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yankeesouth
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2010 17:40
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First off this is an intersting site. a lot of good useful info.
Has anyone use an "on demand" water heating sysyem? I have a shower and kitchen sink that need hot water and am wondering the best way to get it. The cabin is winterized with a composting toilet, no water is avaiable for witer months. Mainly I need a hot shower for the wife and kids in winter months>
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2010 19:48
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I believe a few people here use the "camp style" water heaters like the ones available here. The L10 has enough burner to give you a decent shower with the cold water of winter
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hebegbz
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 01:16
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How does the water get to your shower and kitchen sink?
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fasenuff
Member
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 10:09
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If you look at the page you will see that 2 models are shown. The first model. Is designed so that the shower hose connects directly to the unit. You would need to hold the hose at the sink or shower where you want the hot water. The second unit has 1/2 npt threads so you can plumb it in to your water system and have hot water where you choose.
I would think you could plumb the first unit into your system and save $100 with a little thought. I have seen many people use these units and be very happy with them.
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shoomaker
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 17:26
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If you have electricity i would purchase a point of use hot water heater one for the shower and one for your kitchen sink. They are very small and just plug into an outlet. Ive seen them from $99.00-$150.00 depending on the make and model.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 20:23
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Watch the specs on any on demand. They should tell you the flow rate for "n" degrees of temperature rise. Take how hot you'd like the water, suntract the lowest temperature of the inlet water and see if you can get acceptable flow for the shower or any other use. Not all cheap heaters can handle low temps with good flow.
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ProHunter
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# Posted: 15 Dec 2010 10:30
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I use the L5 eccotemp on demad water heater at our camp. We plumbed it into our outhouse along with a 12V wash down pump form a boat. This combination has been excellent. It is just like being at home, endless supply of hot water and lots of pressure. We where up during deer season and temps where -8C we had to turn down the water regulator so we lost some flow but still had a hot shower every night. 1 20lb bottle of propane lasted us the season, about 30 days of use and have only had to charge the deeep cycle battery once.
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yankeesouth
Member
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# Posted: 15 Dec 2010 14:19
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Thanks all! Like I said great site. I have been a bystander for a while but now that I am at the "to do" point with my cabin I need to learn from the experts.
The problem is I will have the place winterized, AKA no running water. I have a stream on property that I can pump water into a holding tank....tay a 5-10-50 gallon holding tank. I am looking for suggestions on how to get that water from a bucket/barrel to the shower and sink. Could I install a bypass like they have in RV's? How would I control the pressure?
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Danko
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 08:05
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Another thing to keep in mind is the water hardness. The heater will loose efficiency as the scale builds up. Check your water for hardness you may have to install a softener or some kind of water filter.
Hope this helps
Danko IR Tech
Infrared Inspection
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bobrok
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 11:29
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Quoting: MtnDon Watch the specs on any on demand. They should tell you the flow rate for "n" degrees of temperature rise. Take how hot you'd like the water, suntract the lowest temperature of the inlet water and see if you can get acceptable flow for the shower or any other use. Not all cheap heaters can handle low temps with good flow.
I agree with MtnDon on this. After I looked at specs and prices I ended up with a 6 gal. propane RV tank heater and a 12 v. demand pump. I don't know if your situation allows this setup, but it works better for me and the tank holds heat all day after I turn it off. This way the unit doesn't cycle every time I need to wash my hands in warm water or something.
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PlicketyCat
Member
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 23:14
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Since we're hauling water until we get around to drilling a well, we've been looking into a heater/pressure system for our cabin. We plan to have a small storage tank (100 gal or less) in the loft to run gravity pressure to the indoor sink, but wanted to be able to get heat to that so we weren't always boiling water on the woodstove whenever we wanted to wash our hands or do the dishes (we do that in the tent currently and it is NOT fun).
Most of the propane ODWH don't work on low-flow gravity pressure systems, so we may end up with some sort of pump or pressure tank even though we'd really like to avoid the power consumption if possible. We also don't want a lot of water in the cabin or other structures since there is always a freezing risk for about 4 months out of the year, especially if you need to be away from home for a few days. An underground cistern may work, but again you have freezing issues (either tank or pipes) and having to cycle pumps.
For bathing and laundry, we're planning to build a separate wash house with a larger solar-heated tank on the roof, and use a pump and propane heater to step up the temps in the summer, and then flip the plumbing over from the solar roof tank to an indoor thermo-siphon HW tank that runs off a coil in the woodstove with the same pressure pump and ODHW in the winter. Luckily, we don't feel it really necessary to bathe or do do laundry every day in the winter ;)
We get almost no solar in the winter and it's too cold for even a glycol transfer solar tank to be much good, so we figure a little woodstove in the wash house is the best option. I just don't want to rely on pumps all the time if we can help it, especially since we'd need to carry our little portable generator out to the wash house anytime we wanted to use it in the winter since it doesn't run very well at -40 if they aren't kept in a heated space when not in use.
I think we may be able to hobble together a system using the camp style pressure pumps and heaters. Fingers crossed... I'd really like to take a hot shower at home instead of relying on lukewarm bucket baths!
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