Rednecktek
Expert Newbie
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!
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!