one simple method of water capture - is to keep a jug near the sink - capture it as it flows and when its close to full put it back into the tank. Re-circulators are expensive.
Most people do understand that it INSTANTLY starts heating the water when you turn the faucet on, not INSTANT hot water. I use the same setup you use and I just have a catch bucket there to spray the water into for the 10 second delay for the HOT water to start spraying. So simple, now the water in the catch bucket can be added back to the "shower fresh water" bucket or kept until you need cold water for some other reason. Just like if you are catching your shower water to use as a prewash for laundry or whatever. Be sure to utilize the shower nozzle shutoff to use less water. You know, wet from head to toe then stop the water flow while ya soap from head to toe then rinse...! These water heaters are fantastic for offgrid, nomadic, vanlife or boondockers.
Dave, I worked for a remodeling company years ago and had the same problem when we remodeled a daycare center that had a sink with a cold water feed only and they required hot water as well. It would cost a fortune to plumb a hot water line so we opted to install an electric on demand hot water heater under the sink which then split to hot and cold on the output side of the heater with only a cold water on the input side. When the hot water was turned on it almost immediately got hot water without wasting water. The unit ran on 110 volt, now I know it's a drain on your electrical system but with your new lithium batteries it probably would handle it with no problem. The only requirement is running an electrical line which is in your wheelhouse. Hope you find this helpful. Stay safe..
To fix the hot water issue, you need to install a bypass line. To do this: Install a "T" on your hot water line by the fixture then install a short piece of pipe then a ball valve. Then plumb a length of pipe back to the fresh water tank. To operate turn your water heater on, then open the ball valve feel the valve or line (this is a bypass line) when it's at the desired temp close the ball valve and open your sink valve. Not wasted water.
Here’s an idea I’ve implemented in our family’s RV. I purchased a used 5 gallon Corny keg on FB marketplace. Cleaned it up, replaced seals, purchased ball lock fittings and hose. Next, I remove the lid fill it with drinking water or hot water. On the intake side, I pressurize it with a battery powered tire inflator or you could use any oil less air compressor. Now, I can use my corny keg as a portable means of caring drinking water, the ability to attach a shower head for bathing, and even the ability to use it to hose down a vehicle for cleaning. I like the portable factor along with it being made out of stainless steel. Looks good and will last a long time.
Lefty is SO sweet and SMART!!!! ❣He got the zoomies!!! ❣ 👍 I just love this Breed!!!! 💛🐾 Thank you for showing people here on RU-vid just how Wonderful they are!!! God Bless. 🇺🇸🗽❤🙏 P.S. I'll come get the solar panels. Of course so Lefty maintains his front seat view!! 🐾😘 I'm close. Southern Utah.
Hello friend, We owned an RV once and we have an electrical shower box that instantly heat the shower water. You turn the water on, you have water heater. I can’t remember what I paid for it but the RV place installed it for us. Again, I am now retired and my kids are now older than me. You are a very good, thorough, detailed on all projects that you have done in your Campulance. Perhaps you can go online and get some information about it. Lefty is just an amazing dogs. My grandchildren loves Lefty. Take care and always be safe my friend. Retired from Pahrump Nevada.
Hey David on one of your videos you asked for a neat way to crack eggs. Tap the egg on the inside of your skillet or bowl then open over the place you want the egg.
David, I know there are household shower valves for people who cannot feel how hot the water is on their bodies. I've stayed in ADA Compliant hotel rooms with them, and there is a screen that shows the temperature and it adjusts the hot/cold ratio to keep the output temperature, regardless of the input temperature. Costly, I suspect. The "instant" heater sounds like it could be a scalding risk. Scalding hot water is a major contributor to elderly and children being admitted to UCSD Burn Unit. Glad you are getting Lefty's Co-Command Cockpit seat cleared. I love it when he is on his back verbalizing and scratching his back on the chair.
I have the same setup. what I do is take the sprayer off and stick the end back into the fill side and let it circulate till it's warm. I'm looking into getting a seat warmer out of a wrecked car and putting it under the tank and hook it up with some type of thermostat to keep it around 70 deg. plus it will keep it from freezing on real cold nights. keep up the videos really enjoy them
i have not watched them all but when don't post a video for a while i am forced to go back and watch the older videos. i got to keep my addiction to lefty up and running
Lucky cracks me up in his chair. He sure is a talker ! Congratulations Mark on the Bluetti win. Looking forward to your next video with Lucky !! Meema and Jessi Beagle in Florida.
Or filter the water and let the waste go back to the gray tank (so to speak) from tank, start with a small 100 Micron filter --> to a turn down 20 mc filt--> your pump--> to a three cone staged filter to take all soap particles and cysts out (technically can drink after this) --> water heater --> to faucet sink shower --> back to gray tank, can go depending on use up to 20 -30 days before changing filters etc. this way you don't have to worry about waiting for hot water to push through. I have thought long about this. (10 or 15 minute showers anyone?) might be hard to do in a stand alone shower however without using a pan, IDK
You can check into a three way 12/24 volt DC valve. For a return for your water heater. Look online and find a Brass one 1/2" is around $100. You would have to set up a switch which is easier and cheaper or put in a automatic switch which is costly.
In looking at your outside hose, I thought hmmm, grab a pizza delivery bag and zip it up. Keep a hot rock in there wrapped up in a washcloth so it wouldn't burn the bag. That rock thrown in there before usage would keep it warm for a good hour. Just off the top of my head suggestion.
Great points on the hot water. I didn't even think of that. Hopefully I'll be implementing all this in my rig some day. I'm still in the planning stages and learning every thing I can. I'm still very intimidated by electrical! I'll get there eventually.🤞 Lefty is so darn cute!
On the shower head if you bought a double hose with the small mixer valve you could have warm water feed in the shower head and also have some cold water also feeding the shower head with a little mix of valve and you could adjust the temperature that way you could leave the setting on all the time and the two hoses would just be braided together
As others have said, capture the water into a container. I keep a couple of empty one gallon jugs for that purpose, and use that water for the dog water bowl, my waterpik, making coffee, etc.
If your shower hose will reach the water tank, turn on the heater and (just before your shower time) flush the cold water in the hose into the water tank. Use a funnel, or whatever. As for inside hot water without waste, a small 120v brushless circulating pump you run with a pushbutton you add puts water in the tank, install a TEE near your fawcet. Press the button to run the pump, hold it in until it has run enough, then release to shut it off. Then open your fawcet, out comes hot water, not a drop has been wasted. Go to HD or Lowes and ask for a "hot water recirculation pump for drinking water" and there you have it.
David & Lefty, Great sunset or sunrise in the opening. Makes me miss the sun even more, we have been lucky the last few days with the sun showing up here. HA! HA! Keira does the same thing as Lefty only in the dirt. HA! HA! I will be happy to help clean out your rig David, send me anything you would like. HA! HA! God bless you both. Package coming soon ??? Russ & Keira
if you use a tankless water heater and run the drain into the tank that the water heat pulls from you can make it work. you have a filter system between where the water comes out and the faucet. start wit ha 50 micron filter then a small standard house system with a 3 stage filter system. to divert the hot water to the outside you can just use a regular valve
David, we just had a tankless water heater hooked up to our house...it's powered by propane...the water is just out of the ground...it has several baffles to go thru, the temp is set to about 130 degrees...ah, our bathroom is in the back of the house....it does take a bit...maybe a minute...I used that water to brush my teeth. then wash my face or get a complete hot water shower....no longer do we have to wait for the water to heat in the old fashioned heater...we like it.. .it's saving electricity.
On the other system to recirculate the water before it heats up you could have almost a separate drainage system that would feed back into your water tank so you would just hold it into the drain into the drain hose till it runs out hot and you wouldn't lose any water it would just go back into the tank
They make recirculators but they're not cheap I would probably just keep like a some kind of a pot or a jug or something and just let the water go into there until it gets warm and then pour it back in your tank set up some kind of a little funnel system or something you're a pretty handy guy you know
You give tons of good info for would be buyers of all different kinds of items. HI sweet boy Lefty. Happy Trails to you guys! Hey Mr your dogs barking,lol!
I say... all these different options are A-Ok... It depends on what you really want or need or are willing to spend. I am planning to build a camper sorta like an ambulance. I had desired for an ambulance but not when gas and diesel prices sky rocketed. I imagined to use a Panasonic Water Heater... certainly not an on-demand one... simple but reliable and robust. If I need to take a shower or do the dishes after eating then that's when I switch the heater on while am still eating or if I wanna take a bath, I switch on the heater while I'm brewing my coffee. Simple solution but it works... something similar to the Japanese system of JIT... Just In Time. More economical system if I may say so.
Yeah, I forgot to say that I don't nead an air heater since I come from a tropical country... 2 seasons. But some hot or warm shower works wonders. I can let a mini split aircon or a window type aircon provide the heat just in case. A Mr. Buddy heater is even too much for me as I am familiar with it from my Saudi Arabian winters.
OK-nice/i bought the same water heater for my van/i am going to mount it on back door-open door an take a shower right there/simple -is my plans/an catch most of water for porta potty/try to save on water/everone has their secrets on living in camper or RV /thanks much
Regarding the water flow adjustment, when using a 12v pump from your tank you're not putting enough pressure thru the heater to make a difference. That dial would more come in to play when running "city water" thru it that can offer much higher pressures. Congrats to the Bluetti winner! I'm jealous.
im thinking you are correct.We use one of these with city water and you do hafta turn the dial.My wife uses it to wash dogs.When she first turn it on she is basically setting thetemp and spraying into the tub away from dog and getting it right then washing
Some of the newer RV's and travel trailers do have a recirculater knob in the shower but only in the shower. I have a cargo trailer build and thought about plumbing one in but I just use a SS pot to catch the cold water at startup. It only amounts to .0816 gal (via the online calculator) I then but that in my Berkey water filter as I have the exact water heater as you.
the thing we do in our camper is catch the water in a bucket until it gets hot i know its seems funny but you only have so much water you can use it later or poor it back into tank its still clean
You need to talk to a good instrumentation tech about the proper valve set up for the system you are wanting. There are many different types of instrumentation valves that would be able to do what you want. Might even check with a valve manufacturing company. Valve technicians would know. Making sure you let them know it's a small line, I'm assuming it's 1/8" or maybe 1/4" but a valve like that might be pricey. They may even give you one to become sponsors.
I would just collect that first water in a jug for other use, like filling Lefty's water bowl. I have to keep things simple. I'm not a person that enjoys fixing things. I'm glad to see this video though. This is one thing I am still undecided on
Congrats Mark! David, not sure if you have checked into the Showermiser from Aquaview. Have not tried it but heard good things. It may work for you to recycle the water until it is hot. If you decide on it, please do a video. No affiliation.
Huge fan of your channel , I always look forward to seeing your videos . Not trying to be a smarty pants but there's no such thing as a hot water heater , you can't heat hot water it's already hot it's's just a water heater. Shout out to Lefty, awesome dog!!
Hi David and lefty. I didn't realize about the hot water 😳 because the word instant sticks in your head... I hope to be purchasing my ambulance in the next couple of days. I was going to email you but I'm not sure of the email. Stay well n blessings 🙏 Woohoo found the email!
a simple way to reclaim the unheated water in a limited water situation i have planned is: just as you say the water is heated but the lines are full of cold water and you got to get that gone to get to the hot water. ok. you can waste that water but in our situation that is a no no. i saw on dude that had a funnel attached close to his fauset. then when he asked for hot water but the lines were full of cold water he would turn the tap on and then redirect the water into the funnel and that redirects the water back to the supply tank. thus not losing any water. so that is my plan
My thoughts on the hot water are mixed.. You could, in theory, just spray your water into a bucket until it's up to temp, then dump said water back into your fresh tank (use a clean bucket, for obvious reasons...) Option 2, would be for you to shorten that hose as much as feasible, and have an extension for bike washing purposes. The third thing, and the way my converted cargo trailer is set up, is I have mixing valves on both my sink and my shower, with hot and cold lines run to each. This won't fix the hot water delay (I do the bucket/return to fresh tank method..) but it does help immensely with temp control, especially as my shower is inside the camper.
Curious as to a resolution to your question on plumbing. Not something I'm real good at! One thing that might help though. As I've said before, I live in a mobile home. Our park has well water. For various reasons, our pressure isn't the greatest. I like water pressure. I bought a low water pressure hand held shower head and love it. Bought off Ebay. Many different brands. They basically use smaller nozzles to create more pressure. A side benefit is less water usage. Since I have installed this, my water usage has dropped by about 20 percent, on a regular basis and nothing else has changed. The less water usage would definitely benefit you, along with better pressure.
Hello and good morning I really enjoy your videos like I said I have an ambulance to and the things you show on this video really help me out and put it together thank you keep them coming
i put my water heater on the wall outside of my trailer. in the graguage area where i keep tools and all outdoor stuff. it burns propane and that is a bad thing to be breathing in. but after years and years of using one of these heaters you got to adjust it for temps often. so with the heater outside and me inside its not easy to do. so i plan to drill a hole in the wall and stick a thin steel rod to attach to the knob for temp control and then i can push and pull it to adjust it for my temp on the fly.
The cheapest way to do it is turn on your hot water and drain it straight into a bucket and as soon as it starts running hot move the bucket out the way and do your thing.once you've finished pour your water from your bucket back into the tank .Easy and cheap ,your welcome
You could divert the flow of water back to the tank with an electric apporated solonoid valve and when the water reaches warm temperatures just close the valve just a thought 🤔 also could add a temp guage of some sort so you'd know when to close the valve as fast as it heats up don't think a relay type system would be necessary
Thank you for explaining how the Instant hot water works. It is still a problem with wasting water in my home. It takes so long to get hot water in my shower. I grew up in an era when conserving everything even when there was long lines at the gas stations. And here we are again dealing with the same situation. Lucky winner for Mark Domon in winning the Blue Yeti! 👍👍
If you could make a diverter valve to recirculate the water until it's hot you won't waste any water. I've seen these in Homes not sure how to do it in a vehicle? You would probably need a separate water tank for shower water so the drinking water doesn't get contaminated.
that looks like the water heater i have for my wifes shop,and you are correct she has to turn the dial because of the difference in temperature of the water coming in.i like the fact that it ignites off 2 D batteries and it needs no wiring..but the dial turning is a smidge aggravating
Agreed - If I could normalize the water going in then all would be perfect. So I need a heater to preheat the water to go into the water heater... :)))
Ah, yes a recirculating system. I have a pump from the water heater to recirculate water to the upstairs bathroom so we don't waste 10 gallons of water waiting. I would find a wireless probe to drop in the bottom of the tank. One you could read on phone app. Then you could turn off the pump when your water is up to temp in the tank. Just an idea. I'm a Journeyman electrician and not a plumber but I've done a bit of both in my plant nursery. Before I start out I plan to make a campfire coil to heat my water. CONGRATS, MARK...
Hey Dave. We have the same problem on our travel trailer. It takes a gallon of water before hot water starts coming out. It’s not the water usage I’m concerned about because we are in campgrounds and have a city water connection but we are also filling the gray tank. Sometimes we don’t have a sewer connection. The loop you’re talking about is a great idea. Have you ever heard of Arduino single board computers? You could easily install a couple of solenoids with a temperature probe attached to the pipe. Are you concerned about power consumption? The controller wouldn’t take much but the solenoids probably would. You wouldn’t have to keep them on long though. I’ve watched a lot of your older videos about setting up the ambulance. If I was a single guy I would do the same thing.
I have a normal TT with water heater, I put the cold shower water in the toilet black tank till its warm, that way it keeps the black tank healthy at least, not the greatest, but better than pouring it down the Grey tank
I have the same on demand water heater. My shower is inside cargo trailer and has a temp readout on my mixer valve in shower. I have a 12 volt DC 1/2 NPT valve on hot water line right before mixer that returns to tank. Valve is closed when not energized. With your setup, you would need a double hose going to shower head, a y fitting at shower head, and place the 12 volt valve right at tank return. When the valve is energized, it will open and return water into tank until you determine the water at showerhead is up to temp, then deenergize valve and take shower. The only water loss is the length of your shower head alone.
Last note,..if you have access to your tank while you are prepping for shower, you can also just use a manual valve at tank. I use 12 volt for shower and kitchen sink because my tanks are not easily accessible. The dual hose with the return line will get hot water to shower head before it is turned on.
I appreciate your setup info. I'm thinking of the same type system but with temperature actuated valves that can do the switching without my input. I think I'm always going to lose the amount in the shower hose but it's used less frequently than the sink...
The water heaters sense the drop in water pressure to ignite the burners and heat the water. That is what the low and high control know is for, sometimes they can come on because they sense the cold water tap being opened and drop in system pressure. That knob adjust sensitivity to keep water heater off when not needed. In any application, you are initiating the recirculation process in the hot water line to save water. A thermostatic valve will open as needed and run the heater as needed to keep water hot if you ever forget to turn the on demand system switch off, and with that being said causes its own problems in a closed unvented cabinet in your application. I prefer the personal Input
Yes there are videos on RU-vid University lol for a recirculating shower. Curt and snow RU-vid channel has a great one. Me on the other not tech savvy so it seems complicated lol... Yeah I agree having plumbed for warm water is truly not necessary,but then again I don't have a van/ rig working on it. Trying to sell my Truck first...
I've watched Humble Road (George, another rabidly fave channel) anyway, I've watched him discuss "recirculation". Some of his systems have 2 different "glycol" recirculators. One for when you drive. It heats from the engine & recirculates. (one hour to hot) Two - a separate "glycol" recirculator heater that, I think, runs of your inverter.... The magic is in the recirculator... David, (Lefty) Please let me know if you find traction on this topic.... Thanks
I have a lot of things I would love to put in my van. But no clue how to do the work or hook things up. We need to have a get together where anyone who knows how to do the work, can make money and we can get our jobs done.
