Portable Water Heaters for Camping

Gooday, we use a stainless steel bucket over the camp fire, or if unable to have a fire, over the small gas stove, not very expensive works really well. I think from memory paid about $30 for the bucket some five years ago, still going strong.

Regards

Mike

We have the Coleman "on demand" hws - we use for outback trips with slide on - works off gas bottle or cannisters .... has its own battery - is good

Mike,
If you were happy with the simplicity of the solar bladder, then why not keep the non-solar solution cheap, simple, compact and light weight.

We just heat water in the billy (gas or camp fire), tip it into a bucket and add cold water to bring it to temperature and use one of those $25 submersible pump/shower products from any camping store. Outdoor Connection is a brand that springs to mind.

Cheers

I have owned most types of water heaters and IMO the best is the pump up ones.
The coleman duel fuel stove fits perfectly under it and with the inbuilt temperature gauge you can have a perfect shower. You can control the pressure by how may pumps.
Also perfect for washing up as you can use the pressure to rinse the dishes.

Honky

We have a coleman HWS, used it twice (over 6 years) found it 2 big and seemed to use more water. We now use the stainless bucket on the campfire, then drop in a 12v shower pump, works well. SWMBO is now trained to get wet, soap up then rince in around 6 lt of water (unles were near a larger supply)

Simple is sometimes the best

Hi Mike,
As others have said, a simple solution that makes use of gear that you are already carrying is usually best, and saves space and cost. Since you are using a camper trailer you must already have a gas bottle, most likely a gas stove and some means of heating water like a kettle. Using one of the cheap 12v showers works well and you can have a surprisingly good shower in just 2 or 3 litres of water, so you dont need to heat more than 1 or 2 litres and use cold water to adjust the temperature. Alternatively use a billy to heat water over a campfire.

We have always enjoyed camping for its simplicity, and also enjoy the challenge of thinking through how to do things without either spending a small fortune or using a heap of single-use stuff. A lot of the gear that we take on trips is able to be used for multiple purposes.

Cheers,

Val.

This is the one I have. $120 on ebay

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Companion-10L-Pressure-Shower-Camping-Hot-Water-10-Litre-/331245624292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item4d1fc71be4&_uhb=1

Honky

We have a $12, 5 litre garden sprayer from Bunnings. Attached the shower head from our rubbish 12v pump shower. Add a pan of hot water, pan of cold, pump it a few times and you have a great shower you can move anywhere. Goes into a shower tent easily, no buckets which can spill, don't have to have support to hold it up. Lightweight and (moderately) compact when empty. I really like being able to place the shower away from any watercourse without needing to plug in.

Cheers,

Mark

Many people have a GLIND or similar heat exchanger on their engine cooling system. The heat is free.

We use it a lot when car or camper trailer travelling.

I have the suction and shower head fitting on the bullbar, just place a bucket or 1--20 litre jerry there for the supply, and shower away.

There are a few options. Primus make a 12 volt shower head/pump. You can heat up your own water somehow and use this as a water delivery option. You'll need some form of battery to power it.

primus shower only click here

Primus also make a gas hot water shower. This incorporates the 12 volt pump/shower head with a gas cylinder and heat exchanger to heat the water all contained in one box. There are two styles. The old version, in a metal box about 20cm high, 20 cm deep and 40cm wide. The new version looks to be a plastic box different dimensions. You will need a battery, gas cylinder and bucket for these versions.

New primus one: new primus type click here

There are no old ones on ebay at the moment so I can't post a link.

There are also colman versions. click here colman

I have had the old primus version for about 6 years and it works well for us. We get a 20 l bucket of water and run the shower on full heat recycling into the bucket for about 12 minutes. At that point the water in the bucket is warm enough to use. We turn off the heat and the 5 of us use the bucket of warm water to shower. We do it this way because we could never get the thermostat to work on a nice warm regular temp, it was always on-off-on-off and it would be too hot for the kids then too cool then too hot then too cool, thus we fill the bucket with water, heat the bucket up to a good temp to use, shut the heat down and use the warm water.

Hi Mike

About 2 years ago I went to the expense of buying a gas fuelled water heater for around $300. I ended up returning it as I didnt feel it was worth the money. I now use this system. It is simple and gives predictable results every time. I purchased a 10 litre boiler and then mounted a section of approximately 50mm pvc pipe and a digital thermometer into the pot. All I have to do is then add the amount of water required and heat to the desired temperate. I have found about 40 decrees c is popular on a mild night with up to 44 C on a cold night. During warm weather 30 is probably heaps, depending on the person showering. The thermometer takes all the guess work out of heating the water, and after a couple of showers people will say "I'll have mine at X degrees thanks". There is no more mixing hot and cold and guessing whether it is the right temp!. I then use a standard 12v pump that slides into the pvc tubing fitted in the pot.

Approximate costs are pot $15 (kmart), pump $25 (camping store), Thermometer $5 (ebay). Water can be heated on fireplace or gas. I usually heat on the gas stove in the van out of the wind. I have 20 litre plastic drums painted matt black to hold my shower water during the day. I leave these in the sun and on a sunny day 40 C is not uncommon. Come shower time I therefore usually dont have to heat the water much at all, so gas usage is acceptable.

Cheers Kevin