Adding water heater to 2003 Coleman Utah

[danylo]

Hi everyone,

Any thoughts on wanting to add a hot water heater to my 2003 Coleman Utah?  Just purchased it and it's the only thing keeping it from being perfect.  Is this something worth installing?  Meaning - from a cost and complication point-of-view?  Thanks.

Dan

[wavery]

Hi everyone,

Any thoughts on wanting to add a hot water heater to my 2003 Coleman Utah?  Just purchased it and it's the only thing keeping it from being perfect.  Is this something worth installing?  Meaning - from a cost and complication point-of-view?  Thanks.

Dan

Did it ever have a heater?

Is there a door (and space) on the side of the camper for the water heater?

Do you have propane on your camper?

What kind of camping do you do? If you dry camp, propane is the only way to go. If you camp with electric hook-ups, you may want to consider an electric, on-demand water heater.

BTW....

WELCOME TO PUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AustinBoston]

Many people get a large electric coffee urn (like used to be seen at church suppers and the like) for hot water as needed.  It just requires that you have electricity and be mindful of the fact that the water is VERY hot.

Austin

[danylo]

Did it ever have a heater?

Is there a door (and space) on the side of the camper for the water heater?

Do you have propane on your camper?

What kind of camping do you do? If you dry camp, propane is the only way to go. If you camp with electric hook-ups, you may want to consider an electric, on-demand water heater.

BTW....

WELCOME TO PUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

-----------

No, there isn't a door on the side of the camper for a water heater, but there's defnitely space.  Also, the camper has propane.  

Historically, we've primarily done primitive camping.  Our new tent trailer has a sink with a water pump.  Cold water comes out fine, but would love the option of mixing the two for 'warm' water.  Is this usually a dealer install?  Can I just take it to a reseller and have them do it?

Dan

[wavery]

-----------

No, there isn't a door on the side of the camper for a water heater, but there's defnitely space.  Also, the camper has propane.  

Historically, we've primarily done primitive camping.  Our new tent trailer has a sink with a water pump.  Cold water comes out fine, but would love the option of mixing the two for 'warm' water.  Is this usually a dealer install?  Can I just take it to a reseller and have them do it?

Dan

The propane water heater isn't all that hard to install. It comes in a kit.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SUBURBAN-SW6D-WATER-HEATER-RV-CAMPER-6-GAL-DSI-ATWOOD_W0QQitemZ160162902344QQihZ006QQcategoryZ50069QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD6VQQcmdZViewItem

Here is a bunch of tankless water heaters. I like the propane one but you can get electric too:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=tankless+water+heater&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sabfmts=1&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

[mike4947]

Providing you have an electric water pump you can use the EBay linked one with minimal ripping the camper apart...LOL
You will have to convert the faucet by installing a fitting on one of the nipples on it's underside for the hot water. Add a line from it to the water heater and one from the water heater to somewhere in the cold water piping.
Then it's routing 12 volt for the control and propane for the burner.
The problem is most dealers won't touch a water heater install or you won't let them once you find it's about a 4 hour job and they have a labor rate of usually between $90 and $110 an hour. Not many folks want to pay near a grand for a water heater. So it's basically a DIY project and about 3 hammers out of 5 for difficulty.
As for the permanent mounted tank less ones. The majority are not rated for RV use. Road travel does nasty things to their innards. Others, mainly the cheaper RV units have a temp rise of only about 40-50 degrees, so fall and spring camping means cool to cold showers. Good ones run in the Thousand dollar range.
They are several non permanent units such as the Zodi's ( not my favorite units) and the Coleman HWOD unit which I do approve of due to it's safety features the Zodi (at least 2 years ago) lacked.

[ptrawles]

I just finished a water heater install on my '01 Jayco 14so so I can add some light on this one. It's not a difficult install (I'd agree that it's about a 3 out of 5) but it will take a while and requires carpentry, plumbing, and wiring skills and tools.

The first key is to determine what brand of water heater for which your camper was framed. In my case  it was an Atwood. There was 2x2 framing in the wall that perfectly boxed in the Atwood unit. If I would have tried to install a Suburban it would have been much less solidly attached in the outer camper wall.

The easiest way to determine which brand is used by your manufacturer is to find pictures of the outside of a  camper like yours. The different brands look very different so it's easy to tell.

I went with the Atwood combination propane/AC unit for about $300 with the door and switch. The scariest part was cutting a huge hole in the side of the camper. I went through several Dremel fiberglass cutting wheels in the process while frequently measuring and probing the area between the outside and inside walls to find the framing so the hole was the right size and on the framing edges.

The plumbing wasn't hard. I used PEX and slide in connectors. This worked well as our sink and city water connection are in the slide out while the water heater is not. I picked up several different connectors and was able to totally finish the plumbing in one evening. I installed the water heater, outside shower, new faucet, pump, and accumulator at the same time.

The wiring easy as well. One 120 VAC line and a series of low voltage lines between the heater and the control panel. Working with copper tubing is always a bit of a pain, but if you have the tools it's not that bad. At a minimum I'm guessing about $30 for a tubing cutter and flare tool. For a complex install I'd add another $50 to the tool set and buy a nice tube bender. I already had all of the tools from automotive work (brake lines) so I didn't have to add them to my budget.

All in all I'm in about $550-$600 by the time I bought the water heater, pump, accumulator, outside shower, faucet, and piping. I don't know what the cost at the dealer would have been but I'm guessing north of $1200 and it would have been much less carefully installed. I took great care in the running of the water lines and in preserving as much storage space as possible. I also was very careful in the manner I installed the pump and added pipe insulation to places where the pex wanted to knock against cabinets when the pump engaged.

The worst part of the whole project was trying to route the tubing under the slide out dinette. Without a slide out it would be much simpler.

It was all worth it though when I fired off the sink and had warm water - without pumping. I expect to heavily use the outside shower next summer as we have three kids ranging from two to six who love to get dirty. If we weren't going to put in the outside shower I don't think I'd have installed the water heater as I did lose a significant amount of storage space to it.

[danylo]

Thanks!  I'll start by finding out what they're installing in Utah's these days (apparently, HWT heaters and external showers are now standard).