Joolca, Camplux, Zodi or??? Thoughts on simplicity...

[dbhost]

Yes, I am playing with ideas here, nothing solid. One of the replies to my thread about the Camplux 5L got me thinking... those overlanding and adventuring without propane, these heaters are a non starter entirely.

So why am I pondering a propane shower / heater in the first place?

Honestly it IS nice to be able to set the temp, turn on the switch, and get water the temp you want. BUT...

#1. Depending on the input temp of the water, you will get a different output temp anyway. These work on the principle of set the flame level, I.E. heat gain. So if you are perfectly comfortably set so that 60 degree water becomes 100 degrees, and I know too big of a swing, but I will get to that, if you raise 10 degrees on input temp, in theory you go up 10 degrees in output temp and are uncomfortably warm / hot. Yes there is a limiter though...
#2. These seem to be limited to raising the temp by about 25 degrees. BUT, with further reading, that is 25 deg C, so if you are starting with 36 deg F to get that water showerable, you would need to do what I do with the Zodi and recirculate until temp is achieved. So you still need a bucket.
#3. There is a whole other fuel system required. Propane tank, hoses etc... Not exactly convenient. And sometimes, in the middle of Wood Chopperville Oregon or Cowboy Junction Texas, Yes I know made up stereotype names, live with it, you get the point I would hope. Podunk towns, you should be able to find gasoline, but propane fills or exchanges are undoubtedly going to be out of the question. And if you have half a brain, you have at least 5 gallons of extra fuel for the vehicle.
#4. Going with the on demand heaters seems at least to my mind, and I could be wrong, but it seems more of a thing I would want to do if I were setting up a dedicated camp trailer / van build / etc... Not for tenting, where I could build in the propane supply. I will be doing that down the road, but am nowhere near ready for that at this point, and have other places my money needs to go...

There was a point a couple of years ago I made a heat exchanger coil out of 3/8" copper tubing that I coiled up and basically stuffed in a Sams Club tomato can that was exensively ventilated on the top, and then attached via 3/8" tubing to a Zodi battery powered shower pump and then in turn to the Zodi shower nozzle. This worked well enough stove top, or off the camp fire, but really was less than ideal...

The next step was to eliminate the heat exchanger, and instead take my largest pot in my family cook set, which is 6qts, and my 12 cup percolator, and heat up water on the stove or camp fire. This is one of those cases where you need to lift the pot using a pot holder. The handle gets HOT.

Mix the heated water with cool in a 5 gallon bucket until you achieve your desired shower water temp. WIth the battery shower in the ensuite, move the bucket in, drop the pump into the bucket, get naked and shower away...

We did this during the February power outage with just barely above freezing water (36 degree), and were able to enjoy nice bone thawing, life giving hot showers. Yes I ran out of propane for my Zodi... No to very little setup hassle, and really no issues operationally other than we had to bring something like 2 gallons of water to a boil. Typically the 6qts would go to my wifes shower, the 12 cups to mine. My wife tended to stay in the shower longer and used up a full 5 gallons, I went shorter and used maybe 2.5 gallons... Trying to insure I had enough fuel in case the outage went longer...

Anyway, this method isn't as tidy or convenient, but it simplifies pack in / out, and with a little bit of effort, rewards us with a nice hot shower at the end of the day. Since I am packing items grouped together in square 5 gallon buckets, I can use one as a water source, which means the only additional pack in is the battery shower and spare batteries just in case. All in all, not a bad deal. Something to consider anyway...

 

[dbhost]

Honestly, I am trying to get simplicity of operation, But with the on demand propane heaters, that seems to come at the cost of simplicity of setup, and bulk.

I am going to test something here shortly and will likely determine my course of action from that. And that is...

Like I said I am trying to simplify, reduce setup / takedown hassles, and make things easier to use. This seems to be at cross purposes. The devices that seem to be plenty easy to use, also seem to be a hassle relatively speaking to setup and take down.

I think I am approaching my final setup, and while operation isn't totally automated, it is pretty easy... And that is...

#1. Replace the cheap plastic 6' hose on the Zodi battery shower with a 20' section of braided hi temp silicone 3/8 hose so no more hose getting stretchy and threatening to tear apart when in use.

#2. Route the hose for the battery shower into the Ensuite where the Joolca Ensuite Plumbing would be routed. Keep a droop of extra hose just before the ceiling carabiner, to allow the shower head to be moved about to wet and rinse everywhere like a hand held shower at home.

#3. The 5 gallon cat litter bucket I am using for shower water has already been painted black to take advantage of solar energy. I may have to do a second one so I can fill both buckets in the morning, and have very little water to heat up to make a HOT shower at night.

This method allows me to further minimize the fuel systems as at that point, everything would be able to run off of regular unleaded gasoline except for the Coelman heaters, which need white gas and get used very little.

Honestly, I think I might be wishing for a technology that just doesn't exist. Basically picture one of the L5 / 5L water heaters, but heated with unleaded gasoline instead of bulk tank propane.

Mind you, the cross purposes are uh, relational. You see it's my wife that wants the super easy to use aspect, I want the super easy to set up aspect. We both use it, but somehow she rarely helps with setup. That's been my thing for some reason... I think as long as I am the one heating the water, she'll have no issues with using the battery shower.

I think I would be far less twitchy about it if the On Demand hot showers would run off of 1lb canisters isntead of bulk tanks. As it is, I carry a 5 gallon gas can, a 1 gallon gas can (easier to fill appliances from) and 5 gallons of white gas during the winter. I can switch to propane, but that would mean a 20lb bottle, distribution post, a big bag of hoses, a spray bottle of soapy water, and 2 fewer lanterns and still need the 5 gallons of RUG for spare truck fuel...

 

[dbhost]

There is no reason they cant.
It only requires a ’Steak Saver’ adaptor or change the regulator and/or ’Acme Connector’ to disposable bottle connector.
Dunno know how many average showers one could get from a disposable...
But..
I think the 5 liter heaters outputs around 37k BTU/hr. (I assume full blast ?)
A pound of propane is 21.5k BTU. So, roughly continuious 1/2 hr..
maybe longer if flame is lower...

FWIW, "overthinking things" is how I make my living so I guess it is a job hazard.

The 2 big issues I have with going with a 5L heater are.

#1. Hauling space. Maybe a Steak Saver adapter as you call it, not sure what that means, but a l lb throwaway F to Acme M adapter ($10.00 on Amazon) would provide the connection to the fuel source I need in a smaller package. And at 5L / minute, unless I am pulling stream water, I will run out of onboard water MUCH fater than fuel I suspect...

#2. And more importantly, setup hassle. And remember I am tent based, with a messed up back and knee, maybe this will help drive understanding...

I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but one of the main attractions to me, aside from the instant start, was the fact that the Ensuite has the ability to use the Ensuite plumbing and just sort of leave it in place and pack it up. If I can do that with another, smaller, not dependent upon a bulk propane tank system, As I mentioned updating the hose for the battery shower and leave it in the Ensuite. Due to my back / knee issues, the less stooping the better...

For now, I am considering either doing the battery shower, stove heating method, or staying with the Zodi and 1lb bottles. As I end up finishing the rebuild of the truck, and building in the truck bed camper, then I should go with the On Demand heater.

Part of the appeal is the use of a separate pump for external water sources. I think I am going to go with the pump, power and plumbing first, and then add the heater later on. This would allow me to get part of the advantages of the other units, while not taking the disadvantages (For me) along for the cramped ride...

 

[dcg141]

Get a Zodi and ditch the battery and convert it to 12 volts. I think they even have a kit now to do that. The burner works good but the battery pack in not that great.

 

[dbhost]

Get a Zodi and ditch the battery and convert it to 12 volts. I think they even have a kit now to do that. The burner works good but the battery pack in not that great.

Zodi was offering a 12v pump, but they seem to be out of business...

FWIW, I've never had a problem with th D cell battery box...

 

[dcg141]

Zodi was offering a 12v pump, but they seem to be out of business...

FWIW, I've never had a problem with th D cell battery box...

Mine went south pretty quick. I fixed it a couple times but then I switched over to 12v. Made more sense anyway I have 12 v everywhere and I don't use d cells for anything else. Hardest part was finding an inline switch. I used the pump it came with wo any problems. I now have a 12 v marine bilge pump.

 

[dbhost]

Mine went south pretty quick. I fixed it a couple times but then I switched over to 12v. Made more sense anyway I have 12 v everywhere and I don't use d cells for anything else. Hardest part was finding an inline switch. I used the pump it came with wo any problems. I now have a 12 v marine bilge pump.

Did you convert the existing pump and just wire a plug and switch?

 

[dcg141]

Did you convert the existing pump and just wire a plug and switch?

Just plugged in a wire and switch. Not a big jump from 9 v to 12. It was most likely a 12 v to start with.

 

[dbhost]

Just plugged in a wire and switch. Not a big jump from 9 v to 12. It was most likely a 12 v to start with.

I could be wrong, but 4 D cell batteries in series makes 6v not 9... But if it works, okay...

FWIW, I grabbed an Ivation pump and shower head to replace the Zodi, mostly because the Zodi pump doesn't fit in the mouth of my AquaTainers.... I do want to extend the wiring for the control / battery pack though so I can get it out of harms way.

 

[svinyard]

I've got the Joolca for use in/out of our Scout Kenai camper and have gotten it dialed in a bit. There are a few things that have come to mind:

1- We wanted something that had a button to turn the water on and off as we showered without it killing the damn pilot light every time. Needed to be easy once setup. Water is the most precious thing and ULTRA easy to waste with these showers/pumps. However while most can be turned off, they also turn off the damn pilot and won't relight it due to the thing overheating water. I definitely didn't want a shower that I had to constantly ******** with while naked and wet (pardon the pun). The Joolca system can be turned on and off easily as much as you want via the main handle switch. No lighting, relighting etc etc. I didn't do this at first and went through twice the water as it just ran while I soaped up etc. on the lowest flow setting. Joolca worked really well for my young boys too.

2- The shower head needs to hang. I tried it without a hanging head somewhere...it sucked, was the opposite of easy, and again I ended up wasting a bunch of water because I could only rinse with one hand. Just added to many "clicks". Wife hated it and the kids were bad at it and the handle hose got laid down in the dirt etc. Thankfully the Joolca head is adjustable and we just used a carabiner to attach (or the stock mag clamp) to the ceiling of privacy thing/camperjack/ceiling. Instantly better, WAY better. The shower head is really really nice especially on the lowest flow option. It works and is really adjustable up and down but also twistable side to side (important for getting a perfect hang). Fwiw I definitely wouldn't want just a spray wand like a garden hose that required me to hold it and that I couldn't turn off/on while showering. I kind of tested that accidentally the first time around and it was a real PITA and wasteful on water.

3- I needed something to connect to my campers low-pressure propane line via quick connect. It did this right out of the box with my campers stock hose, Joolca gas quick-connect and works great on LP. No messing with yet another fuel container that I have to think about it if its full enough etc. Camper has two 10lb propane tanks in it stock, plumbed internally and externally with quick connects and everything is ultra efficient so those last forever running stove, Dickenson heater and Joolca. I've gone a month+ without refilling the propane, so non-issue there.

4- I needed it to run off my 12v camper setup. The Joolca pump does that with a pretty long stock cable that connects to the campers 12v aux port by the door. Easy peasy and GoalZero runs that just fine. The pump auto-shutoff when its pressurized (shower head switch is turned off) so its efficient too.

5- Needed a filter head that fit into jerry cans and worked in a stream at times. It does all that fine. Filter head is heavy enough to keep it at the bottom of jug too.

6- Needed to be efficient with water but have decent spray. I got a ridiculous luxury shower at a perfect temp with nice flow rate/spray that used only 3gals on the lowest flow setting. I could have used even less water with less soaking...but it was a big MTB day and I needed it. I've got long hair and shampoo + conditioner the works. I was happy with that. Going a bit more Navy style and the wife and I could get 2 showers out of a 5gal scepter can for sure.

7- Joolca support is REALLY responsive. They are doing a REALLY freaking good job at this, even in USA. Even at the shipping side of things.

8- It heats water really well, tho we haven't tried it in the winter. Note, if your water is already warm (hot jerry can in sun), then you'll just use it on the lowest flame setting. Tho even with that, I was able to run the shower on the lowest flow setting (lower the flow, the hotter the water can get) and it was still great for a summer shower that wasn't too hot at all. Cooler creek water had me turning up the heat by 10% but that was it. Not sure why we'd ever run it on a higher flow either, its pretty good on the low setting and efficient.

So...the pains of this.

1- Its not huge but not tiny. I had a Dakine Descent bag that stored everything I needed with some padding too. It fits fine in the side compartment of my camper. I always wish everything we go with was smaller, this included.
2- There's a bunch of hoses to attach. 1 for propane, 1 for exiting hot water to shower head, 1 from pump to heater, 1 from pump to Jerry can. Not sure if other systems are significantly better. Its a bunch of connections. Thankfully everything is a quick connect (propane included) so its fine and goes quick once you know the drill. About 10min setup. The hose lengths give you plenty of location flexibility for where you want to shower. But there is some annoying setup there, especially your first couple of times. Thankfully its stupid simple once it is setup, tho it was so simple that I was confused at first. It all just runs off the shower head switch and the pump shuts off automatically once pressurized. Read directions first or watch the video. I leave it setup (its off to the side with handle in the stock magnetic handle attached to camper jack) if staying in one spot for a few days.
3- I have it connected to my camper (it hangs outside) so its being used next to my camper or inside of it (mudroom/shower entryway)...but if I wanted to shower a long ways away, I'd need to use a different propane host (stock one) and somehow get the pump powered. Non-issue so far but everyone is different. Its great showering inside the camper. Joolca's pump is pretty powerful tho and they sell an extra long hose for pulling from a lake or creek far away. We just use a jerry can tho that we dunk and fill.
4- It looks like a small web of colored hoses when setup. My buddies with a giant Yakima shower tube on their trucks certainly have a WAY more simple setup but I don't want to have that extra weight up high and we cool weather camp enough that a cold shower won't cut it.

So after using it a few times and getting a pretty amazing, easy shower. I'd buy it again for sure. Its pretty damn close to a home shower with a 10min setup and runs really efficiently.

Fwiw if you want a dead simple solution and have 12v access. RinseKits are popular here in the PNW for surfers/kiters. You can get the heater option. So you get a water receptacle, heater, pump and shower wand all in a fairly small size. Just have to let it sit for a an hour or two and it'll get warm. Doesn't hold a ton of water tho but pretty simple if you just need a single shower. They aren't that much smaller than a packed Joolca but the key is that they "are the bucket too" so no need for a Jerry can.

 

[dcg141]

I could be wrong, but 4 D cell batteries in series makes 6v not 9... But if it works, okay...

FWIW, I grabbed an Ivation pump and shower head to replace the Zodi, mostly because the Zodi pump doesn't fit in the mouth of my AquaTainers.... I do want to extend the wiring for the control / battery pack though so I can get it out of harms way.

You are right..and it does.

 

[dbhost]

There is no reason they cant.
It only requires a ’Steak Saver’ adaptor or change the regulator and/or ’Acme Connector’ to disposable bottle connector.
Dunno know how many average showers one could get from a disposable...
But..
I think the 5 liter heaters outputs around 37k BTU/hr. (I assume full blast ?)
A pound of propane is 21.5k BTU. So, roughly continuious 1/2 hr..
maybe longer if flame is lower...

Just FWIW, I haven't seen the specs on the Joolca, but the Camplux 5L is rated at 28K BTUs.

So the deal here is this. As long as I am still tenting out of a mid size sedan, I am not going to be going with one of these. And I might just leave the Zodi at home as well...

The heater would be better suited, at least for me, to a permanent install / camper build.

So until then, black bucket solar, stovetop heating, and spraying with the Zodi pump. All fuels stay one, ethanol free unleaded, no added fuel tanks to juggle around... The steak saver might come in handy, but even at that, supporting the Joolca since it has its own stand is easy peasy, but the Camplux, needs to be hung...

 

[svinyard]

Did you check out the RinseKit with heater? Seems like it might be a solid fit. Works well for the Mini-van surf crowd that I know.

Just FWIW, I haven't seen the specs on the Joolca, but the Camplux 5L is rated at 28K BTUs.

So the deal here is this. As long as I am still tenting out of a mid size sedan, I am not going to be going with one of these. And I might just leave the Zodi at home as well...

The heater would be better suited, at least for me, to a permanent install / camper build.

So until then, black bucket solar, stovetop heating, and spraying with the Zodi pump. All fuels stay one, ethanol free unleaded, no added fuel tanks to juggle around... The steak saver might come in handy, but even at that, supporting the Joolca since it has its own stand is easy peasy, but the Camplux, needs to be hung...

 

[El Solis]

You can also check out Geyser Systems portable shower systems. Geysersystems.com I can get two good cleanings out of 3L of water. The water fills a scrubbing sponge so not a traditional shower but really nice way to clean up at the end of a solid day on trail. The heated option doesn’t take too long to get the water hot but boiling 1L and mixing it with 2L ambient temp water works well too. Small size, my whole system with wooden shower mat fits in a wolf pack.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dbhost]

Well, for the truck camper build as the F150 is in process of being rebuilt. Specifically the 5.4L 3v. I have a Camplux 5L out for delivery today. I am planning on a camper shell sleeper build. Specifically a hi top sleeper, with a platform bed as I am doing a bed for a couple, so a queen mattress, on a platform with 19" clearance under the platform supports. Given some measurements, I am thinking about a swing out mount for the Camplux, or simply a hanger from the roof rack / awning support.

Again, Jeep, or mid / small sedan camping, I could in theory use it, as long as I get a Steak Saver adapter to allow me to use a 1lb propane cylinder.

This is actually a great discussion. While I obviously won't be taking everyones advice here, I LOVE seeing how people come up with different solutions to a common problem.