Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I want to install an eccotemp L5 tankless water heater to the outside of my cargo trailer. The little tabs that are build into the water heater don't seem strong enough to hold it in place for long when in transport. Have any of you guys installed one and how did you do it to keep it secure? Thanks


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I am not planning on permanently mounting mine on the exterior. Just have brackets to throw it up at camp but keep it inside for transit.

Cheers

Viper_Twig wrote:I am not planning on permanently mounting mine on the exterior. Just have brackets to throw it up at camp but keep it inside for transit.

Cheers

I like the way that Retro-Kamper (Jerry) fabricated a temporary mount and connections for his portable tankless water heater so that it can be mounted at campsite and disconnected for travel:
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?p=1070157#p1070157.

We have been using a Triton 5l for a number of years. Actually this is our second one and love them. Our first one we permanently mounted on the back outside wall of our little truck camper. It did pretty well. It was thru-bolted, not screwed. It traveled over 11,000 miles in some pretty rough going and always worked. Instead of "D" cell batteries for ignition, we used some of those fake D cases and installed a 12v - 3.3v converter. Wired that into the camper electrical system and added an inside switch. Ran the piping to a single line, so with the switch we could either have full cold water (switch off) or controlled temp water (switch on). Only problems we ever ran into was when the wind was really strong and blowing against the unit, it could blow out the flame. Fixed that with some aluminum foil. If we had kept the camper, we would have encased the heater in some kind of aluminum container to displace the wind. Our present one we have it set to where it stores in a small compartment in the back, then attaches to the sink table. We can use either D cell or fake cell batteries. We also added in a switch to the unit itself, to do the same igniter on/off thing the truck camper one did, works fantastic.

dave

daveesl77, Howdy;

I tried using the words "fake D cell batteries and found ... not what I think you were referring to.
So, switched to "dummy" instead and found these.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-cell-C-cell-A ... 1895999090
Those what you were referring to ?

hank

hankaye wrote:daveesl77, Howdy;

I tried using the words "fake D cell batteries and found ... not what I think you were referring to.
So, switched to "dummy" instead and found these.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-cell-C-cell-A ... 1895999090
Those what you were referring to ?

hank

Those plus one of these and let the hacking begin.
https://www.amazon.com/SMAKN%C2%AE-Conv ... B00H2CKFXQ

Iconfabul8, Howdy;

Iconfabul8 wrote:

hankaye wrote:daveesl77, Howdy;

I tried using the words "fake D cell batteries and found ... not what I think you were referring to.
So, switched to "dummy" instead and found these.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-cell-C-cell-A ... 1895999090
Those what you were referring to ?

hank

Those plus one of these and let the hacking begin.
https://www.amazon.com/SMAKN%C2%AE-Conv ... B00H2CKFXQ

That's one of the things that make this such an outstanding forum ... teamwork!

hank

Hank those are the ones. I get mine from Banggood or Gearbest, but the same thing. In reality, I have multiples of them, so I can use AA batteries in anything that needs D cells. Anyway, banggood also sells the 12volt to 3.3volt converter board for like $4. It is real small and fits inside one of the cells. That allows you to bypass the need for D cell batteries and use your onboard system (but you can also use a D cell if wanted).

https://www.banggood.com/3Pcs-Mini-DC-DC-9V12V19V-To-3_3V-3A-Buck-Car-Charging-Step-Down-Power-Supply-Module-p-1123528.html?rmmds=search This isnt the exact one I have but it should work fine, if you want to go the converter route.

As I wrote, with our permanent mount one, we hard wired a switch next to the interior sink, which allowed us to turn the gas on or off (actually it disables the igniter circuit, which also shuts off the gas flow). With the one we use now, we mounted a switch to the front panel, between the heat and water control knobs. Doing this allows you to use a single supply line to a faucet and have a preset temperature. Switch off = cold water. Switch on = temperature controlled water.

With the normal hose length, it takes about 8-10 seconds from turning on the faucet to getting properly heated water. The heater works with city pressure, good pump pressure and even cheap $20 pump pressure.

dave