12 volt water heater

chaser

chaser

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ambulance conversion
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Following on from my thread yesterday about what to do with spare solar electric, I have been having a look round and found this , has anyone had any experience of them?
www.ebay.co.uk

RV Electrical Water Heater 12v 180W 6L – Campervan Motorhome | eBay

Step by step illustrated instructions on all aspects of campervan conversion. Clearcut Campervan Design Ltd was established over 15 years ago. Input 12V DC 180W. A great new product, perfect for vanlifers and campervans who wish to have hot water available without bulky gas powered heating units.
www.ebay.co.uk
 
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No one know then?
 
Looks a bit on the large size for just 6 L of hot water and for £225 I could boil no end of kettles from my Gaslow cylinders.
 
It does look rather big……!
38C242A6-EBB5-4242-BC58-ACBB3DC0E6AD.png
 
Spriddler said:
Looks a bit on the large size for just 6 L of hot water and for £225 I could boil no end of kettles from my Gaslow cylinders.
Click to expand...
Only half as much as normal boilers and a lot easier to fit plus it will work for free.

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chaser said:
No one know then?
Click to expand...

Only just seen your thread.

First off, wow, that ain't cheap, ours is 8Ltr and 300 watts and ours gets from ambient to 58c in less than 20 minutes.

chaser said:
Only half as much as normal boilers and a lot easier to fit plus it will work for free.
Click to expand...

If your using it as your only source of hot water, then you will need to have the means of powering it if the amount of solar on any given day is not up to it, plus in hours of darkness remember that it will be caning your battery to the tune of 15 amps while heating water.
If your going to use it in tandem with a conventional gas/240v water heater, then you will need to consider that you will need a 3 way valve to integrate it into your existing hot/cold water system.
I put my solar water system together for less than £120.
 
Two on Tour said:
Only just seen your thread.

First off, wow, that ain't cheap, ours is 8Ltr and 300 watts and ours gets from ambient to 58c in less than 20 minutes.



If your using it as your only source of hot water, then you will need to have the means of powering it if the amount of solar on any given day is not up to it, plus in hours of darkness remember that it will be caning your battery to the tune of 15 amps while heating water.
If your going to use it in tandem with a conventional gas/240v water heater, then you will need to consider that you will need a 3 way valve to integrate it into your existing hot/cold water system.
I put my solar water system together for less than £120.
Click to expand...
Tell us how? ;)
What I thought about this is mount it no the wall in the shower, connect the current shower hose to the inlet then the shower head to the outlet, if it is working all you would need to do was put the mixer tap to cold and use the water ,if it's not working just use the normal gas heater and it would come through as normal, not saying this would work ,just looking at things at the moment.
 
Two on Tour said:
Only just seen your thread.

First off, wow, that ain't cheap, ours is 8Ltr and 300 watts and ours gets from ambient to 58c in less than 20 minutes.



If your using it as your only source of hot water, then you will need to have the means of powering it if the amount of solar on any given day is not up to it, plus in hours of darkness remember that it will be caning your battery to the tune of 15 amps while heating water.
If your going to use it in tandem with a conventional gas/240v water heater, then you will need to consider that you will need a 3 way valve to integrate it into your existing hot/cold water system.
I put my solar water system together for less than £120.
Click to expand...
Also it wouldn't affect the battery as it would only be on in the day while solar was working then a shower at night.
 
chaser said:
Tell us how? ;)
What I thought about this is mount it no the wall in the shower, connect the current shower hose to the inlet then the shower head to the outlet, if it is working all you would need to do was put the mixer tap to cold and use the water ,if it's not working just use the normal gas heater and it would come through as normal, not saying this would work ,just looking at things at the moment.
Click to expand...

Give me a few minutes to find the 240v water heater I converted and the 12v heater element, but what your looking to do looks feasible to me, and a simple to install setup. (y)
 
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A lot of ideas, but I believe chaser is specifically looking to use the EXCESS output from his solar panels, once his batteries are fully charged.
 
chaser said:
Also it wouldn't affect the battery as it would only be on in the day while solar was working then a shower at night.
Click to expand...

The 180 watt heater your looking at will draw 15 amps regardless when heating the water. If you plan to power it by solar alone, then if your solar is only producing say 8 amps, then your water is going to take a lot longer to heat to 60c than the 60 minutes quoted.
With my 300 watt system drawing 25 amps, my 280ah lithium battery supplements any shortfall from our solar output. As the heater is not heating at all the time i.e. when the water has reached temperature and the thermostat has switched off the power, then the solar will replenish the power that was drawn from the battery.
 
Could you fit a 12v element into your existing boiler?
Screenshot_20220809-162630_Opera.jpg
 
Richard n Ann said:
Could you fit a 12v element into your existing boiler? View attachment 650843
Click to expand...
Yes that is another option that I am looking at and would do it in a crack, nothing to lose apart from my present boiler is very old and might not stand up to unscrewing the 240 element then I would be in right do do.
Hold on ,while I was writing that, just had a thought, what about connecting my present one to an inverter , how big would that have to be?
 
I can't find the one that I bought off of eBay as it was 18 months ago.
Here's the same one as I used.

https://www.fruugo.co.uk/1500w-ligh...YrrU8xB8nAOyE9MeLASm4hiGxAyvcM5BoCiwkQAvD_BwE

This is the same heating element. Although it is 300 watts, it's 2 x 150 watt elements joined together and you can remove the links and use just one element and have the other as a spare.

<Broken link removed>

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chaser said:
That's cheap, are you still useing it?
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Yes, our solar water is in use whenever we are away in our van.

I can't find the Paypal invoice, but the one I bought was less than 50 quid as I remember.
A lot of the Chinese stuff that sells on eBay must come in by the container load as there seems to be a glut of some items with loads of sellers selling them and then they disappear from the listings and the water heater I bought appears to be when there was a glut of them.
 
Another option,
Propex do a 6L 230v do £160, it’s small, just swap the element for a 12v one, or use existing with a cheap inverter. Resistive load works ok on square wave.
 
Is it just an immersion heater like the ones posted fitted to Truma water heaters then.

Sorry if this is a stupid question.
 
Raul said:
Another option,
Propex do a 6L 230v do £160, it’s small, just swap the element for a 12v one, or use existing with a cheap inverter. Resistive load works ok on square wave.
Click to expand...
What is the difference exactly between an inverter with a 240v immersion and a 12 volt one?
 
chaser said:
What is the difference exactly between an inverter with a 240v immersion and a 12 volt one?
Click to expand...
Main difference and advantage, is you get to use existing 230v elements with inverter. Trade of is 10% ish inverter losses.
 
cyberyacht said:
You want cheap solar water? Plastic jerrycan in a black bin bag on your roof.
Click to expand...
When we lived in Oman I purchased something similar in the souq. It is a solar heater that consists of a thick rubber ball connected to a hose, with a tap and push-on tap fitting and push-in shower adapters. Mains water causes the ball to expand to approx 400mm diameter and the tap is then closed. When the tap is opened, the stretched rubber expels the water. Capacity is about 10 litres. We sat it in an aluminium cooking pot, bolted to the roof rack, and it served us very well. I've still got it!

Shown empty:

IMG_20220809_195540376.jpg
IMG_20220809_195552308.jpg

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The energy needed to heat water is very predictable, About 1 watt-hour per degree C, for each litre. 1.16 watt-hours, to be more exact.

So to heat 6 litres of water from 20 C to 60 C, a rise of 40 deg C, would take 1.16 x 40 x 6 = 278 watt-hours, That's 278 / 12 = 23 amp-hours at 12V. Add about 10% for losses for a more realistic figure.

A 180 watt heater would take 278 / 180 = about 1.5 hours to do this.
 
We’ve been using the 12v plug in cigar lighter water heaters since we were students back in the 70s. Can’t give you details. Just boils one cup at a time. Which is fine if you’re frugal.
 
Not much for a shower though…..! ;)
 
AndyPK said:
Not much for a shower though…..! ;)
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I am still looking, I was at 14.1 volts at 9 o clock this morning and solar switched off , crazy waste isn't it.
Obviously if it's a dull dark day it's going to be different but would love to find some road of useing it.
Trouble is very few people seem to think the same. :(
 
12v and 180watts to heat water.....waste of time and energy.
Ever wondered why household immersion heaters are usually 3000 watts

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