RE: Coleman " Hot Water on Demand"

[SkipP]

We picked up a Coleman HWOD recently after purchasing a "New to Us" 2002 Jayco QWEST 10V. We looked at a new popup with water heater, etc, and just couldn't justify the extra cost for features we might or might not use.
 
Our one regret was not having the hot water heater ... but the HWOD is GREAT! Quick setup, can run either off the "little bottles" or with the adapter we already had I can hook it up to a 20# bottle. The only thing I don't like (and it's the same thing I didn't like about the Coleman battery shower, which I also generally love as a "quickie" outdoor water pump) is that the pump only screws onto the coleman collapsing 5 gal water bottle. I have TERRIBLE luck keeping those things from getting leaks! I did find though that the pump will immerse in the WalMart Aquatainer (again, same as the battery shower pump) which provides a 7 gallon water option. One of these days I may try to make an adapter to attach the pump to other sized water bottles.
 
I bought ours from www.popupexplorer.com
Better price than I found anywhere else (at least from "reputable" internet stores). IIRC it was 154.95 ... I also got the shower attachment and the hose adapter. Didn't bother with the carry bag, since it will "live" inside our popup cabinet when not in use when camping. The nice thing is that we can use it even when dry camping ... still have to figure out how long the battery will last between chargings.

Coleman also sells an adapter to use this thing with a conventional water hose. We bought it but have yet to try it out.

[Johnowolf]

I do have the hose adapter for use when I have a water hookup, but when dry camping or when at an "electric only" site, the HWOD will still require bottle feeding

What I'm trying to figure out is what size threading the pump uses so I can make an adapter from that to :confused: (maybe just from the Coleman pump connection to a standard hose size, then make a hose connecter for whatever type of bottle I'm using). This will only be used when I don't have a water hookup at site.
 
When I've got water, I already have the following figured ... from the spigot, I hook in an inline water filter. That goes into a drinking water hose to a diverter plugged into the City Water hookup. The faucet off the diverter goes to another drinking water hose into the hose adapter for the HWOD. Alternatively (if I want to stretch out the filter and only use it on the CW hookup) I put the diverter on the spigot, run one connection to the filter/hose/CW hookup, the other straight to the HWOD.

[HersheyGirl]

Mine leaked too until I finally figure the thing out.  Where it attatches to the water bottle, you tighten that. but you have to hold the whole thing and just tighten with the collor...does that make since?  But anyway, fiddle with it and it will tighten and there will be no leak.  Other people have complained of the same thing, until they play with it and figure out the way to do it.  Hope this helps.

[Johnowolf]

New info to add after our last camping trip (5/27 to 5/30).
 
We were in a campground near St. Louis, Mo. in a "basic" site (i.e. no hookups). Decided it would be a good weekend to test out "living off the battery" before we go on a boondocking expedition this summer. All in all, I think we'll do well.
 
Anyway, we used our CHWOD extensively this weekend! In addition to doing dishes and handwashing, we took showers or sponge baths every night with HOT water (for once even I could stand being downwind from myself!). One evening, my DD asked me to heat up water so she could make hot chocolate. Since I was rather comfortably settled in by the fire (in other words, feeling very lazy) I told her to use the CHWOD for water. It worked PERFECTLY! She actually had to add some milk to cool it down a bit
 
I fully charged my CHWOD 3 weeks ago in the middle of a camping trip. We made it through the entire weekend this weekend, and somewhere around 30 gallons or so of water, on that same charge. I figure you should be able to run about 40 gallons or so of water through it before you have to recharge the battery.

[SkipP]

New info to add after our last camping trip (5/27 to 5/30).
 
 
I fully charged my CHWOD 3 weeks ago in the middle of a camping trip. We made it through the entire weekend this weekend, and somewhere around 30 gallons or so of water, on that same charge. I figure you should be able to run about 40 gallons or so of water through it before you have to recharge the battery.

Thats good to know! Thanks for the information. We haven't pushed ours that hard yet so now we have a basic idea. How much propane usage?

[Johnowolf]

Thats good to know! Thanks for the information. We haven't pushed ours that hard yet so now we have a basic idea. How much propane usage?

To be honest, I don't know. I use an adapter hose to run from a 20# propane tank. In "theory", one of the little tanks is supposed to last for about 40 gallons ... same as a single charge on the battery. I'll have to try that in the future, just to find out. I'm guessing that if that's true, the amount I'm using from my spare 20# tank is pretty negligible, but it also gets used by our camping grill, so it's hard to know for sure which is using how much.
 
We travel with one tank on the front, and one spare carried that also gets used for "non-PU" propane service. I started out carrying the other tank on the tongue along with the primary, but needed the space for the battery. The space in front of the propane won't work because it has the crank system and cover. I thought about building a platform for the battery case, but it would get in the way of the handle for the tongue jack. Sometimes you just can't win! LOL

[kathybrj]

DH is working on a adaptor so we can pull water from our 20 gallon water tank for the CHWOD.

This is our second season using the CHWOD for camping. Can't say enough good things about this item. I never had to use the shower house at the state campground we were staying at this past weekend- which meant I didn't have to drive to the showerhouse, fight the line, or get there and have it closed for cleaning.

I also used it to give the dog a bath. We used it over the winter during a power outage. It's just too convenient!