a cheap electric hot water maker

[dennis in ny]

go to yard or estaes sales look for a 30 cup coffiee maker ,take nout the guts fill with water and you will have 30 cups of hot water to do dishes and so on

[bobhenry]

I think just about every Hoosier Tearjerker in our camping group has a "Red Neck" water heater.

Hot water at the ready minutes after you plug it in for cocoa, hot tea , of tea bag style coffee.

For K.P. cleanup nothing better than hot water for the dishes, pots, and pans.

Need to scrub up a bit ? Just blend with a little cool water and you can scrub up the stinky parts.

And as to throwing away the guts

Heck no you can even make 30 cups of coffee for the pitch in's

I can pick up 1 or 2 a month at GoodWill for around $5.00 - $8.00 even less if you can hit a discount day.











HEY SLOW: Just put that old fashion big old cowboy coffeepot on the fire if ya can't find a plug in !

[Laredo]

What's the wattage on these, usually?
I'm thinking maybe a generator on LPG would come in handy for you, slow.
Made a discovery on the eve of SNOPOCALYPSE LUBBOCK yesterday: an 800 watt heater will warm up a 12x6 camper pretty well, if you've got all but one of the doors closed.
Well, okay, not a camper. A shuttlecraft. So it's got six feet plus of head room too.
We weren't toasty, but after the heater got connected to the generator even our seniormost member attending stopped shivering.

[bobhenry]

1000 - 1200 watts for a 32 cupper !

[mikesova]

After reading this thread, I went out and bought one for 3 dollars at the first garage sale I stopped at.

[BookSaver]

I was at a meeting this weekend where someone was going to throw one of these big pots in the trash because she couldn't find the vertical post (stem?) for the basket. I offered to carry it out for her, and took it right to my car.

More often than not, we camp with family who need electricity, so DH and I pay for it whether we use it or not. It will be very convenient to have this much hot water without having to start a fire or use up gas in the stove.
I'm sure I'll find a use for the orphan basket somewhere.

I need to test the pot to make sure it will heat. If it doesn't, no big deal since the thing was free.

Thanks for the great idea, BobHenry and Dennis in NY. I had read this thread last year and finally got around to using the info.
Nice coincidence that MikeSova found a good deal on a Redneck Water Heater this weekend, too.

[mikesova]

I found another one recently, but much smaller and not a coffee maker. It probably heats ups 20 oz. of water, is aluminum, and takes the same type of plug as the old school coffee urns. This one I got for a buck! The nice thing is that it is 400W works with my 800w inverter, unlike the 500w coffee maker I bought.

I'll have to get a pic of it.

[Bill n Robi]

Has anyone looked into converting/adapting one to 12 volts? I was thinking of one of those car coffee heaters but doubt they put out enough. I saw a replacement heater element for an RV water heater, ran on 12 volts and was thinking it could be used in one.

Probably someone thought about it already....

[CynJ]

I would NEVER have thought of this -but it's just awesome. And I happen to have one in my "donate to Goodwill" pile that will be fished out in the morning and put in the camping tote

[GuitarPhotog]

Just remember that a 400W water heater will consume 40-50AH from your battery after inverter losses. That will cause a 100 AH battery to reach it's 50% point in less than an hour. It isn't very practical to run resistance heaters off battery power.

Save the electric water heater for those times when you have shore power.

<Chas>

[CynJ]

lol I would never use anything like a coffee pot without shore power. A few years ago at the Relay for Life the menfolk on our team connected a bunch of car batteries to an inverter hoping to have lights in our booth all night. Well one of the geniuses plugged in a Mr. Coffee and drained all those batteries before the first pot was done. We had a very dark booth that night lol.

[JaggedEdges]

I'm sure I'll find a use for the orphan basket somewhere.

Steam yer veggies over yer taters.... quite useful when you've only got 2 burners.

[Aguyfromohio]

Heating water takes a lot of energy, and batteries don't have much energy in them.
If you have shore power or a generator, no problem, use your electric boiler.

If you are off grid, these things are almost magical to boil a liter of water fast.
They will boil water faster than a home microwave; they use butane/propane camping fuel.
Backpackers consider them essential gear. My favorite brand is Jetboil.
Since they are backpacking gear, they are ultra light and highly compact.
All the parts stow inside the big cup, including the can of fuel.
Mine is the one shown and has a built in french press to make coffee.
They are not cheap, but good gear never is.
I use mine even when I have a stove set up. It's faster and easier than boiling a pan of water on the stove.

[ae6black]

I have been looking for one of these 30 cup units at good will and salvation army for years and never found one. I still use the small quart sized one I had when I was in college 40 years ago. Some day I will be in the right spot at the right time.

Art

[ae6black]

I have been looking for one of these 30 cup units at good will and salvation army for years and never found one. I still use the small quart sized one I had when I was in college 40 years ago. Some day I will be in the right spot at the right time.

Art