Helton On-board Shower for the 100-Series (1 Viewer)

[Jordan345]

Kurt

I'll second the motion of full install pics if you have them. I have been searching through the forum to find out the types of water supplies folks are using; many just use jerry cans and some have water bladders (soft and hard) installed inside the cruiser. I'd be more interested in finding some kind of food grade tank that can be mounted up under the cruiser, but not in a way that impedes departure angles. the front runner design is way too big and looks like it hangs down below the bumper.. no good.

has anyone sourced food grade tanks that can be fit under the cruiser and tucked away? it doesn't have to be big, but hoping for 20-40 litres of water. enough to last for a few days camping which includes drinking water and shower water.

I don't like adding tanks inside the truck - it moves around, takes up space, raises centre of gravity and with teh amount of camping we do backcountry here, the truck works hard to get through the mud holes and rock crawling notorious in the Canadian Shield. besides, i don't like the look or inconvenience of farting around with tanks, connecting hoses just to pump into etc etc.. i want a nice clean hidden and functional look and feel.

 

[Jordan345]

and on second thought, i actually don't care if its food grade.. just anything to hold shower and cleaning water. we'll bring drinking water in the fridge.. so this should be easier now..and cheaper

 

[ENGINE er]

I will third the motion for instal pics and detailed instructions. Hopefully in them is why my water isnt hot.

 

[Mxndrnks]

Kurt

I'll second the motion of full install pics if you have them. I have been searching through the forum to find out the types of water supplies folks are using; many just use jerry cans and some have water bladders (soft and hard) installed inside the cruiser. I'd be more interested in finding some kind of food grade tank that can be mounted up under the cruiser, but not in a way that impedes departure angles. the front runner design is way too big and looks like it hangs down below the bumper.. no good.

has anyone sourced food grade tanks that can be fit under the cruiser and tucked away? it doesn't have to be big, but hoping for 20-40 litres of water. enough to last for a few days camping which includes drinking water and shower water.

I don't like adding tanks inside the truck - it moves around, takes up space, raises centre of gravity and with teh amount of camping we do backcountry here, the truck works hard to get through the mud holes and rock crawling notorious in the Canadian Shield. besides, i don't like the look or inconvenience of farting around with tanks, connecting hoses just to pump into etc etc.. i want a nice clean hidden and functional look and feel.

I hear you on current offerings. Here is a company I found a while back. Maybe this can help you on your design:

http://www.all-rite.com/custom-allrite-holding-tanks-p-103.html

Cheers!

 

[mpho]

One thing nice about using Jerry cans or something similar is that u can pour the water into a collapsible bucket and place the pickup value and shower head into the bucket and let it run through a few times...it just gets warmer...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

One thing nice about using Jerry cans or something similar is that u can pour the water into a collapsible bucket and place the pickup value and shower head into the bucket and let it run through a few times...it just gets warmer...

Or with a Scepter can you can put the pickup and the shower head into the same container and let it cycle

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Thanks for chiming in Kurt. That's a very clean installation of the heat exchanger. With your HE plumbed in series, does this setup produce hot water on the first pass at idle? Are you running the orange pump assembly that you sell in the kit or do you have a different setup with a Aquajet or equivalent pump?

Yes, single pass I'm getting shower temp water no problem. I am running the 12V pump we supply with our kit, its low volume - low pressure but that works ideal for my shower needs. We are working on kits with a higher output hard mounted Sureflow or Flowjet type pump for extended needs but for the simplistic shower needs, the supplied pump has worked great. We did have some quality issues with a previous pump manufacture we were using, but this current one has been much better (2-3 years with them now). We honored the warranty on any of the older ones that failed. They are a low duty type of pump and the #1 killer is storing them full of water as it corrodes the mechanical's of the pump, let them dry out when your done (or back home) and they have proven satisfactory. Lemme know if you have any additional questions. Thanks!

 

[Jordan345]

thanks.. that does help give me ideas - but looking at prices for a custome poly box, its fairly expensive i.e. 50 gallons (way too big, just an example) was a thousand bucks.. i'm sure they would do it cheaper for say a 5-10 gallon for 300.. still, its getting up there.

do you guys have photos of your scepter can setup?? if anyone has undertank or in cab water - how are you lines/pumps setup?

 

[Jordan345]

kurt,

is the shower spray pressure actually effective at keeping you warm while you shower in respect to water coverage and pressure? or will you freeze your back as you try to wash your front?? I'd like to build a bigger tank for taking showers that offer good coverage and good heat.. canadian mornings are cold, even in the summer. i think you'd have to cycle the water if you're using more pressure as well, it simply wouldn't heat enough first pass.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

kurt,

is the shower spray pressure actually effective at keeping you warm while you shower in respect to water coverage and pressure? or will you freeze your back as you try to wash your front?? I'd like to build a bigger tank for taking showers that offer good coverage and good heat.. canadian mornings are cold, even in the summer. i think you'd have to cycle the water if you're using more pressure as well, it simply wouldn't heat enough first pass.

Its adequately warm enough for me, its roughly 1 gallon per minute. I have customers running up to 2.5gpm with a single pass and getting shower temps but I don't know of any doing so on the 2UZ as of yet.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Awesome! BTW thanks for posting info on those heat exchangers. Have you purchased the heat exchanger from them? If so, which one did you go with?

I haven't purchased one yet because I'm having more pressing truck issues. But they seemed like the best price point.

I figure out that you could mount about a 4" diameter PVC pipe to the frame or slider attachment points on each side of the truck and have two 8 gallon tanks. It'd be a low cost, fairly protected, low center of gravity solution. Tap a breather line and an input on one end and an outlet line form the bottom of the other side.

Have a valve to choose which tank you're using.

 

[jonharis]

I haven't purchased one yet because I'm having more pressing truck issues.

I hear ya on that one sir.

 

[paulbgardner]

While its a great idea to have two tanks and valves and what not I think that at some point it gets too complex and your reliability factor and trail repair factor goes way down. The less parts the better, in my opinion, at least when it comes to building a robust system for expedition style travel

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

While its a great idea to have two tanks and valves and what not I think that at some point it gets too complex and your reliability factor and trail repair factor goes way down. The less parts the better, in my opinion, at least when it comes to building a robust system for expedition style travel

Two tanks is for reliability. If you puncture one tank you still have some water left. The only thing that would strand you with the shower is if the coolant leaks.

 

[Jordan345]

i really like your idea of two tanks - mounted low and out of some sort of pvc tubing. it is the most cost effective solution and mounts better than a tank in the spare tire location under the rear of the hundy where it has a risk of being impacted by ledges and rocks. i also don't like internally mounted tanks - i have enough stuff to worry about space wise and its another piece that could be thrown in the cab during an impact or rollover. besides, the center of gravity is reduced with something underneath and distributed. i haven't actually looked at the mounting of two pvc runners along the truck, but i will have a look.

if anyone has already done this with pictures, i'd like to see your mounting system and the actual containers/connections.

 

[paulbgardner]

It's a double edge sword. You have two tanks in case one punctures but also twice the plumbing, twice the fittings, four times as many potentials for leaks. Trouble shooting becomes harder, more places to have to check or problems. Not saying its a bad idea or can't work just pointing out that increased complexity comes with some risks.

 

[paulbgardner]

I would say that reliability and redundancy are two different things. You are being redundant by having two tanks, that doesn't make either one of the two tanks more reliable.

 

[cboyd]

Have one on my 99. Love it. Clean and real user friendly. Bought from kurt. I can take some pics if need be. Kurt did an awesome job on the install.

Mpho- if you could post pics of the install, that would be awesome. I'd like to see if its DIY enough to do it. Not really close enough to have Kurt do it!

 

[perrobravo]

Just installed a modified Helton Hot Water system following advice found here. A few changes are still in the plans, but the basic system is in and works well.

Couldn't figure out an easy way to mount the heat exchanger where Kurt did, so found another location on the driver's side. Allowed easy routing of the heater hoses as well as the hot and cold water lines, all tucked under, tied down, and routed out of the way of other stuff.

Decided to ditch the pump that came with the Helton kit (it worked fine, but I didn't like having to plug into a lighter socket) and instead put in a small RV-style pump. Mounted it ahead of the radiator, up and out of the way. Plenty of water pressure!

Hid a switch to start the pump just behind the license plate. The pump is automatic and will turn itself off during normal operation when you shut off the shower head, but it is nice to control the pump from up front.

Added some garden center quick releases to the included bracket to simplify attaching hoses.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Just installed a modified Helton Hot Water system following advice found here. A few changes are still in the plans, but the basic system is in and works well.

Couldn't figure out an easy way to mount the heat exchanger where Kurt did, so found another location on the driver's side. Allowed easy routing of the heater hoses as well as the hot and cold water lines, all tucked under, tied down, and routed out of the way of other stuff.

Decided to ditch the pump that came with the Helton kit (it worked fine, but I didn't like having to plug into a lighter socket) and instead put in a small RV-style pump. Mounted it ahead of the radiator, up and out of the way. Plenty of water pressure!

Hid a switch to start the pump just behind the license plate. The pump is automatic and will turn itself off during normal operation when you shut off the shower head, but it is nice to control the pump from up front.

Added some garden center quick releases to the included bracket to simplify attaching hoses.

Great install. What pump did you use?