Hot water in a Chaser !!!!????

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
I have a 2012 Adventure Trailers Chaser that hasn't been used much in the two years we've been together. Last Friday I took 'er out and was amazed at how well that trailer follows my Jeep. That suspension is awesome.

So, I've decided that I need hot water and a sink in the Chaser. It has a 10 gallon propane tank and deep cycle battery...so the necessary infrastructure is in place.

My question is: how are peeps doing hot water in offroad trailers these days? Do I need to buy and install a 6-gallon water heater (like most small camp trailers), or do I need to try on-demand?

How would yall approach this problem?
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
I'm going to put an on demand into my kitchen slideout this summer, I've seen quite a few people fit em into a pelican case and mount em externally.. open it up, hookup hoses and go.. you can then setup a shower around it if you'd like that.

hot water is the last luxury my wife wants, washing dishes with cold water when its 40F outside is pretty miserable.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
Yup. Trying to take care of my expensive Japanese cast iron with cold water is way too much work. Need hot water (pretty much just for doing dishes).

A shower would be great too. Whatever I do will be permanently installed in the trailer (no Pelican-type stuff). I might be able to install an on-demand system in the battery box. Seems like there is enough room.

I don't have any experience with the newer 12 volt/propane on-demand water systems. Do they work?
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
Purchased this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CJPU6JI/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and couldn't be happier. Instant (2-3seconds) hot water and control over the flow and temp. Runs off propane and 2 D cell batteries.

Cool. That's the sort of thing I'm thinking of, but it would need to run on 12V, preferably without a DC/DC power supply.

Good point about temp control. The water heater in our Scamp trailer is either piss-warm or nuclear. Nothing in between. It should be noted that I'm willing to go the extra mile with wiring to avoid silly old-fashioned things like pilot lights.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
the pelican stuff is permanently fixed to trailer.. the case just protects it on trail.
preview_12.jpg
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
the pelican stuff is permanently fixed to trailer.. the case just protects it on trail.
preview_12.jpg

Ah. I like that. I thought you were talking about a portable type setup. It would be easy to get to as well.

Edit: Actually, the more I think about that the more I like it. My problem was getting the water spaced equally between the proposed sink location and the annex (so that I can shower in the annex).

Hmmmmmm.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
I'm going to need a water pump for pressure. Anyone know of a popular, dependable, and reasonably-priced model that will run on 12 V and has pressure-sensing?

My terminology might not be correct, but the onboard air in my Jeep only runs if I'm filling tires (with no air tank). So, I thought something similar with water might be useful. Or, do on-demand water heaters need a pump that has a specific GPM rating?
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
from what Ive read the on demand heaters seem to work great, I think the key though is sizing one appropriate for your pump, you can always decrease flow but cant increase it.. I'll be adding a pressure switched pump, surge tank thats sized to the heater that fits my little area.. I have no onboard water so it'll be pulling from jugs and draining into jugs..

here's the items i put in my cart like a year ago:

SHURFLO pump is what I have in my home RO system, its really good quality.. tho expensive, was gonna get one for the trailer too.
 

bshinn

Active member
the pelican stuff is permanently fixed to trailer.. the case just protects it on trail.
preview_12.jpg

That's how mine will be mounted eventually, need to find a 1600 Pelican case that's not apparently platinum plated. For now, I attached some 3" Harbor Freight magnets to the mounting points and it rides inside one of the doors on the Crux. I just pull it off and stick it to the side of the front box when needed. The exterior of the Crux is all doors, so I have yet to find a way to perminantly mount it.

There are scores of 12V pumps on amazon that will provide the 1.5gpm the heater can handle. I think finding one that will work with 12VDC even with a inverter will be a stretch. With the way you intend to use it, a 1lb Coleman or Bernzomatic cylinder would last at least 3-4 days. bite the bullet and give it a shot, i think you'll be happy.
 

bshinn

Active member
I'm going to need a water pump for pressure. Anyone know of a popular, dependable, and reasonably-priced model that will run on 12 V and has pressure-sensing?

My terminology might not be correct, but the onboard air in my Jeep only runs if I'm filling tires (with no air tank). So, I thought something similar with water might be useful. Or, do on-demand water heaters need a pump that has a specific GPM rating?

The pump in my Crux is pressure sensing, and would have to be cheap as hell. If it had a dataplate on it I would give you a brand and model but alas it doesn't. It should be pretty easy and cheap to source.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
That's how mine will be mounted eventually, need to find a 1600 Pelican case that's not apparently platinum plated. For now, I attached some 3" Harbor Freight magnets to the mounting points and it rides inside one of the doors on the Crux. I just pull it off and stick it to the side of the front box when needed. The exterior of the Crux is all doors, so I have yet to find a way to perminantly mount it.

There are scores of 12V pumps on amazon that will provide the 1.5gpm the heater can handle. I think finding one that will work with 12VDC even with a inverter will be a stretch. With the way you intend to use it, a 1lb Coleman or Bernzomatic cylinder would last at least 3-4 days. bite the bullet and give it a shot, i think you'll be happy.

Finding a water pump that works on 12VDC is hard? That might be a problem. I certainly don't want to monkey around with an inverter (or the energy waste involved with them).

I had assumed that due to the camper trailer industry, there would be a ton of 12 Volt on-demand systems available.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
from what Ive read the on demand heaters seem to work great, I think the key though is sizing one appropriate for your pump, you can always decrease flow but cant increase it.. I'll be adding a pressure switched pump, surge tank thats sized to the heater that fits my little area.. I have no onboard water so it'll be pulling from jugs and draining into jugs..

here's the items i put in my cart like a year ago:

SHURFLO pump is what I have in my home RO system, its really good quality.. tho expensive, was gonna get one for the trailer too.

Thanks for the links. I'll be checking them out.
 

bshinn

Active member
Finding a water pump that works on 12VDC is hard? That might be a problem. I certainly don't want to monkey around with an inverter (or the energy waste involved with them).

I had assumed that due to the camper trailer industry, there would be a ton of 12 Volt on-demand systems available.
Totally off base, thought you wanted to heater element to work off of 12V. The pump will be no issue.
 

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