Hot Water?

[Johnnycat]

Hey Folks,

I got a question on hot water options. I have been looking over the Coleman Hot Water on Demand™ Portable Water Heater, which is a slick little unit, but I was also looking into the 3 or 6 gal. RV water heaters that use propane...I guess my question is has anyone used an RV water heater (like the Suburban Water Heaters) and if so how has it turned out?

Thanks

John

[len19070]

They work great. Though I've never seen them in a conventional Teardrop.

48Rob used one in his Cabin Car, which is a Large Teardrop.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v284/ ... 20project/?

I used one in my Shasta build which is a Travel trailer.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/len19070/al ... 2341588273

Space would be your big hold up.

Happy Trails

Len

[Johnnycat]

Hi Len,

Thanks for the reply. After taking a look at some of the pics, now I see how big the units are I think I might have to stick with the Coleman unit.

Thanks

John

[48Rob]

Hi John,

I have a 6 gallon propane in mine.

I love it, but as Len pointed out, I have a good bit more space than the average tear...in fact, though the Cabin car is "officially" a tear, it is right at the edge of being a TTT shaped like a tear...

Anyway, hot water was a requirement for me, as a cold shower doesn't cut it anymore.
In a standard tear, there isn't a lot of extra room for the unit, but if you can fit it in, it sure is nice!

Rob

[critter]

Hey Guys,
WE have the hot water on demand by coleman and used it on hunting trips this past season and it worked great.We finnaly hooked it up to a 20 lb tank and put the pick up in one of those 5ga water jugs.WE had 8 guys and some taking 2 showers a day during bow season.Worked great for us!

[Ira]

John, the thing about the Coleman unit is its size and configuration.

It's fairly big, and because of where the dials are located--and how that tap swivels--it's real hard to "build" it into your galley in a permanent kind of "mounting." Know what I mean?

My guess is most people use them on a separate table, or pull them out of a cabinet and place on the galley countertop when used. (Critter?)

I was DYING to buy this, but I couldn't figure out a permanent way to install it. I could have built the galley AROUND it, but I was too dumb to figure out exactly how. Also, in a 4 by 8 Cubby, it's tough.

So I bought an inexpensive Coleman shower (like 15 bucks) that runs on 2 C batteries, connected to a 5-gallon collapsible jug. It serves as my sink's water supply, and of course, also runs as a shower.

If I ever really need a hot shower, I'm just gonna try adding boiled water to that jug to warm it up.

But here in South Florida, 75% of the time, you need COLD showers.

Especially with MY wife.

[Johnnycat]

John, the thing about the Coleman unit is its size and configuration.

It's fairly big, and because of where the dials are located--and how that tap swivels--it's real hard to "build" it into your galley in a permanent kind of "mounting." Know what I mean?

I was thinking of having it on the RT sife of the galley so when you pull out the tap it would be over the sink.

[Ira]

The thing is John, when you look at the actual dimensions of the unit...when you hold it in your hands...it's BIG, and will take up a ton of space there.

Like, if you wanted to have your sink to the right side of your countertop, you would need a FOOT of counterspace to place it to the right of the sink, which means your sink would have to go left a full foot.

I'm guessing at a foot, but that's about right. And although I at one time had the exact dimensions/footprint for the unit, I don't now--but it was big.

Not to mention how you're going to plumb/feed water to it.

Don't get me wrong--the thing is fantastic. But I think only one guy here successfully "built" it into the galley, but I don't remember who.

Just something to keep in mind--because if you really, really, REALLY have to have it, maybe you can figure out a great way to do it. I couldn't, so for 15 bucks, I have water--but not hot.

[pgwilli]

I think Guy was going to try and incorporate one in the TearDrops4Vets prototype.
We carry ours inside the tear in a case. The wash station is one of the first things we set up when we get to a site.



I might mention that the unit gives off a lot of heat when its running. If you build it in, you'll have to figure out how to vent that.