12 volt water heater

[chaser]

Following my post in ,those happy days thread, has anyone had any experience of these things, they fitted one in their van last night, and it seemed to be working ok as long as the van was running, looks to be a very useful piece of kit if it works, saves gas connection and stuff and not very dear compared to other water heaters.
Are they any good, ? Does anyone know?

6 Litre slimline 12v/240v Motorhome Water Heater (NO COIL)

SureCal boilers are made of the finest quality materials, which guaranteeing the ultimate performance and reliability. (NO COIL)

www.surejust.co.uk

 

[Lenny HB]

Look at the spec I would say pretty useless 700 Watts on mains but on 12v 300 Watts will ages to heat the water and drawing 25 amps. The choice would be warm water or flat batteries.

 

[chaser]

Look at the spec I would say pretty useless 700 Watts on mains but on 12v 300 Watts will ages to heat the water and drawing 25 amps. The choice would be warm water or flat batteries.

Apparently it only works while the van is running or loads of solar, then stays hot, it was working ok on the YouTube thing with the engine running.

 

[Two on Tour]

I converted a cheap 240v Chinese 8ltr water heater to 300watt 12v element to heat the water with our excess solar.
Takes about 15-20 minutes to heat the 8ltrs. Can also heat the water while driving via our B2B.
Cost less than £100 all in including a 12v 3 way valve I fitted to use either the solar hot water or the hot water from our Whale water heater.

 

[SandraL]

We had a similar tank with immersion heater and a coil for the eberspacher to heat water.
The advantage was that the insulated tank kept the water warmer for longer than our truma 6 heater.

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[Lenny HB]

I converted a cheap 240v Chinese 8ltr water heater to 300watt 12v element to heat the water with our excess solar.
Takes about 15-20 minutes to heat the 8ltrs. Can also heat the water while driving via our B2B.

That sounds very quic,k I take it only warm water in that time not 60°.
Also you have lots of solar & Lithium, most don't.

 

[Lenny HB]

The advantage was that the insulated tank kept the water warmer for longer than our truma 6 heater.

That's not hard, Truma claim their tank will keep the water warm for several hours - lying bar**ted's.

 

[Two on Tour]

That's sounds very quite I take it only warm water in that time not 60°.
Also you have lots of solar & Lithium, most don't.

I'll check what I have set the digital thermostat to, but of the top of my head I think I have it set to 57c.

Edit : Just had a look and I have it set a 55c to stop legionnaires disease.

 

[Itsmcb]

I like the idea of the one which uses the engine hotwater to heat the water in the tank when driving. Only takes 30minutes. Great if your on a tour

 

[Lenny HB]

I like the idea of the one which uses the engine hotwater to heat the water in the tank when driving. Only takes 30minutes. Great if your on a tour

Alde systems do that.

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[Spriddler]

I like the idea of the one which uses the engine hotwater to heat the water in the tank when driving. Only takes 30minutes. Great if your on a tour

I had one on my boat. Usually had to motor for half an hour or so into a harbour or anchorage after dropping the sails which provided enough hot water for a couple of showers.

 

[Mixyblob]

Surely if its a calorifier it heats the water via the vehicle cooling system, so whats the point of using 12v while driving. Or am I missing something?

 

[chaser]

Surely if its a calorifier it heats the water via the vehicle cooling system, so whats the point of using 12v while driving. Or am I missing something?

No that's another type we are just talking 12 volt.
Although they do look good as well but they won't work with solar.

 

[Two on Tour]

Surely if its a calorifier it heats the water via the vehicle cooling system, so whats the point of using 12v while driving. Or am I missing something?

Mine is standalone, so not connected to the vans cooling system if you talking about my setup,

 

[donkey]

What do they mean by 'No Coil?'

Geoff

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[chaser]

What do they mean by 'No Coil?'

Geoff

That means it's not connected to the vans radiator.

 

[chaser]

If I was starting a build again I would definitely be looking into it, especially as it's getting difficult to get gas, and it's not getting any better soon, we don't use a lot of hot water and have plenty solar, and they are way cheaper than conventional boilers.
Seems a no brainer, the folks who are doing the van on YouTube didn't have a hot water heater at all in their old one so must be better than that.

 

[Mixyblob]

Mine is standalone, so not connected to the vans cooling system if you talking about my setup,

My mistake, I thought a calorifier heated water via a heat exchanger coil from another hot water source.

 

[chaser]

My mistake, I thought a calorifier heated water via a heat exchanger coil from another hot water source.

You are quite right ,this firm does both or even combine the two.

 

[mitzimad]

I converted a cheap 240v Chinese 8ltr water heater to 300watt 12v element to heat the water with our excess solar.
Takes about 15-20 minutes to heat the 8ltrs. Can also heat the water while driving via our B2B.
Cost less than £100 all in including a 12v 3 way valve I fitted to use either the solar hot water or the hot water from our Whale water heater.

View attachment 593592

View attachment 593593

View attachment 593594

i hope you have the required pressure vessl and safety valve fitted with that?

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[chaser]

i hope you have the required pressure vessl and safety valve fitted with that?

Won't be any different whether it's 240v or 12v

 

[Two on Tour]

My mistake, I thought a calorifier heated water via a heat exchanger coil from another hot water source.

Basically, we are off-grid for the most part so I fitted solar and a lithium battery to hopefully keep us going in the low sun months, but come the sun high in the sky months, the amount of solar we have on the roof means the battery is back to being fully charged early on in the day and the solar being harvested after that was going to waste, hence wanting to make the best use of our solar and have hot water on tap through the day.

 

[Two on Tour]

i hope you have the required pressure vessl and safety valve fitted with that?

Yup, the water heater I converted came fitted with a pressure release valve, a drain down tap, and a thermal cutout.
With it being Chinese, I did check the thermal cutout and that pinged at 91c

 

[chaser]

Basically, we are off-grid for the most part so I fitted solar and a lithium battery to hopefully keep us going in the low sun months, but come the sun high in the sky months, the amount of solar we have on the roof means the battery is back to being fully charged early on in the day and the solar being harvested after that was going to waste, hence wanting to make the best use of our solar and have hot water on tap through the day.

I can't fault it, we have a compressor fridge and even that doesn't use all the available electric.

 

[jima1vespas]

I converted a cheap 240v Chinese 8ltr water heater to 300watt 12v element to heat the water with our excess solar.
Takes about 15-20 minutes to heat the 8ltrs. Can also heat the water while driving via our B2B.
Cost less than £100 all in including a 12v 3 way valve I fitted to use either the solar hot water or the hot water from our Whale water heater.

View attachment 593592

View attachment 593593

View attachment 593594

Do you have a link to the one you used?

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[chaser]

Do you have a link to the one you used?

I have now abandoned 12 volt electric, and set up with a ecoflow delta two which I now charge with my extra solar energy and use 240 volt in the van . It will actually run my carver 2 water heater, but in practice I think I will stick to gas for the water and use the delta for kettle and cooking.

 

[Two on Tour]

Do you have a link to the one you used?

Sorry I don't, I bought it three and a half years ago.

An eBay search for under counter or under sink water heater will bring up a selection of the same type.

 

[jima1vespas]

Sorry I don't, I bought it three and a half years ago.

An eBay search for under counter or under sink water heater will bring up a selection of the same type.

Ok thanks anyway I’m sure I’ll find something