Hot water heater - necessary or luxury?

[Boonie]

Before I rule out a hot water heater from my project build, I thought I would ask the FWC community for feedback. Do you have one? If not, do you wish you had one? If no, what do you do for hot water? Do you get by fine without one using available campground facilities or other onboard heat methods?

In my build weight is a constant consideration. Carrying around 85 pounds and 2 cuft. of anything must meet a real and constant need. Even when in my Class A motorhome with a 10 gal hot water heater, we shut it off and only turn it on when showering or are doing laundry. Residual heat usually keeps the water temp sufficient for face and hand washing. My wife uses the microwave to heat a cup of water or a washcloth.

In the project build, I am thinking a tea kettle on the stove will do me fine, but there are those days a hot shower feels so good. What are your thoughts and experiences? Thanks.

Boonie

 

[Boonie]

This Shelter at Home has halted everything. Used it in DVNP & Alabama Hills in February for the first time. It was great to take a shower. Though, my solar shower did not heat up sufficiently during the daytime with such cold nights, Alabama Hills was a pretty crisp shower. Yes, also a good outdoor loo #2 facility.

Yup, my experience with solar showers.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

In my opinion, water heaters are a waste of space. We have one in the camper, and one in the trailer. Both are kept in bypass. Hot water in the kettle is our preferred method.

 

[rando]

Certainly not necessary, but definitely convenient. I was on the fence about getting a water heater in our Fleet, but am glad we did. Besides the obvious hot water for washing and hot showers, there are a couple of other advantages:

First, an extra 6 gallons of built in pressurized water storage, and empty it is < 20lbs so not a huge weight penalty.

Second, thermal ballast for winter or shoulder system camping. This is a big one for us. The water heater is in the same cabinet as all the rest of the plumbing, if you heat it up in the evening, or before you leave the camper for the day it provides enough thermal ballast that you know your water system won't freeze. If it is going to be really cold, you can heat it up, dump it back into your water tank to make that warm, then leave it on. It uses much less power than the furnace to keep the water system warm.

 

[captainphx]

We have a hot water heater. And yes, we do take hot showers outside. To us it makes a big difference. We were just out for 9 days and we took one hot shower half way thru. Makes us feel human again. I wouldn't be without.

 

[craig333]

Its a luxury but who doesn't like luxuries? Depends on your platform also. For me the weight isn't a consideration. On a smaller truck it might be. Could I use that space for storing other stuff? Sure but if I had double the storage I'd carry twice as much stuff. On shorter trips I can get by without a shower but the longer I"m gone the more I want one. Also depends on my day trips. A casual hike in the Coast redwoods and I may not need a shower. A strenuous dusty hike and thats another thing. A wash rag or wipes help but they're no substitute for a real shower.

 

[pvstoy]

We use heated water on the stove for sponge baths but also use the water heater for showers when we need a shower. Seems that we only use it for outside showers. But Rando brings up a good point for keeping water system from freezing.

If I had a choice and it was not hard to do, I would like to try a on-demand water heater. The existing tank takes 20-25 minuted to heat up.

Or on of those combination heater / water heater that saves space.

Using the camper for front country camps for trail work I do like the shower as I get pretty dirty. A shower gets all the dirt and sweat off and makes for better sleeping.

 

[Wallowa]

Certainly not necessary, but definitely convenient. I was on the fence about getting a water heater in our Fleet, but am glad we did. Besides the obvious hot water for washing and hot showers, there are a couple of other advantages:

First, an extra 6 gallons of built in pressurized water storage, and empty it is < 20lbs so not a huge weight penalty.

Second, thermal ballast for winter or shoulder system camping. This is a big one for us. The water heater is in the same cabinet as all the rest of the plumbing, if you heat it up in the evening, or before you leave the camper for the day it provides enough thermal ballast that you know your water system won't freeze. If it is going to be really cold, you can heat it up, dump it back into your water tank to make that warm, then leave it on. It uses much less power than the furnace to keep the water system warm.



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Our experience also....gives 26 gallons water [can drain the 6, actually only about 5 as about a gallon remains in heater, gallons back into main tank when and if needed] and a valuable hedge on cold nights to keep plumbing inside cabinets from freezing...rarely used but appreciated when needed...yes, we have an outside shower but it also is seldom used.. '16 Hawk.

Phil

 

[Cayuse]

No hot water heater in the Grandby and pretty content. Like others I heat water on the stovetop for dishes. Showers are of the solar variety or baby wipes, occasionally I'll grab a state park CG where there are showers if I'm feeling really crusty.

 

[windy]

It really is a personal choice. Surfing the Pacific Northwest made it a “necessity” for me because there were plenty of days I don’t think I would have gone if I couldn’t fill my wetsuit before I went out and then again when I was done. FWIW the only reason I knew it would be a necessity for our build is that we were coming from a travel trailer that had one and and outside shower. The old sayings are very true: “If you never had it, you never know what your you missing and everything is great”, or after you get it “how did I ever live without it?”

Technically nothing is a necessity except food/water. Everything else could be considered a “luxury” but they sure make life A LOT easier and much more comfortable The level of luxury you choose for yourself is a very personal decision.

 

[Smokecreek1]

I was talked into getting mine when I bought my 05 Granby in 05 and boy am I glad! If I remember right, it was the first one with 20/6 gal's. tanks. Maybe I'm getting old and lazy but washing dishes in hot water and occasional splash baths make life easier-and I enjoy my weekly shave. No more wasting time heating pots of water up-is also great! It's location in relation to the propane tank makes starting it up that first day out a time problem some times and (and part of that routine/plan we all use to set up and break down camp) sometimes the pilot light blows out on windy nights. So just follow the upkeep instructions and cleaning and you should be okay. Yep-I'd do it again!

Smoke

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

When I was “younger” it was a luxury. Now that I’m “older” it’s a necessity.

 

[Boonie]

Vic posted this in another thread, but he brings up the consideration of type of camping:

When using hot water for showers are you camping at a place where you have the ability to refill water tanks or will be able to refill in the near future? Do you refrain from showers when boondocking?

JWL …..

8) Worst case, match battery draw to water draw. If we run out of water we have to drive to get more
9) Mountains/trees are worst for solar, as water is usually plentiful, sunshine isn't
10) Longest we've boondocked is 10 days in a row. More of that coming
11) We can get away with sponge baths. Typical water usage is a gallon each per day for water, washing, cooking, etc

 

[rando]

A quick shower only uses 1-2gal of water. We usually camp without a water tap, but can easily stay out 5-6 days with 1-2 showers in that time. I don't have a privacy tent, so showering in a campground would be challenging.

 

[moveinon]

It shouldn’t be a difficult choice. Just try it out at home when you have activity level similar to camping. Turn off your hot water heater in your home for a few days and see how much work and difference in convenience it is for you to do without easy hot water or to heat on your stove. You should then know pretty close to what it will be like to be without a hot water heater vs with one when camping. It is how I test out most camping stuff, on my deck, driveway or backyard first. Should give you a good feel for is it worth the money to you. Heater has been worth it for me, I use it a lot both for dishes and shower.

 

[jimjxsn]

I've had several camp trailers with hot water heaters but haven't had them in the last two truck campers. I never really liked having another built in mechanical component to break. Didn't like having to worry about it complicating the winterizing process and the knot in my stomach each spring wondering of it was going to come back to life

Currently, we use a Zodi that you heat up on a stove. We have a privacy tent which I stabilize with guy lines, either between two trees or between the jack brackets on the driver's side. We don't always carry the Zodi depending on the length of the trip and if there will be facilities available. In the mountains we fill the Zodi with stream water so don't need to carry extra. We can usually take two showers and do dishes with one filling.

I've started to check out the portable on demand units even though they seem to get mixed reviews. Many aren't super expensive and when they break you don't have a broken camper They do seem to have a more complicated hookup and you have to provide pressurized water to the input line.

 

[Boonie]

I quickly looked up the Zodi shower and discovered the Zodi Zip shower which connects to a 1lb propane green bottle. But, I have onboard propane, so I could use one of the Mr Buddy adapters and bingo hot water for hygiene, or dishes, or a once a week shower without carrying the extra 85 lbs of a permanent hot water heater nor loosing the 2 cuft, of space. All for $139. Thanks jimjxsn.

Boonie

 

[Wallowa]

It really is a personal choice. Surfing the Pacific Northwest made it a “necessity” for me because there were plenty of days I don’t think I would have gone if I couldn’t fill my wetsuit before I went out and then again when I was done. FWIW the only reason I knew it would be a necessity for our build is that we were coming from a travel trailer that had one and and outside shower. The old sayings are very true: “If you never had it, you never know what your you missing and everything is great”, or after you get it “how did I ever live without it?”

Technically nothing is a necessity except food/water. Everything else could be considered a “luxury” but they sure make life A LOT easier and much more comfortable The level of luxury you choose for yourself is a very personal decision.

Surfer putting hot water into wetsuit before going out...great!...I was a professional diver on northcoast of CA; went into campground shower and filled wetsuit with hot water or used a carboy with hot water to flood suit before entering 50 degree water for 6 hours..

Oh and like surfers, we divers also had our onboard wetsuit heaters...thanks to lots of coffee, cold and hyperbaric conditions the heater had an endless supply of hot water [actually you have a net loss of calories when you use that 'natural heater'; but damn does it feel good!].

Back to FWC...

I found a great 7 gallon drinking water grade plastic jug that we use for extended dry camping; with that we can get two weeks easily, with tight water economy even longer.

Lots of benefits for the FWC hot water heater as have been listed on this thread...plus it is built in and custom fit to the FWC model...and done right.

Phil

 

[windy]

Not to hijack the thread but that reminds me of a North Sea diver friend that was wearing a hot water suit and a jellyfish got sucked up in the intake and a lot of the tentacles made it into his suit. Never found out if he was pulling my leg or not but it made for a hilarious story!

 

[BlueSky]

Stearns 4 gl Solar shower bag for me. Simple, light, easy, inexpensive. I camp mostly in the SW states so sun is normally not a problem, but when it is cold and cloudy I fill the bag with hot water from the stove (have small funnel). I fill the bag before leaving on a trip so I have that 4 gal of water ready. I also have a Platypus gravity fed water filter so I can use lake or stream water too. An on-board water heater would be more convenient, but I am camping and not exactly in a big hurry. Keeping it simple.