Who doesn't like long, hot steamy showers ?

[Houston_Remodel]

Our 2015 Starcraft TT came with the factory 6 gallon hot water heater (HWH) with the usual "feels like 9 gallons" claim. Y'all know the drill; No washing dishes while showering, Quick showers, spacing the showers to let the HWH make more hot water.... I shopped for factory made RV gas fired on demand HWH and found they run about $1200 and had to be professionally installed. I am too cheap thrifty to spend two grand for hot water.

Then I had another McGyver moment - why not add our existing Ecco Temp 5 On demand hot water heater to the TT to have endless hot water?

The new install works excellently. Last weekend we hosted 12 people showering (they are in tents) with no want for hot water all weekend. They did have to bring their own towels.

What we did-

1- Install a diverter tee to the stock incoming cold water supply pipe just before the stock HWH. This tee sends the cold water supply either to the on demand or to the stock heater, making the mod reversible.
2- Installed another (regular) tee just after the diverter tee to bring the water back from the on demand. Since the diverter tee will not allow backflow, the second tee doesn't need to be special.
3- Ran pex from the tees to the on demand heater at the rear of the TT, which hangs on the outside ladder, keeping the heater a few inches away from the trailer siding.
4- At the ends of the pipes outside are self shut off, brass, hose style quick connect fittings. These fittings also act as valves, preventing backflow, pipe drainage, and makes the mod reversible.
5- We made jumper hoses from the quick connect fittings to and from the on demand.
6- The on demand uses a typical 20 pound LP (high pressure) tank which also serves our outdoor fire pit. The TT has low pressure LP so we can't use the TT gas to run the on demand.
7- To keep the wind from blowing out the flame* on the on demand and add a rain shield, I installed a typical galvanized, off the shelf from home depot, 4x10" rectangle to 4" round galvanized duct, topped with a class B roof cap. These caps are designed to prevent pilot blow out. Our weekend was very windy and we had zero problems.
8- Dis-assembly is as simple as the quick connects for the 2 water hoses and the LP to the portable tank. We toss the whole thing in the rear storage compartment on the same corner.
9- To keep the fittings on the outside / underside of the TT clean, there is a short jumper hose which replaces the on demand while the TT is in transport or storage. It loops around the nearby bumper to keep it from sagging or pinching.

Counting the heater itself, we spent $286

The on demand is excellent at bringing hose water up to a much higher temperature and acts as a pre-heater to the stock HWH. The factory HWH is excellent at topping off the temperature to nearly scalding, which is how I like my showers. Use of cold water was necessary as we had endless, more-than-hot-enough water to take showers as long and as many as needed. There were times when people were in line using the shower one after another. We washed dishes at the same time. Everyone was happy.

*The Ecco Temp LP HWH's are battery powered, self igniting flame when they sense water flowing. However, when its windy, the flame can be blown out, shutting down the water heating but not the water flow. To restart the flame, either the water needs to be stopped and re-started OR the unit turned off and back on by means of the rocker switch on the bottom of the HWH. Thus the attention to wind is important as you're in the shower nekkid when the unit is running. This usually is a really bad time for the HWH to stop working. The addition of the HVAC adapter and the B vent cap eliminated the fear of the flame being blown out.

[FrankShore]

Rockhillmanor wrote: OH MY! So much work/alterations just for a shower?

First of all I would NEVER have 12 guests showering in my RV!

Totally agree with that statement!

[GrandpaKip]

Houston Remodeler wrote:
Why do so much work?

Because it's cool and fun to see if I can do it. Who doesn't enjoy a good Macgyver moment?

The whole thing took less than a day to install, taking my time to enjoy the process.

FWIW the steam from the outdoor shower fogged up the lens on the webcam. JK

Absolutely. Personally, I have no need to do this mod, like a lot of others on this site. But I really enjoy reading and seeing what others come up with, especially if done thriftily.
Well done, sir.

[CavemanCharlie]

I'm glad you found a cleaver solution to a problem you have that works for you and that you can help others out by posting it on here !

I get by OK with my 6 gallon water heater for a shower. If I want more I use the campground shower.

I'm not a fan of long, hot, steamy , showers. They dry out my skin to much. I must have a skin problem of some kind. It never bothers me though, as long as I don't spend too much time in the shower.

Have a nice Day

[Passin_Thru]

How did you get 12 people in your shower. Made me laugh as I imagine Marx Bros getting in the ships cabin with about 15 people.

[Houston_Remodel]

Why do so much work?

Because it's cool and fun to see if I can do it. Who doesn't enjoy a good Macgyver moment?

The whole thing took less than a day to install, taking my time to enjoy the process.

FWIW the steam from the outdoor shower fogged up the lens on the webcam. JK

[Coolerman]

2012Coleman wrote:

opnspaces wrote:
I applaud you and your mod, I sometimes do things like that just because I can, not because I need it. 🙂 With that much hot water you could have set up a shower tent by the outside shower and had two people at once showering. That would have been really cool. 😉

Great idea - but make sure you don't light it from the inside after dark. :B

Well... He could set up a second tent, and charge to see the first tent to pay for the mod! 😉

[2012Coleman]

opnspaces wrote:
I applaud you and your mod, I sometimes do things like that just because I can, not because I need it. 🙂 With that much hot water you could have set up a shower tent by the outside shower and had two people at once showering. That would have been really cool. 😉

Great idea - but make sure you don't light it from the inside after dark. :B

[2012Coleman]

doxiluvr wrote:
When we are camping we expect to take shorter showers. And since we shower every day, a long shower is not necessary and I hate to waste the RV park's water I guess. Where we go they have a very nice shower/bathroom facility and I do see a lot of people use them, probably because they have more room. Also it makes me appreciate our bathrooms at home, but actually I don't like long, hot/steamy showers anyway.

So you are saying that the OP should not have done this mod because you take short showers and like to save water? :h

[Coolerman]

That is an awesome mod! I do a lot of 4 wheeling with friends and we sometimes take out camper to these events. I always have people wanting to borrow our shower as they tent camp. I never turn them down but do make they clean the shower after they are done! This mod would really help. Excellent idea!

[opnspaces]

I applaud you and your mod, I sometimes do things like that just because I can, not because I need it. 🙂 With that much hot water you could have set up a shower tent by the outside shower and had two people at once showering. That would have been really cool. 😉

[doxiluvr]

When we are camping we expect to take shorter showers. And since we shower every day, a long shower is not necessary and I hate to waste the RV park's water I guess. Where we go they have a very nice shower/bathroom facility and I do see a lot of people use them, probably because they have more room. Also it makes me appreciate our bathrooms at home, but actually I don't like long, hot/steamy showers anyway.

[Majja13]

My question is how did you get 12 people in that tiny shower? 😛 nice mod

[Houston_Remodel]

Since then we have learn 3 things;

We added full port ball valve shut offs to where the flex hoses connect from the on demand to the trailer. This prevents me from getting an additional shower when unhooking the unit.

The garden hoses didn't hold up to the heat. We traded for stainless steel braided flex hoses.

The cheap plastic quick disconnects failed. We switched to the good brass ones.

No problems 8000 miles and 72 days of camping later.

[RollandB]

I like a hot shower but get in and out fairly quickly so don't run out of HW. Now, it's been many years since my DW has joined me which would make it steamy.....;-)