New 12 volt 3 gallon hot water heater!!!

[adam88]

I wasn't sure where to post this. But I just wanted to let everyone know that Seaward (they make marine stuff) came out with a 12-volt water heater finally that runs entirely on electric.

It obviously has some downsides as you would expect. It only holds 3 gallons... and it takes about 80 minutes to get hot (140 F). But it runs on 12 volt. This is very useful for those who don't have or want inverters. I was waiting for something like this to come out!

Here is the article explaining it more in depth: http://www.boatingindustry.com/news/2014/09/02/whale-unveils-new-marine-water-heater/


[edited to remove cut and paste from another web site]

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Draws 30 amp or for 1 hour to heat water....needs a big 12volt system to run it. For some it will be a welcome product

http://www.whalepumps.com/marine/si...ibrary/datasheets/12VWaterHeaterDatasheet.pdf

 

[comptiger5000]

Let it heat up while driving to your campsite and keep it well insulated. If your usage isn't too high, the power to keep it hot should be manageable.

 

[Haf-E]

Let it heat up while driving to your campsite and keep it well insulated. If your usage isn't too high, the power to keep it hot should be manageable.

Yes - power it only while the engine is running - 30 amps is pretty easy for most alternators these days. I was surprised that the temperature dropped from 140F to 104F in 10 hours though... seems like it should stay hot longer than that. maybe it needs more insulation?

The heat up times on their spec sheet should also state what temperature the water is starting at - from the specs I would guess its from 20C (70F) but if you are starting with colder water then keep that in mind. I would also strongly recommend an automatic tempering / mixing valve be included with the install - I am surprised it doesn't already include one as 140F water would hurt bad if you were not careful when using it...

 

[mhiscox]

I have this type of heater in the XV-JP and would suggest it be given serious consideration. Mine is 10 liters, and had to come from Europe with substantial accompanying expense and delay, so the availability of a heater like this on our side of the pond is a good thing.

Funny thing is, that I got this heater shipped to me by mistake (you can read about the episode in this thread http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/51254, in post 630+ and 714) but I've come to like it. But as noted both in those posts and this one, its best used when on shorepower or when moving. Leave it on while you're boondocking, and it might use half your battery capacity just warming a tank of water.

With that caveat in mind, it's a really nice thing to have.

 

[pugslyyy]

I have this type of heater in the XV-JP and would suggest it be given serious consideration. Mine is 10 liters, and had to come from Europe with substantial accompanying expense and delay, so the availability of a heater like this on our side of the pond is a good thing.

Funny thing is, that I got this heater shipped to me by mistake (you can read about the episode in this thread http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/51254, in post 630+ and 714) but I've come to like it. But as noted both in those posts and this one, its best used when on shorepower or when moving. Leave it on while you're boondocking, and it might use half your battery capacity just warming a tank of water.

With that caveat in mind, it's a really nice thing to have.

I have a 120V rod in my propane heater, same idea - I can run it while going down the road or from shore power and save the propane. I just have to make sure I remember to turn off the inverter if I stop the truck otherwise my house bank goes down real fast!

 

[Haf-E]

There are some DC water heater elements that you can also wire up into a standard small water heater - I have one set up that way at my off-grid house - when the battery is full it diverts the solar power to the water heater.

Here is a link -

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/products/diversion-loads/water-load-15v-30a-or-60a-30v-30a

This one is actually two elements in one - so it can be wired for 30 amps @ 15VDC / 450W (one element) or 60 amps @ 15VDC / 900W (two elements in parallel) or 15 amps @ 15VDC / 225W (if the two elements are wired in series). You should wire it up through a thermostat control in order to prevent overheating the tank and a small expansion tank is also a good idea to allow the water to expand when being heated or you might get a leak in the Temperature/Pressure valve.

I've been meaning to do this in my sprinter van as well but life has gotten in the way to much.

 

[Haf-E]

Mike - how long does your tank of water stay hot?

 

[mhiscox]

Mike - how long does your tank of water stay hot?

Depends on the definition of hot. Fully up to temperature, it's hot enough to be mixed about 1:2 with cold to make normal temperature water. About 8 hours later, it's a good temperature to use straight. Twelve hours or so later, it's warm enough for washing up, but wouldn't cut grease.

Practically, if you drive during the day and have the heater on, you'll have lots of warm water through dinner to bedtime. In the morning, it's not warm, but it's not cold, either; reasonably pleasant for the morning scrub.

All this is dependent, of course, on the ambient temp and what you set the thermostat to. In the XV-JP, the source water and the heater are in the heated interior. And I have the thermostat set at the midpoint, which produces really hot water. Setting it higher would be more fiddly to use--it'd be scalding for sure--but would make the ten liters last longer.

 

[Vincenzo]

I don't know about the electriclally powered items they make, but I know whale makes some great hand pumps. My dad has one of the flipper galley pumps that he bought in London sometime in the 60-70's that is still rock solid. It's never been rebuilt or anything, and it works like the day it was new. Based off of that I bought one a little while back as well and I love the thing. I will definitely have to take a look into these heaters.

Whale Flipper Pump

 

[zelatore]

Whale is a solid company in the marine world. Their line of water heaters are sold in the US as Seaward and probably has the biggest single share of the market, mostly with their 6 gallon unit. Very popular in production boats from 30-50 feet. That said, they aren't the cadilac of water heaters, but I do run one on my own boat and have installed plenty of them over the years.

Mike - that looks a lot like a Quick water heater. Volvo Penta was selling them in the US under their QL line a few years ago but has since killed all their QL accessories.

I'm not a big fan of the QLs. I've had a few of them develop pin holes in the tanks. Most recently I replaced one with a slightly larger horizontal Torrid. Made in the USA and a very solid unit. They'll also custom build if you want.
http://www.marinewaterheaters.com/

 

[mhiscox]

I'm not a big fan of the QLs. I've had a few of them develop pin holes in the tanks. Most recently I replaced one with a slightly larger horizontal Torrid. Made in the USA and a very solid unit. They'll also custom build if you want.

I sure would have liked a bigger selection of heaters to choose from, but the space available behind the passenger's seat was so small that even the 10 liter Nautic Junior is space-challenged. On the next camper I build, it'd be nice to make the space for the water heater ahead of time, at which point the dimensions of the Whale/Seaward heater discussed here is really promising. I particularly like that the height is low enough to let it fit below seating areas.

 

[zelatore]

Are you guys running heat exchangers in these units? Most marine water heaters are both electric and heat exchanger, so any time you're running the engine you make hot water, saving on power. Since they are typically 110 or 220v, that means you don't have to run the gen. But it does make for a little more plumbing.

 

[mhiscox]

Are you guys running heat exchangers in these units? Most marine water heaters are both electric and heat exchanger, so any time you're running the engine you make hot water, saving on power. Since they are typically 110 or 220v, that means you don't have to run the gen. But it does make for a little more plumbing.

The original 4-gallon Isotemp I had from EarthRoamer was solely heater exchange, and the replacement unit I had wanted to get had a heat exchanger. Sadly, I wasn't willing to wait several months more to get the unit I'd wanted, though I still have my heat exchanger plumbing in place.

As I've thought about it, though, I've decided that the heat exchanger gives hot water when you're driving the truck, and the unit I have gives you hot water when you're driving the truck (through the alternator), so while the mechanism for heating the water is completely different, the practical result is the same . . . drive the truck and you'll have hot water. Then, if you consider you can have unlimited hot water from the electric heater if you have shorepower, I've actually decided my setup is actually a bit more useful than if I still ran just a heat exchanger.

Just my opinion, though.

 

[zelatore]

Agreed. I've never seen just a heat exchanger unit. Plenty of electric-only on bigger 220v units, but those boats pretty much never head out without the gen running anyway. In your case the only advantage of having a heat exchanger vs 12v would be if you also had other heavy DC loads, such as a large house battery bank that was depleted and needed lots of current to bulk charge. Or perhaps if your passengers in the living area of the camper were using heavy-draw items, though I can't think of much that would tax a good alternator.