Once in a while CostCo has something that turns out to be fairly useful for my needs. Today’s case in point:
A portable propane water heater. Nothing says civilization like hot water. (Actually, electricity is the real hallmark of civilization…) This thing runs on a barbecue bomb and a 12v battery. I anticipate getting dirty and sweaty up at the Beta Site this summer and, lets be honest here, whats the point of spending a buncha money on a piece of property if you can’t be naked outdoors on it?
I need to do some research and see if this thing is worth picking up, but it’s definitely the sort of thing I’m going to need up at the Beta Site. Depending on the size of the structure I put up for the short-term, this might be able to be integrated into it to give me some basic water features.
There are a bunch of inexpensive variants of this available; the features and quality vary considerably.
I suggest looking at the indoor rating (most are outdoor only) as well as what temperature the water is raised to and how fast it uses propane.
I’ve considered them but ultimately rejected them in favor of old style pot on stove methods.
Nothing says civilization like hot water. (Actually, electricity is the real hallmark of civilization…)
Sewage management plumbing is the hallmark of civilization (or more more specifically, an absence of cholera).
I’d have thought your hot water supply would be a tank mounted on the side of your woodstove or something similar.
It would be except that Im not at a stage where there is a structure or woodstove. At the moment, we’re in the tent-in-the-woods stage…thus the portable water heater.
Not sure how often you get to the beach, but lots of beach cottages have (or at least had) outdoor showers to wash off the salt water. When I was a kid in the 1970s, it was common to use a pallet with narrow gaps as the floor and let the water just soak away into the ground/sand. Many were cobbled together by backyard plumbers well after the building inspector was gone.
Just remember to sand it lightly to remove splinters and give it a couple coats of Thompson’s Water Seal or some other product. It will last a long time. It takes water flowing through the system a bit to start heating so have a plan to catch/reuse the cold water. We found we used way too much water at camp (West Texas). We used a sun shower (with a kitchen sink sprayer with the lever). One gallon of water with a coffee pot worth of heated water mixed it for warmth. Save the gas for cooking and heating in emergencies.
A “recycled tire door mat” – the type with big gaps in it – over a few inches of gravel works well. No splinters, either.
Link?
I use a dog wash station at a local pet supply store and they have something like this mounted on the wall that feeds the hot water to the wash. Their unit is plumbed in for both water and I assume, the gas. The only downside I can mention, and it is a small one, is that tuning the mix of cold and hot to get it “just right” seems to be tricky, but it works well enough.
I’ve used one of these at someone elses place for showering. Very good.
Depending on the model you can adjust the flame and/or the water flow to set the water temperature. If the feed water is colder just restrict the flow or increase the flame to get the same temp. On the one I use the flame is maxed all the time and adjusting the water flow works well. Around 105F is good for showering.
The propane lasts a long time too.
Just make sure the showerhead matches the flow rate or the water willl only slop out. For low flowrates you might need a “water saving” or fairly skimpy showerhead.
Keep up the good work.
“Depending on the size of the structure I put up for the short-term, this might be able to be integrated into it to give me some basic water features.”
Just an FYI when you think about plumbing – the story we got from Granite County was that the Montana state rule is that pit toilets – outhouses – are legal … if the structure has no pressurized water. If you put in an RV pump to feed your sink and shower, then to be legal you need a septic or approved composting toilet, even if your water source is trucked in jerrycans. An outdoor camping shower fed from a creek doesn’t sound like ‘pressurized water in a structure’, but it’s easy to see mission creep with the creek feeding a buried IBC tote as a winter reservoir and an RV pump to a sink and …
Depending on the county code enforcement can be pretty lax, but something to consider.
We just bathe and wash clothes in a 5 gal bucket. Heck, my grandparents bathed in a galvanized tub with water carried in buckets from the hand pump until the 1970’s :-).
I’d save the money solar camping shower works just fine for your temporary summer needs and as a backup for later
In Vietnam we used a coiled garden hose with garden nozzle on the roof plumbed to half a 55 gallon drum with a wood cover. Just had to climb up a ladder once or twice with a 5 gallon bucket.
I’ve tried a few different options over the years for camp showers with the old solar shower bag being my fall back just for it’s simplicity. However, the last couple of years I’ve been using what’s essentially a pressurized weed sprayer with a shower head. It works awesome and is super simple. You can either dump in heated water or set it in the the sun like a solar shower and then just pump it a few times and you have a pressurized shower. I picked it up on Amazon for around $70
Go for it. This style of heater is great for the price. There are several variations on amazon depending on whether you have pressurized water source or not. And there are several people on youtube showing various levels of integrating them into a structure.
I’ve got one feeding the outdoor shower at my BOL. It’s great after a day bushwhacking or swimming in the lake, and keeps water OUT of your septic system. That can be a real consideration. I just hung it on the wall next to the shower so the heat and flow adjustment is right there.
The unit I have uses a D cell for the ignitor, but does require pressurized water. You could build your own pressurized system or just buy the unit that has its own pump.
The typical failure is freeze damage when people don’t get all the water out of the unit before winter. The shower head can freeze too.
I have several spares on the shelf at the BOL and one here in Houston for hurricane use too. I got them cheap at the end of the season. SERIOUSLY handy bit of kit, especially if you have females or kids around.
nick
note- it’s an instant heater, no need to recirculate the water or wait. it gets really hot very quickly, and my only complaint is that because of where mine is located, the wind can blow out the flame and shut it off while in use. I get strong gusting wind off the lake and up the hollow which whips around the corner of the house, straight into the heater… most uses would be fine, or I could finally get a screen built to block some of that wind….
Commander, with the property you’ve bought, I believe that you can be naked and outdoors anytime you like. In fact, at the moment, if you’re naked up there the outdoors part is obligatory.
It would, of course, be wise to check the weather before disrobing.
Its kinda weird but my experience has been that being naked outdoors doesn’t feel as weird as being naked outdoors (or anywhere else, for that matter) while wearing shoes. Just something strange about being almost totally naked except for your feet that really makes the whole experience feel rather odd.
So, in searching costco online this product doesn’t come up. However other vendors around the internet have it. Temu is selling that identical one from camplux for 163.00… Not that I would purchase from Temu.. scam artist company 🙂
it is for sale on the camplux website for 229 plus there is a 10% coupon through tomorrow.. looks as if it comes with the pump but not the battery 🙂
https://camplux.com/products/camplux-camper-kit?variant=41884246114509&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21037331942&gclid=Cj0KCQjww8rQBhDjARIsAE43KPOq0p3WY8EcMbtuSOpCPSmBvaI5DVTsY_k83BlAlec815_j_U95fiIaAs1IEALw_wcB
Zodiac makes several “camp” showers (some w/propane heating, pumpsprayer/or battery operated sprayer), I used one in Iraq for a while (generator for the CHU’s & showers kept going down. I used my Zodi shower often enough in PT shorts(by our quarter fence) that they posted “personnel must be fully clothed outside”. P.S. I’ve got a similar propane water heater (I think from Cheaper Than Dirt), and the water has to flow at enough: pressure/rate for the igniter sensor to fire. Hope that helps & congrats on the land.