Snoozy Owner Q.

[LifeandCamping]

Just got back from camping in Utah... really cold! Wife not happy. Ran the generator for the little portable heater which worked well. Two questions:
#1 Any suggestions for keeping the Snooze warm w/o running the generator? Especially at night. Better insulation ideas?
#2 How long, on average, does it take to get the water relatively warm? Turned the thermostat up to highest setting, ran the generator for over two hours and the water still wasn't getting very warm. Patience?

[thrifty bill]

Water should get hot a lot faster than that. Challenge with all electric rig your choices are limited. Most state and national parks have very restrictive generator rules.

Also if there are other campers near you, you may get generator HATE. It’s almost like politics. People are either OK with them or hate them.

[CarlD]

Many, including me, have outfitted theirs Snoozy's with propane. Stove, Propex heater and on demand hot water. Works great. I also added a layer of reflectix to the walls and cork on the floors.

[Bill in Pittsburgh]

Never had the issue you describe with the water heater but I have always used shore power for hot water.
I have covered all my walls and bed platform with reflectix. I have also made window covers out of reflectix and contact paper on one side of the reflectix that I attach with velcro.
I do have propane and when my hot water heater eventually fails I will replace it with an on demand water heater.

[David B.]

Running our Yamaha 2000i generator will get the water to fully hot in 20 minutes. You may have a defective heating element, or under powered generator.

[LifeandCamping]

Thanks for the great ideas on how to keep our Snoozy (or as one of our friends calls it, the "Little Cuddly"). I've already gotten the reflectix and will get use it on the windows. Pull out carpet will also be installed along with either gym matting, carpet or simple "puzzle" type exercise matting for under the bed. As for the water heater, I will play with the Honda generator that came with the Snooz this summer and see if it's the problem. If it is, that will be very discouraging. For those who warned me about being a bad camper when using the generator... I hear you loud and clear!

[C&G in FL]

RJ,
I do not know what brand Snoozy uses for a water heater, but a 6 gallon Suburban water heater electric element’s specification is 1,440 watts. Therefore, a Honda EU2000i or EU2200i puts out more than enough power to operate it. Determine who the manufacturer of the water heater is and go on line for its specs. If the wattage is around 1,440, I would replace the element to start. They are not that expensive. And do not try to run the A/C and water heater at the same time; the Honda does not have the necessary capacity.

[Air Doug]

Agreeing with what others said.

Propane furnace works great - ours is a Propex.

The Honda heats the water in a few minutes, like 15 minutes.

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

RJ- sorry to respond so late but have been offline over a month. Irespond always to the "how to stay warm" threads as follows:
1. Native Americans/First Nationers/Inuit/Aleut would grease up well all over their bodies first. Plus my relatives who were on swim teams, especially during 6 a.m. winter midwestern team practices- a thin layer of petroleum jelly works well.
2. There's a reason why our forbears wore nightcaps. We lose up to 30% of our body heat thru the head. Hence the cowboy saying "if your feet get cold put on a hat!"
3. Layering works but READ your Labels and remember - COTTON KILLS! Any sort of linen, silk, or wool, with layers of artificial fibers- rayon, nylon, acrylic, polyester, etc! 2 shirts and 2 pairs pants plus socks!
4. Layer your bedding. I had a Celiant mattress cover, a bottom sheet that was a polyester fleece sheet, a top sheet that was a polyester fleece sheet, a polyester sheet blanket over that.
5. I bought an ornamental type shower curtain to use to wall off the mattress alcove, but haven't been successful in figuring out how to rig it up yet.
6. I found a 60 watt electric heater on Amazon. I'm comfy with that, and rarely use the 1000/1500 watt heater that came with the Snoozy.
7. We have 3 cats that travel with us and help keep us warm at night. Remember 3 Dog Night is not just a rock group!

[charlsara]

Your water heater has quit. You can buy a Lil Buddy propane heater that uses the little portable bottles. It will be all the heat you need off grid. Crack a window to protect from carbon monoxide.

[Steve Outlaw]

Originally Posted by Mitzi Agnew-Giles

2. There's a reason why our forbears wore nightcaps. We lose up to 30% of our body heat thru the head. Hence the cowboy saying "if your feet get cold put on a hat!"

This is a long standing myth that most likely stems from a poor scientific study by the US army during the 1950s. The participants were dressed in arctic survival clothes and then exposed to freezing weather. The only part of their bodies left uncovered was their heads leading the researchers to erroneously believe that the head was the major source of the body's heat loss.

The head doesn’t lose more heat than any other parts of the body. The heat lost from any part of the body is actually directly proportional to the amount of skin area that is exposed to cold air. In other words, we don’t lose more heat from our heads. Studies show that having your head immersed in cold water only adds 10% to your overall heat loss in a cold pool. And given that the head accounts for 7% to 9% of the body’s surface area, that seems about right.

[chuckklr98]

Originally Posted by CPW

RJ,
I do not know what brand Snoozy uses for a water heater, but a 6 gallon Suburban water heater electric element’s specification is 1,440 watts. Therefore, a Honda EU2000i or EU2200i puts out more than enough power to operate it. Determine who the manufacturer of the water heater is and go on line for its specs. If the wattage is around 1,440, I would replace the element to start. They are not that expensive. And do not try to run the A/C and water heater at the same time; the Honda does not have the necessary capacity.

I'm guessing he ran the 1500 watt electric heater at the same time as the water heater. Little power was left over to run the water heat.

[Raspy]

The water heater should get hot in about 20 minutes or less, depending on the thermostat setting. If not, here are some possible reasons:

At some point it has overheated and tripped the manual reset safety hight limit. You may have to locate the button to reset that switch. Look at the manual for its location and method to reset.

The heating element is burned out. This happens if the water heater is turned on with little or no water in it, or can even happen when full of water, but the water is not under pressure, such as when the water pump switch is off and the faucet was turned on until no more water comes out. This leaves the water heater full, but not under pressure. That lets the water boil against the element, which means the element is surrounded by water vapor instead of liquid water, it overheats and burns out.

Or, the thermostat is turned too low and the heater is not even coming on.

It could even be that the generator has tripped its breaker, so plug something else into it to see if that thing works, or look for a reset and make sure it is on.

You can test for a a burned out element/tripped high limit, by doing an ohm test on the plug. Just unplug it and test across the two flat blades on the end of the cord that plug into the receptacle. If the reading is the same (open circuit) with the water heater both on or off, there is a problem with either the element or the high limit safety, or the thermostat. An electrical problem. If the high limit is reset and the thermostat is turned up, the likely problem is the heating element.

Don't waist your time, waiting for hours, running your generator and wondering. You should feel warmth in the water in about five minutes and reach 120 degrees in about 20 minutes max. Also, if two things are plugged in at once, the generator should trip its breaker, not just heat water slower. 120 volt electric water heaters, or other 15 amp rated appliances all run at about 1350-1440 watts max. Even running a 700 watt microwave at the same time as the water heater would be too much. The Honda 2000 can supply somewhere around 1600-1700 watts continuous, if I remember correctly. To much load will make it shut down the output.