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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2016 10:08am
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Thinking about doing an on demand propane water heater. Only thing that will need hot water will be the shower and sink, might run it to a wash rack but only one will be being used at a time. Also to help save space inside I was thinking about mounting it on the wall outside the bathroom. I have a 2 foot overhang to help shield it from the rain. Hook up for propane will be from a propane bottle, probably the RV size tank. We have plenty of water pressure being near the well house and also have 120VAC available if necessary.
Anyone have one that is mounted outside??
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2016 11:06am - Edited by: Atlincabin
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I have a similar setup, 2-foot roof overhang, running on 25-lb propane bottle. Has been fine for two years now. Plenty of hot water for either a sink or shower. My suggestion is to make sure the top of the heater is not too close to the roof to overheat it. If it is, just make a heat deflector above the water heater to help the exhaust gas escape the overhang.
A few weeks ago I built a wood box to help protect the heater as well as for visual effects, but things have worked fine without that box.
Greg
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2016 11:52am
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I've got exactly what you are proposing and it works excellent. I did get a 12 volt DC power supply that runs off of 110 volt from Ebay. it gives you a lot more choices on pumps. I'm in a Nordic climate so I made all the stuff on removable panels for winter storage.
My main problem has been mice find the demand water heater attractive as a nesting ground. I check it regularly but if I missed something it would go up in flames as they load it with nesting materials. that's why I choose to move it away from the cabin wall.
I power up a indoor toilet, sink, shower and a outside shower with this arrangement. Works great. Even the dogs have been known to use the outside shower.
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Ontario lakeside
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2016 05:30pm
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same setup here, no issues with it outside, of course we take it down in the winter
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skootamattaschmidty
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2016 05:29am
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I have the same set up as well and no issues. Mine is also under the overhang so it is protected from rain. I bought ours in 2010 and still works. I do not bring mine inside in the winter but open I do disconnect the water lines and open the drain valve and blow it out with a compressor.
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2016 07:38am
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Well good thing is I don't have to worry about freezing, but will be disconnecting it and letting it drain just incase we get a rare freeze out there.
What units are you guys running?? are there any features to look for when buys on?? I'll probably oversize incase I have a need for a bigger one later.
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2016 12:22pm
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The Eccotemp L10 is hard to beat. They go for about $219 on Amazon. My first one got destroyed by mice when I drained and stored it at the camp.
Presently I'm using one of these cheap and dirty units off of eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-2GPM-Water-Heater-12L-LPG-Propane-Gas-Tankless-Stainless-In stant-Boiler-/221709165763?hash=item339ee564c3:g:J-0AAOSwTapV3V7r
It doesn't come with a stack or a gas line but I had those parts from the Eccotemp. The unit works very well.
Many people also like the Marey units.
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skootamattaschmidty
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# Posted: 28 Jul 2016 03:00pm
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I Also Have The ECCOTEMP L10. I have it hooked to my 100 pound propane tanks.
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2016 07:39am
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I looked at the ecotemp L10 and it doesn't have any requirements listed of space around the unit. I was going to mount it on the back wall which is plywood. Any heat issues you guys see?? Also can the vent be extended? I would like to get it out past my eve so the fumes don't rise up into the rafters.
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2016 09:41am
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I believe most of them have provisions for a 4" standard flue pipe. On mine (EZ Tankless 101) there is little heat in the body of the thing (virtually all the excess heat goes up) and it's mounted right on the wood wall with no issues. If you're really worried about it, just put a piece of sheet metal between the heater and wall for extra protection.
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2016 11:47am
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I would caution you about mounting this directly on wood. In normal operation I would say no problem but I've now had one unit go up in flame and a second one that would have if I hadn't inspected it. The interior of these units are there coils of tubes that a jet of flame goes past.
My mice seem to love the idea of building a nest in these coils. They have built extensive nests inside of a week. When the unit was told to fire it ignited these nest and the whole unit went into flames. My water heater was visible from my outside shower so this got me pretty excited. Pretty good fire dance while nude.
It would have been bad news if it was mounted on my cabin wall. Even if there was a panel of steel the steel could heat to ignition temperature of the wood under it.
If I were mounting it to the outside cabin wall I would space it off the wall with steel studs.
My witnessing the flaming unit is why I didn't attach mine to the cabin.
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2016 01:45pm
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Mice will mess some stuff up that's for sure!!! gives me something to think about. We have had a mouse problem up out there but I think I've put a dent in the population.
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hueyjazz
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2016 07:18pm
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OK
Last mouse story and demand water heaters but this one is rich.
So my normal weekly PM and inspection since i fried a unit is to pull off the stack cap and look down the flue. I see pink insulation so I know what this mean. Landlord has to evict.
You pull off the cover to this thing and it's a perfect gerbil hotel. There's multiple entrances and exits with openings to various cavities. There's three copper and aluminum heat exchangers that make nice mouse bedrooms and are very difficult to access to clean.
But I've taken one apart before. So I open it up and find MaMa mouse and five babies. It's outdoors so I'm trying my best to gently evict and relocate to a pleasant wood pile. MaMa was having none of it and retreating deeper into Fort Ecotemp. This battle goes on for about an hour. OK, now time for the gentle prod with a unbent hanger.
MaMa comes out of the Alamo, stands on her hind legs and growls at me this is follow with was most certainly a long mouse curse. I bet if she could she would have spit at me. Do you recall that old poster of the mouse flipping off the hawk in an act of defiance? I know where they got the idea.
Hey lady, I'm the one on top of the food chain her.
I wish there was a happy ending but the eviction didn't go well. MaMa did crawl away with maybe two offspring. No doubt she planning her return and my demise. T hese might be renegade Upstate NY gang mice
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 2 Aug 2016 06:49am
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hueyjazz
Now that's funny!!! Well down here everything is bigger in Texas including the mice. That mouse down here would have probably tried to box you.
I think I may have figure out a solution. See that I'm only at camp once a month, and maybe take a 3 month leave in the summer but make up in the fall and winter going every two weeks. I could pipe the unit up so that it's easily removable and put it inside the cabin when I leave. These are portable units and it's going to be hooked to a propane bottle. A few unions and some flex house. Heck maybe even some quick disconnects if I feel like getting really fancy and can find some with good flow rates at a good price.
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Asher
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# Posted: 2 Aug 2016 07:47am
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You might consider mounting some cement backer board between the unit and the wall. Seems like a easy fix to remove some doubt about the heat against the plywood.
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LastOutlaw
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2016 11:23am - Edited by: LastOutlaw
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I have a cheap ecotemp unit that was left inside my cabin winter before last and suffered a very hard freeze. It had water in it and was destroyed. The heater was inside but in a non-heated room. It cracked the manifold inside the heater as well as one of the copper lines.
You need to blow out all water lines in advance of a freeze.
I moved my shower indoors after I got in one hot day to cool off and a 4 foot rattlesnake was in it with me drinking leftover water.
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2016 04:26pm
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Sharing a shower with a rattlesnake is not on my list of things to do for sure!!! Luckily it's very rare that we get a freeze. And with unhooking the unit and bringing it in, hopefully we won't have any freezing issues.
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