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Hot water in the cold?

Rednecktek

Expert Newbie
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
7,430
Location
On a boat usually.
So I find myself heading back to camp in February where the highs are aaaaalllmmmoosstt up to freezing and down in the single digits F at night. I have learned over the years that my outdoor shower is great, but only for 3 seasons and winter isn't one of them.

Right now I've got a propane on demand, somewhere about 10k BTU mounted on the outside and it works great other than there is no way to insulate an on demand heater to prevent freezing overnight. Even if I were to build some sort of triple-thick-R900 box around it, it still needs to breathe to burn so gaping air holes.

I've tried leaving a trickle of water but that drains my slow-fill well overnight and about the time my pump is happy again it's dark out and everything inside has refrozen.

I've heard there is such a thing as an on-demand gas heater with electric freeze protection but my Google-Fu and Amazon-Hunt has failed me other than a few whole-home sized family of 12 units.

My other options seem to be either a used RV gas heater with a tank or an upright gas water heater and hope it doesn't freeze (that much thermal mass shouldn't, but I'll need a 1000lb tank to feed that 0.0006% efficiency burner). Sadly, even the little 12gal RV heaters are $600 and gas tank uprights are north of $1000 and start at 30 gallon.

Is there a special term for freeze protected on demand heaters that I'm looking for? Does anyone make a round upright gas water heater in the 10gal range for less than a kidney? What other options do I have for getting hot water outside?

Thanks y'all!
 
My off grid place has water 3 seasons and in the winter we use a zodi extreme unit for showers. Heated on a burner or woodstove. It actually works great. I think zodi is out of business but google it and you will see it’s basically a stainless steel yard sprayer with an on/off valve and shower head.
It’s simple and freeze proof. With navy showers we easily do 3 guys with the 3 gal tank and my wife and I easily even with her long hair. I go first and let her use the rest and there is always more than she needs.
 
My off grid place has water 3 seasons and in the winter we use a zodi extreme unit for showers. Heated on a burner or woodstove. It actually works great. I think zodi is out of business but google it and you will see it’s basically a stainless steel yard sprayer with an on/off valve and shower head.
It’s simple and freeze proof. With navy showers we easily do 3 guys with the 3 gal tank and my wife and I easily even with her long hair. I go first and let her use the rest and there is always more than she needs.
That's interesting, thanks!

 
I'm thinking I may have to bite the bullet and get a 12gal RV heater and build an insulated box for it. Sigh... hopefully I can findca used one locally for less than a kidney.
 
I'm thinking I may have to bite the bullet and get a 12gal RV heater and build an insulated box for it. Sigh... hopefully I can findca used one locally for less than a kidney.
Get a 30 gal home tank from Lowe’s or Home Depot I found one at Lowe’s on clearance for $300
 
So bonus question, my dad may have a line on a free 40gal natural gas water heater for me from a recent friend's remodel changing to an on-demand. I know you can't just plug propane into a natural gas burner because of energy density and orifice size, but if the manufacturer doesn't sell an adapter kit, how would I go about changing that over? Do I look for a specific (insert special term here) donglebobber orifice or do I need to find something with a specific diameter hole or what's the trick?

Someone on here must have done it before, right?
 

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