Eccotemp on demand hot water heater

[djpandemic]

Hi all,
I thought that I would share my experience with the Eccotemp camp shower that I am using as a whole house hot water heater. I am using it in my tiny house but I wish that I had one when I was van living.....it would have been much better than the Zodi shower that I had.

First of all I am using a demand water pump plumbed to a kitchen sink and the water heater heater. The heater is plumbed back to a shower head with and the hot water side of the kitchen faucet. The pump (tractor supply) was 100$ with a 3 year warranty and has a pressure switch, turning on when it senses a pressure drop in the water line. This means that I don't have to turn the pump on to get water I just have to turn a faucet handle. The eccotemp has a pressure switch that senses when the water starts flowing and ignites the propane burner, heating the water in about 1 minute. I had to fiddle with the pressure sensor a bit since the pump does not have as much pressure as a house water supply would but all in all it works great.

The Eccotemp comes with a shower head and hose and was intended to be an outdoor camp shower. In a van or RV it could be used this way. Unfortunately the shower head and hose are garbage. I replaced mine immediately with a nicer head and metal hose. These didn't have an on off switch so I put an on/off valve on the hot water side. The hot water heater could be plumbed into an RV replacing a small hot water heater much like I did in my house. You would need some room for ventilation but it would provide much more hot water than a small tank.

There have been a few problems with the heater too though...
1. It was a chore setting the pressure switch to respond right to a 12v water pump instead of city water pressure. It took some real fiddling.
2. The shower head and hose are crap. The shower head has an on/off switch which is great but mine didn't feel like it would last a week so I ditched it first thing.
3. These heaters CANNOT FREEZE. My propane heat ran out this winter while I was away from the cabin and a brass bell housing inside the shower cracked. The replacement was pretty cheap and the fix wasn't too bad but still.....don't let them freeze!

That is really it. The Eccotemp would have been a nice addition to the van and with a little ingenuity could have been plumbed with quick disconnects to a bumper. The heater uses propane ( I have mine hooked up to a 5lb pony tank) and seems to be pretty efficient. The Shower system cost less than a 140 dollars from Amazon and came with all the bits and pieces. I spent another 100$ on the pump and another hundred on a shower pan and plumbing stuff. While this was intended as a camp shower it makes a great Home hot water heater!!!

 

[Reducto]

How even is the temperature? Can you stop/start the water often without the temp going haywire or do you have to leave running until you're done showering?

 

[djpandemic]

It seems pretty even. I do not have mine set on the maximum heat since I am not mixing it with cold water to get the desired temp. The way the heater is designed it cools off just about as quickly as it heats up when you shut the water down. I haven't had any scalding blasts but honestly, I usually leave the water running while I shower. I'll test it tonight with a quick on off on and see what happens.

 

[compassrose]

You have an L5. I know this because we also have one. We did NOT put it in the bus for our use. We might plumb it to the washing machine. For anyone comtemplating the L5, I suggest you find a pump that will put out 40PSI water pressure. It does need the higher water pressure in order to operate right. We found that we needed to fiddle with ethe temp before we got it consistant. "Sweet spot" depends on water pressure. Perhaps putting an accumulator tank inline would help. But it's either full blast on or off, no small trickle or turning the water halfway on.

 

[akrvbob]

My concern with them has always been that they say it is for outdoor use only. Is it safe inside? How did you ventilate it?

I assume that the problem is they are not vented so the exhaust just goes back into the room. But it seems if you only used it for 10 minutes the danger would be minimal.

Maybe you could mount the unit itself outside and just plumb into and out of the van/RV. That eliminates the risk of CO poisoning. But it would raise the risk of freezing it. But for snowbirds like me that is less of a problem.
Bob

 

[djpandemic]

Hi Compassrose....
That is true. It's all or nothing. I really have only needed a trickle to thaw things though so it's not a problem for me. There is an adjustment (set screw I think) to adjust the water pressure needed to turn the gas on. I fiddles with mine and it works fine but you are right.....it's on or it's off.

akrvbob....
Yes, these were designed to be used outside. I have not run mine for longer than 10 or so minutes and I have zero concerns about ventilation. I also have a constant crack where I didn't do my sliding door right, a small seam next to the kitchen window and in the summer......a six foot sliding door and 2 transom windows open to the breeze...It is a concern though.

1 thing that everyone's rig should have is a quality smoke/co2/monoxide detector. This is an absolute must no matter what you are living in be it an RV, a Van, a school bus or a tiny house.