No, not as you were thinking with Linda. Gee, I know I got a reputation, but...
This time it's with the RV. Oh, now your bored.
But I got your attention, what do I really mean?
We don't have a hot water in it, none came with the RV. We have put a pot on the stove but we took the LP gas tank out. We have warmed water in the microwave. Both methods are only good for a pint to quart. We, meaning me, want more so we could take a shower just off the back door. Linda could use more to do dishes.
We already have towels, hooks for towels, a shower curtain and a floor mat.
We also have a solar shower. Put 2-5 gallons water in a heavy vinyl black bag and set it in the sun for a few hours, hang it up over head, and it drains into a shower head. OK if the sun is out and it's warm outside.
Using the showers in a campground works too if they have them, sometimes they are dirty, have fungus's, no privacy, or no hot water.
So for the last 4 months I've been looking for a alternative for us.
Ebay. Several options available. There are shower heads that have heaters in them but they draw a lot of amperage and we can only pull 15 max if everything else is off. They also only raise the water temperature 10-20 degrees. There are small hot water heaters, 4-5 gallon but they take up a lot of space we don't have. There are tankless water heaters that don't take up a lot of space but are $125-500, most are $200.
My next idea was to take a small pump and copper tubing, bend and wrap it around the exhaust pipe while we were traveling. Free heat. The drawbacks were: we travel more in the morning & early afternoons and shower in the evenings. Water may get cold and using engine heat by idling later, expensive and very slow.
Found a website saying shower hot water needs to be about 100-105 d. It also had a calculation on how much wattage was needed to heat water. I converted from a 40 gallon home heater to the needed 5 gallons. A 1000 watt 120v heating element would take 1/2-1 hour to raise water from 60 to 100 d. 1000 watts is 8.3 amps, about 1/2 of our 15 max. Good.
I still needed a tank. We do not have room for a separate tank. But wait, why not use the fresh water tank in the RV already?
When we need cold water we use the campgrounds water from the hose. When we need hot water we heat our tank.
I need a temperature gauge on it. Also a safety device so we don't overheat the water. I have a 1 hour electric timer I rarely use. Enough time to heat but not over heat. Then I was going to run a separate electrical circuit to the campgrounds plug in. Then remembered our own electric service would work conservatively and safely.
Parts costs: Ebay water heater element $18, need a flexible hose and shower head about $20 connected to the sink, misc electric and plumbing parts $20, thermometer $5. Volla, cheap, easy to do, weighs very little, takes up almost no room.
Now will it work?
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