First time camper purchase - Thoughts on Brinkley?

[soulezoo]

I need more information on this return valve setup

This was answered above and is correct. Ember is another manufacturer that incorporates this device.

 

[Hatbox]

Interesting. I have a weigh safe hitch, so I can see the load directly. On my I275, I struggle to get enough weight on the tongue. Empty, it was barely 700 lbs and with the rear kitchen (that adds weight to the rear as opposed to a living area arrangement) I find myself trying to put weight in the front. Usually, enough water in the fresh tank does the trick. Otherwise, without the weight distribution hitch, it likes to sway some. So when I load it thoughtfully, the tongue gets about 900-925 lbs. Just over the 10% minimum.

You are right, its ridiculous how light it is on the nose with nothing in the pass through. I place all of my tools, all of our supplies and whatever other things I can place into the pass through. Then all of our clothes, dry goods, and 6+ gallons of water end up in the bedroom. I actually ended up weighing everything we put into the trailer so I could get an understanding of the offset. Once you load the kitchen, you'd be surprised how much LESS tongue weight you have before you start loading in front of the trailer axles.

I run a 14k equalizer on the lowest settings, its mainly for sway control at this point.

 

[Hatbox]

Hatbox answered the question. He is correct. And the further from the tap the tankless heater is, the more water you have to move before you start to get the hot water. Just like at home. The difference being, you shut off the water and the heater goes off, you start the process over again. Now some units have incorporated a return valve that allows you to return water to the tank until the hot water starts. This is only on the showers however.

That sounds like a nice option, but if its returning it to the tank, that assumes you're not connected to city water then.

 

[soulezoo]

That sounds like a nice option, but if its returning it to the tank, that assumes you're not connected to city water then.

It's a manually controlled valve. So I'm gonna have to hope that the user is intelligent enough to understand when to use it and when not to.

 

[soulezoo]

You are right, its ridiculous how light it is on the nose with nothing in the pass through. I place all of my tools, all of our supplies and whatever other things I can place into the pass through. Then all of our clothes, dry goods, and 6+ gallons of water end up in the bedroom. I actually ended up weighing everything we put into the trailer so I could get an understanding of the offset. Once you load the kitchen, you'd be surprised how much LESS tongue weight you have before you start loading in front of the trailer axles.

I run a 14k equalizer on the lowest settings, its mainly for sway control at this point.

Indeed. I run my equalizer mainly for sway as well.
When I first picked up the trailer, I didn't have an equalizer hitch yet and when connected, it didn't squat the rear at all. That was a clue. When I hit about 60 mph, it started to sway a little. Another clue.
So I got the weigh safe, I load it maybe "medium" and seems to do fine from there. The weigh safe has an adjuster so you can see how much force your applying using the built in scale and it's very easy to adjust up and down as you see fit as the actual tongue weight varies. I set it and don't mess with it anymore. There's a weigh safe app to use that guides you on proper adjustment according to tongue weight, ball to front trailer axles distance, rear axle of tow vehicle to ball and to front axle of trailer and etc. No guessing!

 

[Blade420Play🔪🏆]

It's a manually controlled valve. So I'm gonna have to hope that the user is intelligent enough to understand when to use it and when not to.

I use both City water and the tank to take showers generally. Otherwise the damn tankless water heater won't even work. But I've heard that is not the best option so I would like to be able to just use the tank water and have a higher pressure pump.

 

[Phillbo]

I use both City water and the tank to take showers generally. Otherwise the damn tankless water heater won't even work. But I've heard that is not the best option so I would like to be able to just use the tank water and have a higher pressure pump.

Sounds like a city water pressure issue.... Do you use a regulator? I assume not since your pressure is already too low if the WH won't fire.

 

[Blade420Play🔪🏆]

Sounds like a city water pressure issue.... Do you use a regulator? I assume not since your pressure is already too low if the WH won't fire.

Yeah state parks they run like 35 40 and that's if you're lucky. I've gotten as high as 45 but as soon as anybody uses the water that drops down.
As it goes now I pull up Park fill my fresh tank before I hook up the city water then when it's time to take a shower I run the sink with just City water to get the hot water heater running then I flip the switch for the water pump and I still have to set the water heater to a temperature between 100 and 111 and run only hot water for the shower to have a hot shower.

PS yes I know it's just a water heater not a hot water heater but old habits die hard

 

[Dawg Water]

I"m sorry, but you're going to be no where near 850 tongue. Once you're loaded and weight balanced, don't be surprised to see 1300 on the tongue. I run 1200 or more on the tongue of our I275 depending on our trip length. More stuff packed, heavier it gets. Bringing the bikes? Need to offset 200lbs on the trailer hitch. 850 is a starting number.

Cool. So still have around 2k lbs to play with.

 

[soulezoo]

Yeah state parks they run like 35 40 and that's if you're lucky. I've gotten as high as 45 but as soon as anybody uses the water that drops down.
As it goes now I pull up Park fill my fresh tank before I hook up the city water then when it's time to take a shower I run the sink with just City water to get the hot water heater running then I flip the switch for the water pump and I still have to set the water heater to a temperature between 100 and 111 and run only hot water for the shower to have a hot shower.

PS yes I know it's just a water heater not a hot water heater but old habits die hard

You point out one of the "flaws", if you will, of tankless. One needs to set the water temp to their liking for showers let's say, then when you run a shower, you turn only the hot water on and run it straight. Mixing cold/hot like you would at home has mixed results and generally doesn't work well, if at all. But you run into the problem of you like a hot shower and the wife likes something less. So either you are resetting the temp or are trying to mix C/H... with the resulting issues. When mixing, you're splitting the pressure between two sources and sometimes you will drop below the threshold for the tankless to kick on.

 

[Phillbo]

GF likes it much hotter than I do... Just a couple taps of a button on the control panel before a shower takes care of it. Not a big deal.

 

[Blade420Play🔪🏆]

GF likes it much hotter than I do... Just a couple taps of a button on the control panel before a shower takes care of it. Not a big deal.

This. My wife is the 111° I can deal with 90° or less depending on the outside temps. Panel is on the way to the shower so it's not a big deal. Problem is, even running hot only, it still doesn't like low pressure/volume. Last place we stayed in Florida had high pressure and I didn't have the usual problems. It was a private park though.

Oh, and then I run it up to 122° for doing dishes.

 

[Phillbo]

Ive never had an issue with low pressure. Usually the opposite.

I do keep about 10 gal in the fresh tank. At night after all the showering and dishes are done I turn off city water and turn on the pump. If there is a leak anywhere in the plumbing system I'll hear the pump cycle while sleeping instead of realizing it once it is bad enough for city water to be flowing out the bottom of the trailer...