Need a new water heater for shower in trailer, suggestions?

Tacoma747

Tacoma747

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem
The water heater in my trailer was never up to the task of being used for a shower, so I pulled it out. It was a 'Tiny Titan' heater, 2.5 gallon resevoir.

I would like something as small as possible, I guess an instant heater. I have a couple small 120v heaters that I have thought about running in series and just circulating the water in the tank to get it up to temperature that a 'instant' heater could be used effectively.

I also thought about putting a heat exhanger on my truck so that I could run water through it, but that seems like alot of trouble, but it would be a VERY good way of heating the water and not having to worry about any wiring.
 
There was a propane heater from a camper for sale on here a few weeks back...
 
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/product/suburban-water-heaters/1432

have this in our camper, works pretty well, heats up quickly, ours is electronic ignition, no pilot light.

I have more issue with water flow thru the camper than I do running out of hot water.

and it doesn't use all that much LP either. we only leave it on when we need hot water, but it doesn't cycle all that much when on.

Fits in the side of camper wall, under bench
 
^This.

I have the same thing. 6 gallons, propane. It'll heat the tank in about 15 minutes. Just need to account for some reheat time between showers. If you've got propane onboard, that's the only way to go.

Also wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in an ultra-efficient RV shower head. I'm going to look into replacing ours. Will help preserve what's in the fresh tank, if nothing else.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I'll look into it, but I'm not sure I have the available room in the trailer, as the area that the water heater was previously in is nowhere near that large.
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Ideally, you can find a spot under a cabinet that is against an outside wall. The WH installs from the outside, with the exhaust vent, pressure relief, and anode rod/drain on the outside of the trailer.

And.... after looking at the specs for the Suburban ones... I might have to measure mine and find out how big it actually is. I didn't know they had 4, 6, 10, 12, and 16 gallon models that all looked basically the same and fit in the same hole.
 
Yea that was the one thing I was worried about, my Gen is 5K or 7K, and I know thats not enough, but I figure people are always running more on a gen than it is rated at.

I may just take a heat exchanger I already have and plumb it onto my truck, then I'd have hot water anywhere I had my truck (in case I went tent camping somewhere). I just don't want to fool with LPG lines, exhaust port, etc.

If I do the heat exchanger route, all I would need to add is a garden hose style outlet to the water tank for the water pump to pull from.

I am really leaning towards the heat exchanger on the truck, mainly because it's very cheap, and so I will have hot water anywhere. All I would have to buy would be some fittings, garden hose, and a 12v water pump.

Convince me otherwise.
 
Assuming this truck is a diesel, how quickly does it reach operating temp without a load? I can drive 10 miles on a cold morning at part throttle before I get heat. It can run for a half hour at idle and never get warm.

No exhaust port on those heaters we mentioned above. You cut a ~16" square hole in the side of the trailer. Slide the heater through the hole, strap it down, plumb it, and you're done.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I just don't want to fool with LPG lines, exhaust port, etc.
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the Camper water heater is self contained as far as exhaust goes, aside for the unit itself, you'll need the outer door/cover which is already designed to be vented for exhaust.

YES, you will need to run an LP line and 12v power to it, will you not have LP or 12v power for other things as well ?

once there, it's dedicated, you have the water, gas and power run to it, one time, turn it on as needed and forget it.

you'll tire of hauling out hoses and the pump and connecting, the water drainage and mess when storing it all.

If you set up your trailer right, you can have a fresh water storage tank, AND a city water connection for those times when you're at a real campground with water and power. and the water heater can run off of both. ( one at a time )

I
 
Tacoma747 said:
You guys are just trying to make me spend $400, lol...
If I go with the LPG, would it be worth spending the extra $100 to get the 10gal over the 6gal?
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Depends... on how big my water heater is. If mine's a 6, I can burn through most of that if I'm not quick in the shower.

If mine's a 10, I'm burning through most of that when I'm not quick with the shower. :lol:

BTW... camper showers are awesome.... but boondocking... you're getting wet, shutting off the water, soaping up, rinsing off, etc. It's about two steps up from a pit bath. If you leave the water on the whole time, you'll burn through your fresh tank in short order. Unless you're Terry and have 150 gallons on board, I mean....
 
Tacoma747 said:
You guys are just trying to make me spend $400, lol...
If I go with the LPG, would it be worth spending the extra $100 to get the 10gal over the 6gal?
Click to expand...
Been camping for 16 years, the six gallon is sufficient if your shower is within 20ft. We've had several 6gal and can't run them cold. I would opt for the electric and gas version, these are very nice and saves a ton on propane. It was 19degrees last night and I flipped the electric on to the WH and let it heat. I don't ever winterize my camper. A few well placed light bulbs are all I do. These come in million dollar motor homes for a reason, they work very well.
 
Yea I'll definetly be taking an extra drum of water, I have a clean 35 gallon plastic drum that will be going in the trailer, heck, I have a 55 gallon one too, hopefully I won't need more than ~50-60 gallons for 2 people for a week.

I may do the 6 gallon, I still have to put some sort of a pump on the trailer to pump water from the drum into the resevoir, so I may still put a couple small electric heaters (that I already have) to 'preheat' the water in the resevoir (and use the pump to circulate), the generator will be running anyways, so it's not like it's a waste of power...
 
Terry, is the electric more for 'pre' heating, then it runs propane while you use it?

The heater would be within 3-4 feet of the shower, anywhere else would be a PITA to route the lines neatly.

And is the 'electric' side of it 120v or 220v? 120v would be nice to avoid having to do any re-wiring, the electrical side is not listed on camping world's site (and I am going to bed so I didn't search).
 
The electric side is 110, nothing in a camper is 220. The electric is all I run and need. You can't run it cold. Takes about a hour to fully heat on 110. Gas takes about 15 minutes according to outside temps and water temps. As far as a pump goes, get a on demand 12v pump. I have one on my Hot Dog cart that is cheap and works great. I suggest running a filter, I don't use my cart water for food or drinking so I used a fuel filter($3.00) just to keep the grit out of the pump on the suction side. It doesen't take much to ruin the pump. Another thing, I sanitize my fresh water holding tank and hot and cold lines EVERY year with bleach. We have a 10 gallon WH on the camper we have now and I don't understand why you can't use them in homes, half the price,1/4 the size and so much more efficient. I have a friend that cools his shop with a roof AC unit off of a camper.
 
That's a good deal. Make sure you consider the 110v switch when you install it. Install it away from sinks so not to be electrocuted! Ours is under the sink and we have to get down in the floor to flip it. I asked the factory why in the *^%#@ did they do this. Liability, was they're answer. We own a Fleetwood product and they are the biggest RV manufacturers so they must have a reason.
 
Awesome so I can have a hot shower now go Michael!LOL! I guess it sounds like desert showers for a week.....thought I was getting out of the military lol!
 
Camping world scared me, they sent an e-mail and said it was backordered, but after calling them it turns out it was only the access door that was backordered.

After looking at their website, I also noticed that the prices on all the heaters went up, ALOT. The LPG/Electric 6 gallon one I ordered went up OVER $200 since I ordered it, glad ya'll talked me into it when you did!!

And Ben, I have enough water rationed for you to use 1 gallon per day, that way I can have a 11 gallon shower, lol.
 
Good to hear ya saved some $$$!
 
Took 1 hour or less to heat up, and after I fixed a flood (compression fitting came loose), I ran it without the water heater on (still had hot water in it), ran for 2-3 minutes pumping out scalding hot water. I doubt I will even fool with hooking up the LPG lines. This trip going to KOH will probably be the most it will ever be used anyways.
 
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