Hot Water

[Dale C]

I just became the proud owner of a 1976 13' Scamp. One of the things I was interested in doing is adding a hot water heater. After talking to the local RV place and discussing adding the Atwood that Scamp sells it became apparent to me that it may not be that easy and quite expensive. I ws just interested in having hot water available for doing dishes rather then heating up water in a kettle, I thought I would check here to see what others do and what my options might be. I'd be interested in ways to produce hot water in the trailer but have also heard of hot water heaters for camping, maybe by Coleman so I'd be interested in all options.

Thanks!
Dale

[ddayton]

A small microwave? (Good for many other uses also.)
Don

[artspe]

Dale,

The EggCamper (all electric) has a 1.9 gal. electric water heater and it works very well. Very simple installation , don't have to cut any ventilation holes. As long as you have 110V you have hot water. It would be MUCH easier and cheaper than a gas water heater installation.

Art

[Daniel V.]

Although we haven't had a chance to try ours yet, I recently got a stainless-steel hand-pump garden sprayer that I spray-painted with black BBQ paint and rigged with a kitchen sprayer. Can be used for showers, dishes, etc. To heat the water you can either leave it in the sun (hence the black paint), place it by the campfire or plunk it on the stove. No electricity needed. You'll also find quite a few posts about various heater solutions in the archive.

[Jeanne and Steve]

Congrats on your "new" Scamp, Dale!

Regarding hot water heaters... I remember reading about Con's instant hot water heater a while back. Here's the link to his post about it.

Jeanne

[Dale C]

Thanks for the idea's. I'm leaning toward the instant hot water heaters. At least when I have electricity I'd have easy access to hot water. It looks like they work real well.

[Donna D.]

Thanks for the idea's. I'm leaning toward the instant hot water heaters. At least when I have electricity I'd have easy access to hot water. It looks like they work real well.

I have one in my home and I love it. Just be very careful, they have a tendency to leak. I've gone through three Insta-Hotwater (brand) in the past 9 years. When they leak, you'll end up with a gallon of water inside the cabinet. Google for problems associated. The problem can be fix, by building a container that covers the bottom part and drains out.

I don't know how long they'll last in a trailer that's not constantly plugged in either. Remember, these trailers are like an earthquake happening constantly.

Wish Con would come back and give us an update.

[Con]

Hi Donna and all you egg owners.
Since we moved here 3 years ago we haven't been on one trip with the Boler. We lived in it with the cat and dog for several day before we took possession of the house.
I can't drag my wife away from the place <g>
The last time I used the hot water dispenser it was working fine and the times we used it we encountered no problems.
You do have to be cautious as you could get as scald from the hot water.

When we have been on the road for quite a few hours we have stopped in a rest area or service station parking lot (or Walmart) for lunch. Then it is easy to use the propane stove.
But when you are at a park with 100v plug-in the In sinker-rator is the way to go.

One note that could be important; if you have one and have your egg parked outside all winter you have to make sure you drain the holding tank.
I have not done that as ours is parked in the garage.
You can accomplish that by installing tee and a small drain valve in the supply line to the tank and/or a 3 way valve.
You then run a piece of Tygon plastic tubing some where to the out side.
If I was parking our trailer outside I would do that immediately.

There are a multitude of valves out there available but I would recommend a stainless steel ball valve over any of the plastic one. The plastic will eventually deteriorate.

Here is as example of some types.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#ball-valves/=101l54

[Raya]

I'll wholeheartedly endorse the garden sprayer/tea kettle method, after having used it for numerous years (full time) on a boat. Simple, effective, and portable - plus has other uses (spraying off muddy feet, pre-washing dishes, etc.)

I bought a dark green one to begin with, so have not painted it. On a boat, this lived strapped to the stern rail, so the water was often plenty hot; but if not, a dollop of hot from the kettle sorted it out.

You hand-pump the sprayer a few times to build up pressure, and then you get a great spray. In fact, the air pressure is really helpful in conserving fresh water because it kind of blows the soap off. You can get a really decent shower in very little water (if necessary).

The modifications I made were to take off the original hose and add a longer one, and to shorten the wand (others have replaced that with a kitchen sprayer or showerhead).

At the kitchen sink, I find the kettle to be completely sufficient. Heat up a little water and mix to suit. Virtually unbreakable and no added weight. The water stays hot enough for dishes for quite some time, so the timing is not critical.

A thermos filled with hot water in the morning can be nice for mid-day if you don't want to heat water up again. Or add rice and have hot cooked rice ready when you arrive.

Raya

PS: Congrats on the Scamp!

[peterh]

Thanks for the idea's. I'm leaning toward the instant hot water heaters. At least when I have electricity I'd have easy access to hot water. It looks like they work real well.

Our Scamp 5er came with a 6-gallon propane heater, but our Surfside project trailer is heater-less (no furnace, no water heater), so we are asking ourselves much the same question. The little hot-water dispenser idea has come up as an option, but there are things to consider.

First, the counter-top dispensers do not work like a regular water heater. Instead of having a line-in to the water supply and line-out to the faucet arrangement, the units I have seen have a water line that connects to a special faucet that feeds cold water into the tank, and that added cold water pushes the hot water out another connection back to the faucet spout. It's a neat and intelligent arrangement that prevents the house from flooding when the under-counter water tank springs a leak several years down the road (for which I am thankful as our 8-1/2 year old kitchen hot water dispenser tank sprang a leak last month), but this intelligent design feature means you can't connect the hot water dispenser tank to a regular, pressurized water system. You're stuck using the hot water dispenser tap or jury-rigging something that might look like a regular faucet set, but isn't.

The other thing to consider is that the hot water dispenser tanks I've seen do not have a drain plug, so you can't winterize the hot water heater or drain it for camping in freezing environments.

[james kent]

We do most of our cooking outdoors. As soon as the meal is ready a big pot or kettle goes onto the coleman stove and when supper is done, the water is hot for dishes and hands. Haven't found it a hardship in the 14 years we have had the trailer. Guess that comes from being a previous back packer. Maybe if we full timed then we would want a change.

[pjanits]

We use a 35 cup coffee maker which can be found in most yard sales. Always have hot water. It usually sits on a table outside the camper door.

[Dale C]

I'm thinking of going with this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/QUICK-HOT-SATIN-NICKEL...%3A1%7C294%3A50

[peterh]

I'm thinking of going with this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/QUICK-HOT-SATIN-NICKEL...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Most of the under-counter instant-hot water heaters I've looked at run in the 400-500 watt range. That one pulls 780 watts, which means it'll heat up pretty fast but pulls enough current to trip your trailer's circuit breaker or the circuit breaker on the campground post if it's busy heating when you run your microwave. So if you want both microwave and hot water you might want to limit your microwave size to 700-800 watts.

[Dale C]

Most of the under-counter instant-hot water heaters I've looked at run in the 400-500 watt range. That one pulls 780 watts, which means it'll heat up pretty fast but pulls enough current to trip your trailer's circuit breaker or the circuit breaker on the campground post if it's busy heating when you run your microwave. So if you want both microwave and hot water you might want to limit your microwave size to 700-800 watts.

Hadn't thought of that. I won't have a microwave anyway so hope I'll be ok. Thanks.

[kirsten88]

Ok, I'm totally confused. Aren't there water heaters that just use propane and no electricity? Is the electric for the pump?

New here. 81 Burro.

Kirsten

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by kirsten88

Aren't there water heaters that just use propane and no electricity? Is the electric for the pump?

A propane water heater with Direct Spark Ignition (DSI) needs a small amount of 12V DC power just to run the controls and make the spark that ignites the propane flame; the heat comes from burning propane. A heater with DSI doesn't have a pilot flame.

Propane heaters with pilots - such as the one in our 1979 Boler - don't need any electrical power at all to operate. I would still choose DSI over a pilot every time!

Most of the options discussed so far in this thread are not propane-fired at all - they are various styles of electric heaters than run on lots of 120V AC power.

[Donna D.]

Hi Kirsten, to FiberglassRV, we're glad you're here!

I have an all electric hotwater heater, but I'm not a boondocker... I'm always hooked up to a power bush.

You'll find there are lots of kind and helpful people here on the forums to give opinions and advice.

[kirsten88]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I would like to be able to stay off grid as much as possible. I have a giant propane tank and never seem to use much of it so propane makes sense. There are those propane outdoor on-demand shower things which sound ideal, but then the issue is getting water pressure right? I have just had a 12v water pump installed but it is seemingly very weak. Just enough to get a consistent dribble in the sink.

Any suggestions or solutions would be welcome. I'm liking the garden sprayer idea as a simple power-free solution but I don't want to put money into something that is just not quite right.

Glad to be here! You all have helped me a lot already!