hot water heater

[CAPTAIN COORS]

Linda said, “no more trips without hot water for showers”. I need help finding an in-line, (between the tank and shower head) on demand water heater. We have ruled out portable or engine heating devices. This would be the last piece of creature comfort for our rig.

 

[stevenmd]

I think BrownChurch has one. Google them and search their website. Otherwise get in contact with CAMPA and see if they will sell their trailer hot water heater/shower separately or source it for you.

 

[Desertdude]

I have researched this one to death... hot water comes with many trade offs - including space, power to operate, ease of use, maintenance. I have a couple of different set ups.

The Zodi, the Helton heat exchanger, and a fancy Isotherm marine water heater.

The Helton works well, the 12v pump is a bit light but it does the job and you can use creek water if available.

The Isotherm along with a water tank and 12v Surflo pump is amazing, but you can be seduced into using too much water when showering. It takes a fairly large inverter to run, heat water while driving down the road ( yes something else to monitor) you also need clean water to operate, hard to use a bucket of creek water in this closed system. And this is a pricey set up for a shower.

The last DV trip we decided to go back to low tech and brought along the Zodi - basically a pump/tank that you heat up on a stove - this is so basic and solid that it is hard to want to keep the fancy isotherm, which takes up valuable space and weight.

While camping it does not take much too make you feel like a million dollars again - give me 1 gallon of warm/hot water without to much monitoring, set up or cost, and I am good to go!

 

[articulate]

Mmmm... the hot water thing is tough because, like WaterDude said, it comes with some trade offs. But the "happy wife" thing is a pretty good upside . . .
http://www.hotcampshowers.com/ does what you want, but uses your engine as the heat source. So it may be more involved than you want.

Glind out of Australia is virtually the same concept. Except they have a pretty girl in their advertisement.

 

[Desertdude]

from the Glind site

Sand Spear - Sand spear with jet tube is designed to extract fresh water out of sand.

very interesting...

 

[stevenmd]

Glind out of Australia is virtually the same concept. Except they have a pretty girl in their advertisement.

Well the hits on their site just went up...:victory:

 

[CAPTAIN COORS]

Thanks guys for input, just hoping something new had been developed that I missed, you know we don’t need hot water just warm water to take the chill off, you would think some smart guy would come up with a good idea

 

[articulate]

I remember seeing these shower heads for sale in Peru that heated (or warmed) the water as it shot out. The technology is out there. Perhaps not available in 12v DC?

Several months ago, I thought about using a drop-in or "submersible" 12 volt heater in the tank. This is pretty feasible, and inexpensive: http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/hotwater.html

Would have to drill a hole in the tank and insert a fitting to thread it into place - not a terrible amount of work. But you could wire it through a switch so it doesn't have to be on constantly. I think I may do this method.

 

[Pskhaat]

Very interesting. That 600 watt one at 12v would consume what 50 amps? 300 watt one is a little more interesting at 25 amps, but that's some serious current requirements for a rig.

 

[articulate]

Ummmm, you've got a point there. These are designed for stock tanks (with mucho agua). I wonder if there are smaller heaters like this available?

The search continues to go where no man has gone before.

 

[CAPTAIN COORS]

thanks mark for the link for the submersible" 12 volt heater, this maybe the only way to go

 

[bigreen505]

What are the downsides of the Zodi? It seems like an almost ideal option.

 

[pwc]

Ummmm, you've got a point there. These are designed for stock tanks (with mucho agua). I wonder if there are smaller heaters like this available?

The search continues to go where no man has gone before.

Those are just regular water heater elements though. you can buy those at any hardware store.

Might not be a bad idea though....small tank, switch up front and turn it on before you plan on stopping.

Actually, I'm thinking a flat plate heat exchanger plumbed into the heating path. Then circulate the the water back to a tank that's maybe 10 gallons. Put one of those heater coils in it too to help heat if you are showering in the morning.

Even at 25 amps, if you have something like a Hawker 1200 with 44amp hours, you could run that 25 amp unit for an hour solid and not hurt the battery. If you have backup, you have nothing to worry about. If the truck is running, you don't need to worry about it at all.

 

[elcoyote]

I agree that the ZODI is the simplest solution if we are talking about their Hotman Extreme unit which is basically a Hudson bug sprayer. I am not a fan of their shower head which takes 2 hands to operate. I have replaced mine with a common sink sprayer from the hardware store that has a push button that allows for one handed operation. What I like the most about the Zodi is that it is completly self contained and I am not tethered to propane cylinder or electrical source. Our average time to heat it up to 102 is about 7-10 mins on the camp stove. The added benefits are that it doesn't require any late night wrenching on the rig and for $119 you're good to go! Oh yeah, and the really good news is that my wife likes it too

If you want to get fancy with an on demand propane fired system, the most compact and efficient system I have seen on the market is the Omega.
http://www.omega2000group.com/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=69
It would still require some work to install i.e. tank, pump etc.

 

[rusty_tlc]

What are the downsides of the Zodi? It seems like an almost ideal option.

They need a continious flow of water or they melt down, according to a friend who ruined one.