Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've started to build my tongue box to house my diesel heater and power banks and realized I have more than enough room. In the 2nd photo you will see my galley kitchen area with a 10gal water tank under the counter. Off to the passenger side is a box I built to hold my on-demand hot water heater.

So now that I realize how much extra room I have in my tongue box, I'm considering moving the water heater to the front and plumbing from front to rear, rear to front, etc.

Is it a bad idea to consider plumbing from the heater in the front the rear? Is it even possible to make the ShurFlow pump work with that kind of distance? If this is bad idea just say so, otherwise what are the recommendations in doing so?

Probably depends where you camp and how accessible water is. We mostly camp in remote areas and in the desert, water is very important to us, where we don't want to waist any. If you can afford to loose water running it while you wait for hot water at the tap then go for it. I think you would be surprised how much water that would be. But if you are in a campground with water and a place to dump gray water it's probably not a problem.

My setup is similar to yours. Water heater is mounted on the side, 25 gallon water tank mounted under between the wheels. I put a solenoid valve that tees right at my hot water faucet. I push a button switch it opens the valve and starts the hot water flowing and returns the water back to the water tank. in about 10-15 seconds I open hot water side and after 4-6 ounces of water I have hot water.

I also look at that space in the tongue box to valuable, the heater fits nice on the side without taking really any usable space. We keep a lot of stuff in there that would be hard to put other places, 5 gallon potty bucket, chairs, potty tent, table, 2 batteries (will probably cut back to one), solar panel, will be adding a battery powered chain saw at some point. And that is probably the most easy place to secure on the trailer. We will sometimes put valuables in there and leave at camp if we feel that is better than in the Jeep. Really it just keeps the honest people honest. Other than the camera gear we don't take anything camping we don't mind loosing.

Todd

The big issue is what will the water do to the tongue weight? 8 lbs per gallon.

Of course if there is lots of counter balancing weight in the rear, not an issue.

I did not even consider the length it would take for hot water to flow back to the rear after heating it up.
I'm going to stick with my current setup and use the front for electrical and storage as you do.

Right now the units weight is pretty even. Once I fill the tank in the hatch, add my battery to the front, etc, I believe it will be ok.

Thanks for chiming in and convincing me otherwise.