Heating water for shower?

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Desert Dino

Desert Dino

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Jul 5, 2017
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Location
Israel
I have 20 gallons of water tank were the spare tire was...

I need to fined a way to heat the water for shower, there is nothing better then warm shower after a day of over-landing





until Saturday i was using propane heater (the last 2 years) but on Saturday because of winds it burst in flames and it is not usable anymore

heater.webp


my jeep friends have a plug and play kit with plate heat exchanger like this

dudi.webp



Any ideas or experience?
 
I always figured if I did on board hot water, I would have a water tank in the rear. I would then use one of the DC water heaters that heats water instantly like a renai system.

Second option for me would be black 4 inch PVC filled with water on the roof. In your neck of the woods I would think that would heat pretty well.
 
musthave said:
I always figured if I did on board hot water, I would have a water tank in the rear. I would then use one of the DC water heaters that heats water instantly like a renai system.

Second option for me would be black 4 inch PVC filled with water on the roof. In your neck of the woods I would think that would heat pretty well.
Click to expand...


Electrical DC heater is no go wast of money

Sun Heated black 4 inch PVC tank no good for the winter and when it is working summer you donot need it

My SS316 tank get enough heat from the ground and tail pipe in the summer
 
Lots of ways to skin that cat.

You may find with the plate exchanger in the picture you don't get quite enough or a bit too much heat from it if you run your source water directly through it to your shower head. You could recirculate the water through it till the water in tank gets to ideal temp but that is more involved and you'd have to monitor or control a valve for temperature
 
I had a heat exchanger water heater on my 40. Worked great. I tapped it into the heater feed so I could control the temperature with the heater temp control / heater control valve. Small electric water pump to move the fresh water through the exchanger. Worked great.

My heat exchanger was tube-shaped, with a water jacket around copper pipes that the fresh water flowed through.
 
For those who don't have automatic transmissions, isn't there a built in heat exchanger in the radiator? Might be another perk to moving to a manual transmission.
 
Desert Dino said:
Electrical DC heater is no go wast of money
Click to expand...

How so?
DUOETTO MK2 12V WATER HEATER
No messing with coolant lines, easy install and you can heat water while driving - reducing load when camped. ​
 
Desert Dino said:
I have 20 gallons of water tank were the spare tire was...

I need to fined a way to heat the water for shower, there is nothing better then warm shower after a day of over-landing





until Saturday i was using propane heater (the last 2 years) but on Saturday because of winds it burst in flames and it is not usable anymore

View attachment 1855599

my jeep friends have a plug and play kit with plate heat exchanger like this

View attachment 1855600


Any ideas or experience?
Click to expand...

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...targid=kwd-30207223808&ref=pd_sl_3m9stohln9_b Ive seen this in action and as a plumber its a good set up technically and fairly cheap
 
SHREDwagon said:
How so?
DUOETTO MK2 12V WATER HEATER
No messing with coolant lines, easy install and you can heat water while driving - reducing load when camped. ​
Click to expand...
thats a pretty big unit no?
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
Have you used this water heater? Review
Click to expand...
No personal experience. When we were camper shopping, this was the unit AluInnovations was using in SA. I did like the simplicity and that it's dual voltage so that you can run it off shore power as well. Great in principle for a smaller vehicle. But the Webasto Dual Top Evo is king - for a diesel Camper. Again - no experience, but have been using other Webasto products for the last 8 years without issue.

RFB said:
thats a pretty big unit no?
Click to expand...

Compared to what? The 110V unit you linked would be great if it didn't require a generator.
 
Last edited:
LandCruiserPhil said:
Not really given your available options

I do wish it had an coolant heat exchange feature.

~16x11x11 16lbs
Click to expand...
thats not WAY bigger than others and you have used this yea? all good? my only worry would be it could freeze.
 
RFB said:
thats not WAY bigger than others and you have used this yea? all good? my only worry would be it could freeze.
Click to expand...

Zero experience with the DUOETTO.
My only experience is the heat exchanger style water heater that Maltec uses and it will not freeze.
 
How low tech do you want to go? You could wrap copper line around your exhaust but it would only work after the truck had been driven, you couldn't wake up to a warm shower. I have always kind of wanted to try it. Take a section of exhaust maybe 24-36" long and wrap 3/4" copper tubing around it, then cover it with some heat wrap. Circulate the water through it and back to the tank until you have your desired temp. Pretty hack but kind of fool proof too.
 
scottryana said:
How low tech do you want to go? You could wrap copper line around your exhaust but it would only work after the truck had been driven, you couldn't wake up to a warm shower. I have always kind of wanted to try it. Take a section of exhaust maybe 24-36" long and wrap 3/4" copper tubing around it, then cover it with some heat wrap. Circulate the water through it and back to the tank until you have your desired temp. Pretty hack but kind of fool proof too.
Click to expand...

One of the crazy nuts I worked with in my telecom days did exactly this in his old busted Mazda B2000. He did a lot of rock climbing and had this shower setup. Smart as hel dude but stuck to high hell WITH an onboard hot water source. We would complain about him all the time. Turns out he didn’t like waiting for the water to heat to rinse off and he was going to use cold water so he just came to work raw. Ugh
 
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