Cheap, on demand, water heater?

[Nimrod]

I will be camping out on my land this summer and want to have hot showers. I have been using the Shower in a Bag but this depends on a good sunny day. Does anyone have experience with the Triton Camp Chef water heater?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camp-Chef-...eater/10363535

It needs about 25 psi of water pressure on the supply side to turn on. I will have to supply this from a pump from my tote water tank. If I wanted to have gravity feed the tote would have to be (25 psi divided by .433 psi/foot = 58 feet) 58 feet higher than the water heater to produce 25 psi. I don't have that kind of elevation change where I want the shower.

Has anyone tried running this on well water? The water would be 50 degrees from the well. The specs say it can raise the temperature by 100 degrees if you restrict the flow to half a gallon per minute. Can you get a nice hot shower with enough flow?

http://www.campchef.com/triton-5l-po...er-heater.html

Any other ideas on how to accomplish hot showers in the boonies?

[craftychick]

We are looking at the models offered here:
http://www.hotcampshowers.com/catalog

At least in the beginning we will be using a 310gal water storage tank so we won't have pressure either. This place has some small pumps to solve that problem. I also like their propane powered tankless water heaters, most sound much sturdier than those offered at Walmart or the other big box stores.

It's going to be an adventure for sure, but I will figure out a way to have a nice hot shower daily! Good luck

[pengyou]

Most energy efficient shower heads in houses put out 3 gpm Half a gallon? Sounds more like a heavy duty squirt gun

[MichaelK!]

I bought this one from Sportsman's guide and have it mounted on the outside wall of my cabin.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/produ...ater?a=1588404
It "says" it can heat water 100F. What I've found it that it warms our well water to almost body temperature, when the temp setting is cranked all the way to maximum.

It warms the shower enough to take a "warm" shower, not a "hot" shower.

It's better than heating water in a pot on top of the woodstove, but not by much!

My advice is to buy whatever unit has the highest rated capacity, because the advertizers tend to be overly generous here. If it really puts out too much heat, you can always turn it down, but you can't turn it up past maximum!

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by pengyou

Most energy efficient shower heads in houses put out 3 gpm Half a gallon? Sounds more like a heavy duty squirt gun

The first thing I do if buying a new shower head is Take Out That restricter, may even drill the remaining hole bigger.. LOL

What I will NEVER understand is why are Sink faucets have such a small restricter. After all you fill the sink so full ALL the time. And why should it take so long to fill it up you are still using the SAME amount of water? Never made sense, never will.

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by MichaelK!

I bought this one from Sportsman's guide and have it mounted on the outside wall of my cabin.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/produ...ater?a=1588404
It "says" it can heat water 100F. What I've found it that it warms our well water to almost body temperature, when the temp setting is cranked all the way to maximum.

It warms the shower enough to take a "warm" shower, not a "hot" shower.

It's better than heating water in a pot on top of the wood stove, but not by much!

My advice is to buy whatever unit has the highest rated capacity, because the advertisers tend to be overly generous here. If it really puts out too much heat, you can always turn it down, but you can't turn it up past maximum!

I sure wouldn't spend that much just to heat water. I have an antique coal fired boiler that I could hook up to an elevated barrel of water and feed it a little wood. It was free 30 years ago.

Five years ago I bought another water heating stove. This one is called The Laundry Stove. That is what is cast right into the the top of the stove. It is a wood stove with a water jacket around the fire box. The top has two lids for cooking or feeding the fire if you don't want to open the door in the front of the fire box. The top was made to set a laundry boiler on it.
This one was $50 at a swap meet. This one also would be great to plumb up to an elevated steel drum.
There really is stuff like this out there.

[Rustaholic]

Or this is another option.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/c...#axzz3Pb9oi8jB

Yes I have everything I would need to make this also.
I knew they would have this article on their web site.
I have it in the original magazine too.

[AmericanStand]

Buy a old propane gas water heater heck even if you just find one that leaks a little it will work in a camp situation. Fill up turn on gas let it get hot turn off take shower.

Don't want to use propane ? Take the same heater strip the insulation off place in a barrel with the ends cut out. if it leaks put the leak end up use blocks or rocks to hold up tank and barrels high enough to build a stove under.
Pull out plug at top.
build fire let heat go up the middle and around the outside.

[TnAndy]

We set up a large stock pot ( about 6 gal ) on a propane turkey cooker. (you could set it on a wood fire, just harder to control....) Heat the water to about 105-108 (use a thermometer in the water), then a 12v Sureflo pressure pump hooked to a 12v battery.

For a camp shower stall, we put in some wood poles in the ground around a wood pallet, then wrapped the poles with black plastic for the stall walls. Small ditch leads the drain water off away from the stall. Set up a 1/2" copper pipe with a ball valve and shower head on it...hooked the other end of the pipe with flex plastic pipe to the pump, and you have a shower. 6 gallons is plenty of water if you wet, stop the flow, soap up, then rinse.

[Nevada]

Water saver shower heads usually require 1.5 GPM. If the water heater will be dedicated for the shower then 6 to 8 liters per minute will do the job.

If you don't have power available then you will want a non-modulating model. Those are the models that don't have a power cord and usually use two D cell batteries (flashlight batteries) for ignition.

The models you have the link to will do the job, but are horribly overpriced. You should be able to find one for under $100. Here's one for more like $70, delivered.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6L-Portable-...item5d4791c788

I just bought one (a larger model of course) for my home, so I've done some recent research on it.

[Nimrod]

Originally Posted by Nevada

Water saver shower heads usually require 1.5 GPM. If the water heater will be dedicated for the shower then 6 to 8 liters per minute will do the job.

If you don't have power available then you will want a non-modulating model. Those are the models that don't have a power cord and usually use two D cell batteries (flashlight batteries) for ignition.

The models you have the link to will do the job, but are horribly overpriced. You should be able to find one for under $100. Here's one for more like $70, delivered.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6L-Portable-...item5d4791c788

I just bought one (a larger model of course) for my home, so I've done some recent research on it.

Nevada, thanks for the input. I saw the one you referenced and ruled it out because it doesn't come with a regulator, the connections are not standard so you have to buy adapters, and I refuse to use Pay Pal because of their stance on guns. The one I listed can be purchased from my local Wally World.

Thanks to others who responded. You have some good ideas worth thinking about.

[Grits57]

A few years ago, after tornado's made a swath through our area, we were without power for 11 days. I came up with a novel idea for a hot shower. I heated water on the gas grill or gas turkey fryer and mixed with cool water in the pressure sprayer. Wet body with water, lather up what needs washed, and use pressure sprayer to rinse off. We just stood in the shower to do so. Worked fine!!
Since the, we use the same method while camping. Just rig up privacy curtains.

[manygoatsnmore]

Originally Posted by Grits57

A few years ago, after tornado's made a swath through our area, we were without power for 11 days. I came up with a novel idea for a hot shower. I heated water on the gas grill or gas turkey fryer and mixed with cool water in the pressure sprayer. Wet body with water, lather up what needs washed, and use pressure sprayer to rinse off. We just stood in the shower to do so. Worked fine!!
Since the, we use the same method while camping. Just rig up privacy curtains.

That's the method I used both for showers and rinsing dishes when I didn't have running water. It worked quite well.