Coleman Hot Water System

We got the entire kit and caboodle for Coleman Hot Water System from BCF. Took it up to Rainbow Beach (Inskip Point) and found it to be just a wonderful asset when camping,, that was till the system didn't want to fire up on day 4. We checked that it was fully charged up, new coleman gas insert everything.
A family camping next to us came and had a sticky as they had the same prob with their system 12 mths prior to us. They said they took theirs back and got a newbie and havn't had a prob since. We we cut our holiday short, and headed home to get a refund on the System. BCF warns us that Coleman can be a 'particular' company to deal with, and suggested that we opt for the refund, because a sure bet would be that coleman just want to repair it. Apart from the hiccup we had, we cannot fault it and found having hot water on tap for dishes, and best of all hot showers was fantastic,, particularly since we have 3 young kids! No more boiling water to use!!

hi again

i am so confused about these hot water on demand type systems. Ive heard so many horror stories (about all brands not just coleman) and then i hear so many stories about how people couldnt live without them.

I met a couple whilst traveling, we joined them for a few months as we travelled down the west coast, His coleman packed it up and would not heat the water, he rang coleman and they were helpful, they diagnosed the fault over the pone. They sent a new part in the mail for my friend to try and said if it didnt work they would give him a replacement reconditioned model with a new 12 month warranty. i guess you cant ask for more than that. im not sure if it fixed it or not as they have moved on.

My concern is the space and weight of these things plus the need next for extra gas. I am seriously considering a Glind type system under the bonnet. It fits inline with the cars heater hoses and as fresh water is pumped through it, it gets heated by the hot coolant (they dont mix, lol), its a heat exchanger type setup. glind systems they work out around the same price as the portable systems and you dont need gas or find storage space, just run your car for a few minutes. You could have a shower hose on the end of the outlet hose or just heat up water in a bucket and take it away to your shower or sink. just another option i guess. my problem is the amount of room under the bonnet of my rodeo, i think it might be a case of playing tetris to try and fit it in there with a home made bracket.
What do you use for a shower?

i think this forum is gonne work well for ideas like this, just hope more people join up.

Fugs

Hey Fugs,
Glad your fellow camper got good service from coleman, i havn't delt with them directly, i just took it as good advice from BCF!
The space does take a bit up, but the good part is all parts like shower head, gas cylinders, hoses and connections all fit in the coleman bag, so it is neat and tidy when it needs to be packed.
Since recently getting our first 4wd we have been looking at the heat exchange setup as well. My concern with that setup is how to regulate the heat. Just say for example that you are using water from a 20L container, you of course wouldn't let the shower run non stop, you'd have to turn the shower head off, so soaping up etc doesn't just waste the water. The prob i am concerned about is the water will just continue to heat and boil and once you turn the shower head back on, wouldn't you be hit with exteme temp of water? I know ppl really like them if you are near a stream etc, you can just have endless hot showers and not turn the shower head off.
We have the shower head attachement for the Coleman hot water system and we just connect it to a shower stand we got a the local camping shop.

I agree with you Fugs, this forum is so much simpler to use, and to hear all different stories/ideas/ that other fellow campers have will be just terrific!

So many options, so little money- lol.

I was thinking with the heat exchange you could just have the 2 hoses (in and out) dropped in a bucket and the water would just be cycled through the system, when the water in the bucket was hot enough, just turn it off! take your bucket away to use it. I use a 12v turbo shower that drops into a bucket.
Does the coleman leave a taste in the water, for example if you use it in a cup of coffee? can you notice any plastic taste? does the water get hot enough for a coffee?

The coleman system didn't leave any 'odd' taste in the coffee/tea. And it sure does get hot enough for coffee. You do need to let it run for a few secs to ensure the heat is at the temp you want, but lemme assure you the heat is there when you want it!

I think we will just stick to boiling the kettle. We have found if staying in the one spot for a while we just leave a 20 litre container of water in the sun all day and it gets warm enough for a good shower. In winter we might have to add a kettle full of boiling water. We use one of those 12 volt shower kits that cost around $30.00. We are on our second one now after 6 years with the first one. We find them to work well but there is only the 2 of us. We used to have one of those pop up showers till we got our Cape York and that has a shower that attaches at the rear.

We have had a Coleman hot water heater for several years now and did have a problem with the first unit. One of the gas O rings blew out but we did get a replacement unit from Kmart - after some grumbling and head scratching.

The second unit has had a problem with the hot water dial at the front but as it still works (most of the time) I ahven't bothered to follow it up yet.

Performance wise they are a great way to heat your shower water on a cold day. We don't use the unit for anything else and have been happy enough with it.

We were VERY unhappy with some of the attachments including the pressure reducer (got a refund for that one) and the shower head and pipe - what a waste of money that item is!

The optional gas cable that allows connection to normal gas bottles is good and the padded bag is a good investment to protect the unit.

Overall it is big, quite heavy and takes up valuable space. We would only reccommend this unit to people who have extra space.

The big probem I can see with the Glind engine heating type of unit is what happens when you are camped up for a while and not using the car? Bit of a nuisance having to run the engine for a while every time you want a shower.

We did have a water heater installed in the old Coaster we had but these are illegal in some states and it wasted too much water trying to get it hot.

For our needs the Coleman does a good job so we will stick with it as long as it keeps going.

hi mgglasby,,

I heard around from a few people that the dial can be tempermental too. From what i hear that if you turn the dial freely like turning a tap, instead of pushing the dial in to turn, it buggers it up a bit. Wheather that is true or not i'm not 100% sure, but we are really careful when turnin the unit on/off to 'help' prevent this from happening.
I agree the bag and gas attachment are worthy investments. So far the shower head and pipe is going well, no hiccups yet! We just found the coleman to be great for when travelling with kids, i just turn the dial and hot showers to scrub the kids up for the nite.

Going through the motions now with Coleman. Used it once and now it don't go. . Will keep you up to date on progress.

Hi DebandLutz,

With the heat exchange units under the bonnet of your car(I don't have one) I have heard that you regulate the temperature of the water with your heater control Knob in the dash of the car like you would regulate the heat of the air coming through the vents!

Regards Ranger Itchy

Ahh (smacks head),, of course. That makes sense! Thanks Ranger Itchy!

Hi DebandLutz,

Glad I could help!!! (The wife keeps telling me my head is full of useless information and trivia that I will never use, but on forums like this I keep proving her wrong)

Regards Ranger Itchy

i have just modified my coleman to run direct from a 12v outlet. no more battery woes. works great & keeps running. best mod ever for these units.

Interesting reading .. we have had a Coleman for over a year now .. no worries .. plenty of hot water, etc. Bought the attachment to run direct from gas cylinder on the TVan at Anaconda. How did you modify to run from the 12V outlet geoffr ... can you share? We would like to be able to turn water on and off during shower without using the large dial - rather an on/off valve near the shower head or in hose??? but worry that this might 'hurt' the unit if gas/flame still heating the water and no flow happening .. any ideas, anyone -- just trying to reduce overall water usage really but still keep things warm and easy to operate .. but at the end of the day .. have to say very happy with our unit - packs up neatly in the case - and we can also take it and use when tenting or not using the TVan - that's a bonus .. cheers Gary and Gaye

Gary&Gaye,
I used a 5amp 12 volt to 6 volt car power adaptor from jaycar (part no. MP-3478) wired it with 3 meters of 12 (AWG) wire (this is important) & soldered spade connectors to wire ends to fit on to battery terminals (I can send photos if that helps). Works great, no more batteries. I agree, turning the knob on & off is a pain but the unit will cut off if there is no water flow. What i do is fill a large bucket with warm water & use a cheap primus shower (fitted with a switch) for the shower. This is great because no one needs to attend to the coleman while showering. I use a lot less water this way and the showerer can controll when water is needed. We used it at Easter with 14 of us camping (yes it was a BIG bucket) but it's easier to fill a couple of times than having to operate the coleman for each shower.
Hope this helps.
Geoff

Thanks Geoff .. we didn't think that there would be an easy way around the on/off water flow situation but we have a simple pump that we can use in the way you suggest (from our pre-coleman days). Photos would be great for the electrical side of things .. Gary is an electrician but a photo or 2 always help clarify the finer bits .. we will send you our email via pm if you want to send photos there rather than post - some people (us included) have trouble posting photos .. our fault, not the forums .. thanks Gary and Gaye