Propane On Demand Water Heater

Converting Cargo Trailers into TTTs

Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby jwh92020 » Thu Dec 22, 2016 9:58 pm

How many of you are using a Propane on demand water heater? Of those of you that are, how many have the unit mounted inside the
trailer? Any issues with exhaust heat or CO2? I saw one that was made by the Mr. Buddy heater people (worked on the same principle as the heater) but it was $350+/-. An Ecco temp is around $100. The cost difference will pay for the shower set up. Any info will be appreciated.
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby M C Toyer » Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:16 am

I have an ECO Temp mounted under my sink in the cabinet and the exhaust is vented to the outside through a triple wall flue. No issues with CO2 but I did add a heat shield on the adjacent wood paneling for a safety factor. even though the heater is set off about 4 inches. Is working well and I have an CO2 / smoke detector mounted just outside the cabinet. Will see if I can pull up a link to an older post with pics.

Here's a couple. The exhaust duct is a standard HVAC torpedo boot slightly crimped and pop riveted to the heater housing and sealed with high temp tape. The heater supplies both a shower and the sink via a pair of 8 gallon fresh water tanks.

Image

Image

The whole build thread is here: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=52767&start=30
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby jwh92020 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 1:36 am

MY- Thank you for posting this. I saw it a while back, but couldn'the find it. This may be the solution I need.
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby Yukon Cornelius » Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:50 am

Good info, thanks!

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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby flboy » Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:40 am

M C Toyer.. very nice job on the HW heater install. Nice job!
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby daveesl77 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:48 pm

We've been using a Triton 5L for years and love it. Only thing on an inside mount, and it looks like you have it covered, is the need to properly and safely vent the exhaust gas. On our truck camper we had it permanently mounted on the outside back wall. On our new trailer, it attaches to the galley when deployed and works great. A trick we learned is to buy the "fake" D cell batteries, then install a voltage controller inside the container. This allows you to wire the power side to 12v and put in an on-off switch to activate the burner. that way we could run a single water line in our truck camper and activate the hotwater from inside or through a footswitch in the outside shower module.

This switched system can then be used for multiple projects, as in our hotwater cabin heater system. If anything happens to the inserts, simply replace with standard D cells.

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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby m.colley » Fri Dec 23, 2016 5:52 pm

I'm using the ECCOTEMP 5L model, mounted outside, above my city/gravity water inlet. It puts out plenty of hot water. The only draw back to mounting outside is strong winds will put out the flame on occasion and you'll have to relight it. Its one of the best things I bought on the CTC build.



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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby jwh92020 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:03 pm

davees - The install pictured is not mine, but the builder created a "hood" to contain the heat & burn emissions, then tied it to a wall flue (I assume it is like one for a home water heater) and vented that out thru the side of his trailer. if you look at his build, this man cut no corners and produced a very, very nice trailer. We are not running propane in our conversion, so I would be using 1 lb canisters. I suppose I could attach a mount bracket on the outside of the trailer and use some type of quick connect fittings. My concern is the unit "walking away" while I am gone for the day working. The idea of connect, shower, disconnect, stow away then repeat at the end of the day isn't too appealing, but it could be done.

Martin - Can you tell me how you did your water connections? Thanks
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby m.colley » Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:12 pm

jwh92020 wrote:davees - The install pictured is not mine, but the builder created a "hood" to contain the heat & burn emissions, then tied it to a wall flue (I assume it is like one for a home water heater) and vented that out thru the side of his trailer. if you look at his build, this man cut no corners and produced a very, very nice trailer. We are not running propane in our conversion, so I would be using 1 lb canisters. I suppose I could attach a mount bracket on the outside of the trailer and use some type of quick connect fittings. My concern is the unit "walking away" while I am gone for the day working. The idea of connect, shower, disconnect, stow away then repeat at the end of the day isn't too appealing, but it could be done.

Martin - Can you tell me how you did your water connections? Thanks



JW,
I gutted a RV shower box, replacing the shower valves with 1/4 turn washing machine valves, it looks like this
144090.
A pair of flexible stainless steel washing machine hoses with 90 degree fittings on trailer side and with quick connects on the WH side hook to this converted shower box. The quick connects make it real easy to unhook it and use it elsewhere if need be. it takes all of two minutes to set up once I get to my destination.
It hangs from two pieces of uni-strut channel mounted to the front of my CTC just above the city/gravity fill inlet in this picture
144091.
On the interior/under the sink I tee'd off my cold water line after the pump and installed a gate valve. The valve allows me to shut the cold water off if the WH isn't connected and still have cold water to my kitchen sink.
144092
A hot water line from the back of the exterior box brings hot water from the WH into the kitchen area.

I hope this explains what you wanted to know.


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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby jwh92020 » Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:26 pm

Martin - Thanks for the pics and the explanation. It makes the install much easier to follow.
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Re: Propane On Demand Water Heater

Postby m.colley » Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:49 pm

jwh92020 wrote:Martin - Thanks for the pics and the explanation. It makes the install much easier to follow.



Your mighty welcome. I borrowed ideas from a few others and then made it work to suit my needs. I wanted to keep it portable so that when I boondock I can use it to take showers via replacing the HW outlet hose with a shower head. I've used it on two different weekends in both configurations and it works great. By adding a Y splitter w/shutoff you wouldn't even have to disconnect anything.


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