Shower

[R_Lefebvre]

Well, I ran out and picked one up. Canadian Tire is clearing them out, I guess they didn't sell too well. $150CDN, not bad. This one comes with a 12V adaptor as well as 110V. Are you saying that it can't run when the adaptor is plugged in? I will probably end up gutting the thing and working it in as a permanently installed device in the trailer, or at least rigging it up so it's "behind the scenes".

 

[ThomD]

It works great. 5 gallons of water would last us quite awhile. We would conserve since I am on a well that can be hooked up to a generator but I ran the Generator very little, We would fill up a big wash pail everyday for water. Use that to fill the 5 gallon jug. then just rinse off, Lather up, and Rinse off again.

I guess the part I'm worried about is that it does not look like you control the water flow at the show head. You have to use the dial on the heater. I could just see, um, somebody enjoying the hot water and using a ton because it is slightly inconvenient to reach for the control dial on the heater.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Uh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. It only has one flow setting, but it is: Low. Ok for filling a sink, nobody is going to take a "long hot shower" with it.

 

[Stouttrout]

It is definately a camp shower. It puts out enough to rinse of good but does not just pour 5 gallons in a few minutes. I plan on hotwiring my into the trailer using an RC car type plug or Deans RC plug. I have not taken it apart but I am sure it can be done. I plan to have it charging while I driving and then just unplug it when I get there. The battery on it lasts for quite awhile.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I just want to avoid the hassle altogether. I'm surprised they didn't set it up to run right off the car battery. I was talking to an electrician, and an easy simple way to do it is to step down the voltage using a load resistor. It's stupid easy to set up, just need to get the resistance right.

A better way would be a DC-DC converter.

 

[alia176]

I have the same Coleman on demand unit but I don't usually shower from it directly. I find it easier to simply heat up 5 gallons of water by recirculating it and then simply using the on demand's pump for the shower head. This allows the most efficient use of propane IMHO. Additionally, you don't have to start/stop the burner which tend to waste a little bit of water for showering.

When I have the Kamparoo, the on board ShurFlo 2.8 gpm pump is used instead of the coleman pump to heat up the 13 gallon water using a bulk propane tank. In the "hot" temp selection of the dial, I'd estimate about 6-10 minutes to heat up the tank depending on how cold the night was. The garden hose adapter is used for this process (came with the Coleman unit). This has worked out well for us. This process doesn't use any on board battery since the Coleman pump isn't utilized.

The battery is long lasting and usually gets charged on the way to first night's camping spot via cig lighter.

Just some feedback.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, I tested the unit last night and I'm VERY impressed. There is no doubt that heating water this way is VASTLY more efficient than using the stove. On previous camping trips, I'd bet that more than half our propane consumption would have been just heating water for dishes.

I also tested the shower head, and you could actually get a pretty decent shower out of it. It's comparable to the shower in my in-laws huge park model trailer.

I was also trying to think of a way to hook up this unit to recirculate a small water tank, then use a "real" pump for hot, and one for cold. We'll see...