Kenny Phillips returns to tell us more about his first six months using his Truma AquaGo. You can read Part 1 here!
Different Modes & How We Use Them
For day-to-day use, I like setting our Truma AquaGo to eco mode. This is where the water heater only turns on when it senses an open hot water valve, like the faucet or shower, or if the core temperature of the AquaGo drops below 42 degrees. This helps us save propane as the system does not continually use fuel when not in use. I would consider this an on-demand function, and our AquaGo is in this setting 90% of the time. Plus, we are not wasting propane while waiting for a six- or ten-gallon tank to get to temperature. I feel there is little to no energy wasted in this setting.
My wife, Sabrina, will change the setting to comfort mode when she wants to wash her hair. In this mode, the AquaGo preheats the water in the heater to a standing 102 degrees and then increases to 120 degrees when it senses an open tap. I am never in this scenario, but it can take her over thirty minutes* to wash her hair, and she prefers the hotter temperature for these times. Because comfort mode runs hotter, we highly suggest putting the system back into eco mode when not in use to save propane.
I was reading some RV forums, and apparently, we are the odd ducks here. Most people leave their system off and switch it to comfort mode when they want hot water. I like leaving our system in eco mode because I feel like it makes things simple. When we want hot water, we just open a faucet, and in seconds, we have hot water at the tap. I also feel like this is a safe way to protect the system while camping in the winter, as it never lets the AquaGo get below 42 degrees.
In the six months we have owned our AquaGo, there has been no maintenance. In fact, some would say the AquaGo is maintenance-free because it has a self-clean mode. We only need to place six decalcification tablets into the AquaGo filter, turn the dial to clean, wait about four hours, and it’s all done. I haven’t needed to do this yet, as this is only a yearly process. However, I have watched videos on it, and it looks like it couldn’t be any simpler; there are no tools and no anode rod to change; there really is nothing to it.
*Individual hot water usage will vary.
Winter Use
We use our RV all year, and Truma even has us covered for winter use with their Electric Antifreeze kit. This kit is installed in place of the standard AquaGo filter and is wired directly into the water heater. If we are driving in below-freezing temperatures, we can set the system to Antifreeze mode, and it will keep our water heater above 42 degrees and prevent it from freezing. This is a feature that is really meant to be used only while in motion.
With the antifreeze kit, we don’t have to fully winterize between campsites. And if we want to pull over for lunch on our drive and need to use the hot water, we can. We just turn our propane back on, remove the yellow manifold plug from the outside panel of the AquaGo, and set the control back to eco mode. Once we finish our lunch, we can turn the control panel back to Antifreeze mode, turn the propane off, and place the wind cover back onto the AquaGo to get back on the road.
Winter Storage
We try to use our RV all year round, but there are times that it will sit in our backyard for a week or two in between trips. Even though we live in Arizona, it can get cold overnight. In these cases, I like to drain the AquaGo. This, again, is very simple to do as it only takes about a minute and requires no tools. Just open the service panel of the AquaGo and lower the yellow drain flap. The water will drain out on its own. Then, just remove the filter cartridge, close everything back up, and your AquaGo is winterized. It’s truly that simple!
Closing Thoughts
Sabrina and I are so glad we spoke with Truma at the Winnebago Rally. Replacing our old six-gallon water heater with the AquaGo has elevated the comfort level in our RV, and now we know why so many of our friends have been raving about it.
Take care all and safe travels!
You can follow Kenny and Sabrina’s adventures on Instagram and YouTube.
