications. Like I said, most of my can't even pronounce anything a bother, but they treat different things. Tonight is if you get bit by an animal or insect, dental infection, strep throat, ear infection, or Lyme disease. Lyme disease can go bad pretty darn quickly if you do get it. Traveler's diarrhea. I guess that's different than regular diarrhea, middle ear infection, or exposure to anthrax.

00;04;03;07 - 00;04;25;14

Eric Stark

You know, that would be ugly. One of those would be exposed to anthrax Gerardi bacteria problems. So Jase Case is easier if you just go to their website and check it out. Now, I think the Jase Case is a little spendy, but I think it's a must-have product because you have these things on hand. You can share it with your spouse.

00;04;25;14 - 00;04;49;20

Eric Stark

One thing about prescription-type drugs is that they have expiration dates on them, but right on their website, they explain how expiration dates work. Most medical medicines that expire, they'll say within a year, actually have a shelf life of two or three years. And that's how governments get away with stockpiling some medicines. They keep it past that expiration date because they know it's still good.

00;04;49;23 - 00;05;14;

They don't tell us this kind of stuff, but this is what we learn when we listen to the Smart RV. Your podcast. So I recommend going to Jase Medical stop by TheSmartRVer.com. Click on the link there. If you decide to buy something, use our affiliate link. But it's a great product to have because you're traveling. You know, you don't know what's going to happen out on the road, what you might have, or what infection or problem you might have.

00;05;14;00 - 00;05;35;18

Eric Stark

Isn't it nice if you don't have to worry about going to the doctor or maybe there's not a doctor nearby or, you know, there's always circumstances where it's just easier sometimes. If you could pop some pills. Yeah. Sounds horrible, doesn't it? But, you know, just taking some meds and you cure the problem without having to go to a doctor traveling hundreds of miles, going to the doctor and yard is sometimes like, do I really need to go to a doctor?

00;05;35;20 - 00;05;55;23

Eric Stark

I really don't want to waste time or money, so Jase Medical can help with that. A Jase Case is a must-have for travelers. So now, let's get into Staying on The Road. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, I already said that. Go check out their website. Or actually stop by the spot every year. Dot com.

00;05;55;26 - 00;06;14;22

Eric Stark

Click the link to just Jase Medical and see what they have to offer. And they have some great stuff in there to check it out. All right. Now, let's get to Staying on the Road. See, when I do this show by myself, I lose track of where I'm at and everything else to add. Just kidding. I know what's going on all the time than the smart RV beer.

00;06;14;24 - 00;06;41;16

Eric Stark

So today the hot trend is on demand are tankless RV water heaters. You know we've been selling a lot of these lately. Everybody's asking about them, and they're not new, but they're catching on now. A lot of RVs are coming with them. They're becoming more popular, as talked about. A lot of people have been buying residential ones putting in their threes which I don't recommend that they're they don't work as well.

00;06;41;16 - 00;07;06;06

Eric Stark

They're going for cheap. They buy them in that ghetto of an online shopping center, where they get them dirt cheap, with no warranty, catch on fire, and burn down your RV. Hey, maybe that's what you want, though. Collect little insurance money. I'm not suggesting that; I'm just reporting on what could be happening. So stick to main brands, and these on-demand water heaters are truly a cool deal.

00;07;06;08 - 00;07;47;10

Eric Stark

Yeah. If you don't want to mess with the conventional water heater anymore, maybe it's not meeting your needs. If you want to upgrade, do something different. Well, the on-demand water heaters built for RVs are out there, and there are four brands we're going to talk about today: Fogatti. Fogatti Sounds like a car, right? Well, it's not a car. It's a tankless on-demand RV water heater. And when you talk about Suburban, which has been a staple in RV water heaters for decades, and then Gerard on demand, now Gerard had Gerard awning.

00;07;47;14 - 00;08;10;06

Eric Stark

Gerard was the cat who invented the and the awning, the manual awning. So Gerard's been around a long time now. Gerard has been bought by Lippert. Gerard is still a good product. We'll have to give it some time and see if Lippert decides to improve it. Yeah, It’s a big company. Sometimes they've got to make something better and, well, you know, they actually ruin it.

00;08;10;06 - 00;08;36;13

Eric Stark

It happens, so we'll see what happens there. But right now, Gerard's a good one. Furrion is another one, and interestingly enough, it is owned by Lippert, and Furrion still makes great products. You know I love their backup camera systems and rear observation systems; they're awesome. Furrion are my camera of choice, so very nice, good brand even though they're owned by Lippert, and Lippert does make good stuff.

00;08;36;13 - 00;08;54;21

Eric Stark

They sometimes do stupid things like everybody else. All these big companies know so much more than we'll ever know, even though we're RVers and they're not. Is it amazing how that works with on-demand water heaters? You just turn on your water heater, and that puppy kicks in and starts supplying your hot water instantly.

00;08;54;24 - 00;09;16;03

Eric Stark

And how does it do that? Well, they're propane-operated, so you'll have to have propane. You're going to have to have 12 volts, which most of you have that anyways because you already have a water heater, a modern water heater that has both those items right there. Now, these puppies use more propane, more better used to heat the water.

00;09;16;05 - 00;09;38;02

Eric Stark

And but as you know, they're still supposed to be more efficient because they're not heating water all the time. And each brand has their unique spin on these water heaters. Some of them are very similar. I mean, they're all very similar, but sometimes they have functionality that suburban, let's say, might not have where a Gerard would have it.

00;09;38;08 - 00;10;01;12

Eric Stark

Now, even though Gerard and Thierry on are both owned by Lippert, they're two distinctly different water heaters. Same with Suburban. They have two different lines. Those two on demand water heaters, they have the advantage and the T series and they're different ones, much better than the other. And fury on they have basically the same water heater just on their website.

00;10;01;12 - 00;10;20;14

Eric Stark

They have different configurations. When you buy these things on the manufacturer's website or online, they don't sell the doors and stuff separately. They just combine it all together and sell it as a package price where if you go to a store like or us, you have, let's say, an Atwood water heater in there. Now you want to replace it and go to one of these on demand.

00;10;20;16 - 00;10;38;11

Eric Stark

Well, we sell the water heater and then the door kit that fits the Atwood or Suburban in this Case, because you have an Atwood ID, you get the door kit for the Atwood online. They just kind of bundle it all together. It's the same thing, though. Whether you buy it in a store or online, you get the same thing.

00;10;38;13 - 00;10;58;13

Eric Stark

There's nothing special about the water heaters. In fact, shop local. Go to your local Irish store. Hopefully they have some on display where you can touch and fill them. We do. We've got them all out on spread out on a bench. You can see every model from all four of these brands that we carry. We carry the Fogarty, the Suburban, the Gerard and the FARYON.

00;10;58;15 - 00;11;21;02

Eric Stark

Okay, So we have them all. Now, it doesn't mean every store is going to and that's okay. They all kind of hook up very similarly. They work the same, you know, as far as installing is going to go pretty much the same no matter what. It's not a straightforward installation. The water lines off your suburban or Atwood water heater are not going to just screw right into the back of these water heaters.

00;11;21;04 - 00;11;48;07

Eric Stark

The fittings are off to one side or the other. So now, depending on your on your plumbing, how it was put in, you might be able to move the lines over, just move them over or you might have to add some extensions to them. Now, if you can find extensions that are flexible, that are half inch female pipe thread on one end and a half inch male pipe thread on the other, you're probably going to be able to just install it.

00;11;48;09 - 00;12;06;20

Eric Stark

No big deal. They have to be able to deal with hot water. So you got to keep that in mind. You don't want cold water ones. You want hot water extensions, or you can just get packets, that type of fittings from your local RV store and just build some extensions out. Or maybe you just want to cut out some of the plumbing and redo it, clean it up, make it better.

00;12;06;22 - 00;12;28;04

Eric Stark

Just depends on what you're doing, what water heater you have and what one you're upgrading to. So I kind of jumped ahead a little bit there rather than the specification of the water heaters. But that's all right. The installation is important now because of time constraints. We can't cover all of the functionality of the water heaters, all of them anyways.

00;12;28;04 - 00;12;54;17

Eric Stark

But I'm going to tell you this, Fogarty, Suburban, Gerard and Fiore on, they're all good water heaters. You can't go wrong with any one of them as far as quality goes. Now, one thing you do need to know is some of them are built for different temperatures, different climates, like if you're in the desert, your water is always going to come out of the ground hot.

00;12;54;18 - 00;13;31;27

Eric Stark

You know, if you're in Arizona, New Mexico, you know, the desert areas, southern California, the water is going to be warm, you know, generally above 70 degrees. Then let's say a forgot lower level one, lower line one, if you're always in an area like that, worked great. But now if you're in an area where you're water that comes out of the ground or maybe out of an A well and it's 30 degrees, you know, 40 degrees, you're probably going to want one of the better water heaters, like a suburban their advantage series or the Gerrard or Gerrard slash slipper one.

00;13;31;29 - 00;13;50;04

Eric Stark

They work with colder water they're going to heat quicker and heat more efficiently If you take that cold water, unless they run it through the the base model of Fogarty, you're just going to have warm water. You're not going to have hot water. It will be warm water. You could take a shower in it, but it's not going to be hot.

00;13;50;11 - 00;14;15;11

Eric Stark

So those are things to consider when you're buying one of these. And most people don't realize that because they just think it's one size fits all. It does it in fact, you know suburban their city series as well. I talked to Suburban. They said you really don't want to mess with these and not that they're poor quality. It's just that's what a lot of new RV's come with.

00;14;15;13 - 00;14;38;06

Eric Stark

And it's the lower level one. The Advantage series is much better than the T series. The T series is an on demand water heater, but in a lot of applications you might only get warm water and not hot water because it's not the same or not as strong. The B to use aren't the same is an advantage from Suburban.

00;14;38;08 - 00;14;56;15

Eric Stark

Now the Gerard water heater is kind of right up there with the suburban advantage. You're going to get a hot water, you know, Is that on demand? Hot water? You're going to have to mix it down to make it a little bit colder, just like the suburban advantage. So those two were great. The theory on is going to give you that warmer water.

00;14;56;17 - 00;15;17;25

Eric Stark

It's not going to be super hot depending on what the water temperature is going in. The BTUs are higher, though, but even forgot he forgot he's more of an entry level brand. I think it's a good brand, but they do have higher BTU ones. They don't get as high as suburban in Gerard, but they do have higher BTU.

00;15;17;27 - 00;15;44;00

Eric Stark

I think they go up to 50 or 55,000. Gerard and Suburban are 60,000 and possibly more. Like you said. There's a lot to all these and I don't want to click back and forth between all our websites while I'm talking to you guys and try to figure out figure it out. But for refresh my memory, although here I'm doing it now and the gallons per minute, they're all 2.2, 2.5 gallons, four gallons per minute, which is fine.

00;15;44;00 - 00;16;01;06

Eric Stark

That's going to do what you need to have done. You're going to have hot water. I mean, you know, plenty of it is not going to be a problem there. Now, one thing I have heard of and this has come in from the field is that sometimes the water will be really hot. Then you start running out of water heater and the pressure starts getting low.

00;16;01;08 - 00;16;21;07

Eric Stark

That can be due to the water pump. So you do have to have a good water pump in your RV. So depending on the age your water pump, you might want to just upgrade it. When you do the water heater, keep that pump you took out as a spare, possibly just in Case you know it works. Or if you have another project or hack, just throw it away.

00;16;21;07 - 00;16;46;26

Eric Stark

Whatever. Just making suggestions here. But these things are really nice. And now when you buy them for Gordie Gerard and Fiori on Come with a wall mounted thermostat controller where you can control everything and it has to be mounted near the water heater. You're probably not going to run this wires, try to hide wires and run it someplace farther away.

00;16;46;29 - 00;17;11;07

Eric Stark

But if you put it right in that area where the water heater is, makes for an easy installation, usually easy access and you got something to control it. Now, the suburban advantage is controller is sold separately, just like his doors are now all the water heaters. Like I said, on these manufacturers websites, they sell direct, you know, but they sell them in bundles.

00;17;11;09 - 00;17;30;28

Eric Stark

When you come to a store, they're probably just going to sell you the door separately, the water heater separately. Price wise, it all works out the same. You get the same components. But suburban their advantage series. Do you buy the door separately? There's a vent that goes on the door. You buy that separately depending on the thickness of the cr-v's wall yellow suburban one.

00;17;30;28 - 00;17;56;22

Eric Stark

It has a little more to it, and I kind of like it the best. That's where I would put the smart RV or seal of approval. The the clipper one is right behind it. Or Gerard Flash Lippert it's right there fury on and for God he I think are very similar in quality Like you said though, you know they come with the controllers other than a suburban suburban, you got to buy a couple extra parts, but not a big deal.

00;17;56;25 - 00;18;21;10

Eric Stark

And, you know, I mentioned these door kits. So if you have a ten gallon water heater in your RV right now and you're going to replace it, these on demand water heaters are the size of a six gallon. So they're approximately 15 by 15 where you're ten gallons probably going to be I think it's 18 by 18 is bigger.

00;18;21;12 - 00;18;43;26

Eric Stark

And that's where the door kids come into play because they have fillers or spacer panels in them that make it look like your factory installed water heater so you don't have to cut out the side of your RV. You don't have to find a way to fill it in, you know, reskin it or anything like that. These door kits solve that the esthetics problem.

00;18;43;28 - 00;18;59;15

Eric Stark

So if you have a ten gallon, you're going to get the water heater the size of a six, but they provide the door kit that makes it look like you still have a ten gallon water heater. And it's important, you know, that is you might be thinking, well, gosh, I don't want to do some major bodywork for this.

00;18;59;15 - 00;19;37;10

Eric Stark

Well, you don't have to. And if you have an Atwood water heater, which we all know, the Atwood water heaters that were, you know, basically 16 by 18, I think they're 12 by 18. I forget the size now. I got too many numbers in my head today, but it's the one that's rectangular. It's a six gallon that particular Atwood water heater which you know is Bob I dematic and then the Mattox are put their name on it to to confuse it even more but that particular water heater is obsolete and that's where the Atwood door kit comes in because it makes it look like you still have that rectangular shaped water heater because it comes

00;19;37;10 - 00;19;55;27

Eric Stark

with the new door and that kit fills in those panels, makes it work. I'm probably explaining this a little more than I need to, but it's important to understand that I don't want you to panic and think, Oh my word, what am I going to do to the side of my RV? These things are simple. They're very easy to install.

00;19;55;28 - 00;20;21;01

Eric Stark

They're not complex at all. You already got propane there. You got 12 volts there, I guess. Said with the plumbing, you have to move some things around. Getting back to the inside these the water heaters in general, what I recommend you do think about where you're going Arvin. What the water temp water temperatures are when you're there at the campground or wherever you camp, maybe you just fill up your tank and you're going off your, you know, your stored water.

00;20;21;01 - 00;20;46;10

Eric Stark

You're not, you know, someplace where you have hookups. Just consider all that. And by the water heater that's going to work for you. Now, I'm not saying you'd go out and buy the suburban one to cover all scenarios that might be overkill for what you do. Same with the Gerard one. It might be overkill. Yeah. The the Ste series from Suburban is kind of an entry level one, but hack, if it works for you, it works for you.

00;20;46;10 - 00;21;06;18

Eric Stark

Who cares? It's a nice little water heater staying with them for God ease. Their entire line is nice and they're a little bit cheaper than the other brands and we've been selling a lot of those. We've had no complaints that we've been selling all of these with no complaints. Everybody loves them and they're easy to install. And I know when when we sell something, you know, someone goes out the door with it.

00;21;06;18 - 00;21;27;21

Eric Stark

If they have problems installing it before they go anywhere else, they come back to us and it becomes our problem. And these things have not become a problem at all, which we like that when we sell something for someone to install and and they don't come back with a problem, we love it. That means that product's easy to install.

00;21;27;21 - 00;22;01;01

Eric Stark

They can figure it out. It's not complex. And all of these products, you can get the installation instructions off the manufacturer's website. You can see how to winterize them, which is important to know depending on where you live. Winterizing might be a big thing and some of these water heaters even have freeze protection. So if it's in the wintertime, you're living in your RV or you're out using your RV and it's in freezing conditions and it senses that it's going to freeze, it'll either turn off or drain the water out, which is very important.

00;22;01;01 - 00;22;22;22

Eric Stark

It protects itself, which that's good to know, because a lot of people I know here in Montana, a lot of people living in RVs, were year round because of housing. You know, the housing problems, too expensive or not enough housing. And they're living in RVs and they might have one of these water heaters in there. You know, they maybe came with it or they want to upgrade to it.

00;22;22;22 - 00;22;39;10

Eric Stark

Those are important things for them to know about. But if the winter doesn't matter, if you don't need to winterized that if you live in that climate or you do need winter eyes, you're not going to use it during the winter time. They all have instructions how to store them in the freezing cold conditions or in the mild conditions.

00;22;39;14 - 00;23;01;09

Eric Stark

Check it out. Go to the website, says Fogarty. Suburban Girard, which is Lippert and Fiore on, which is also Lippert. If you go to our website, you're going to see it all again. I brought this out in the last episode. If you have any questions or topics that you want me to talk about in the podcast or answer for, you could be both.

00;23;01;12 - 00;23;29;13

Eric Stark

Let me know. Go to the smart reader. AKAM You can call us, you can text us, you can email us every hour. You want to get a hold me and share it with me and we'll answer your question long before it ever gets on one of the episodes. So you're not sitting and waiting. So do that. We've gotten a few things in and they're getting compiled here, so we're hitting those in the next episodes as they come up, as we have time for them, because a lot of our episodes are already planned out weeks or months in advance.

00;23;29;16 - 00;23;57;10

Eric Stark

So now let's go to the next stop and talk about Biloxi, Mississippi. So we're going to go to the South. And a lot of people know about Biloxi because of military background, history, training, things like that. But it's also a great place. It's just filled with history. It's enriched with history. And for an RV here, these are great places to go because you can explore, you can learn, man, the coast there.

00;23;57;10 - 00;24;22;25

Eric Stark

There is the coastal beauty. There's a lot to see and do there besides the wonderful, pristine beaches, there's places to eat. You have the history, the things that took took place there in the past. I'm trying to find something here in my notes about, oh, one of the past presidents. Oh, yeah. Jefferson Davis, right here. So that's where he lived.

00;24;22;27 - 00;24;42;16

Eric Stark

His home is still there. You can explore it. You know, forget the politics. Just go check it out right. Politics are a big thing today. We know that. But this is nonpolitical. It's just going to look at historical figures home where he lived, how he grew up, you know, what life was like then. You can see it firsthand.

00;24;42;18 - 00;25;01;00

Eric Stark

And it's interesting stuff. It's old is historical, so it's worth checking out. And of course, there's nightlife there. There are things to do 24 hours a day, really, like so many of the places we recommend. Well, maybe not 24 hours a day, but you know what I mean. Biloxi's a great place for our readers. It's going to contain.

00;25;01;00 - 00;25;25;27

Eric Stark

It can cater to all types of personalities and things that you like to do. Different ages, different backgrounds. We know not every place is perfect for everybody, but we think Biloxi is a great place. It's going to cater to a large crowd. And for an RV or man, what a place to go. Anytime you can get in your RV and get out somewhere, isn't it great?

00;25;25;29 - 00;25;47;17

Eric Stark

You know, we hear a lot of complaints about RV as heck. I even complain about our TV's, but our rooms are absolutely awesome. They really, really have a place in our life. And if you like to travel and you like to explore, you asked me, There's so much to see here are RV's are the way to go. So that's my plug for Arby's.

00;25;47;17 - 00;26;09;16

Eric Stark

I do really like them. I know I'm in the industry and I'm not just saying that because if believe me, you guys heard the show. I talked about the bad side to the problems that manufacturers have and that just try to give you a sales pitch. Here is the reality of it. And to help making the RV lifestyle, we have a better we have the RV envy portion of the show, which is where we're at right now.

00;26;09;16 - 00;26;34;25

Eric Stark

It's there and talked about this entrance door handle called Latch Extend. It's made by Clipper components, the same guys that make the water heater for Gerard and Fury Island. It's kind of a unique candle. It's made the actually the lock is made by global and they make great entrance door locks for travel trailers. In fact, if you have an icy lock and the keys are all sticky and jammy, don't work very well.

00;26;34;25 - 00;27;00;10

Eric Stark

Get a glow while the keys go right. It works every time. Great little upgrade. But now the latch extender improves upon that. It's the same lock, but it has a 14 edge handle coming down the bottom of it. And we have a YouTube video out which I'll put a link to it on this episode so you can see that video seeing see the handle and is 14 inches long.

00;27;00;10 - 00;27;18;19

Eric Stark

So if you, you know, sometimes getting on the steps and grabbing that door, you're kind of close to the door, makes it awkward, especially if you're holding something. Well, now you can just kind of reach up and you don't have to reach as high. You can just reach at the lower portion of the door and pull on the handle and unlock the door and step in.

00;27;18;21 - 00;31;38;26

Eric Stark

It's great for kids carrying stuff. It's the safety features, really what it is.