Joolca Hot Water System

[BigRAWesty]

Right. So let's make a list of who's bidding so we don't compete against each other lol..
I can wait.. have 12 months before we need it..

[Bart@Joolca]

Hey Guys! Bart here, from Joolca. Came across this thread and thought I'd join up and do my best to offer answers to questions you may have. I'm not here to push for sales, I'm just here to help out where I can

[Yendor]

Hey Guys! Bart here, from Joolca. Came across this thread and thought I'd join up and do my best to offer answers to questions you may have. I'm not here to push for sales, I'm just here to help out where I can

Hi Bart,

Glad you have joined the conversation.

There has been photo's on facebook recently showing what can happen with these type of units.

What are your comments?, What safe guards (if any) do your units have?

Hot water.jpg

[NissanGQ4.2]

Hey Guys! Bart here, from Joolca. Came across this thread and thought I'd join up and do my best to offer answers to questions you may have. I'm not here to push for sales, I'm just here to help out where I can

Welcome 2 the forum Bart, if you want 2 push sales become a forum vendor which is very cheap advertising: http://nissanpatrol.com.au/vendors.html

[BigRAWesty]

Are you blokes saying the $51 one is as good as brand names on the market?

I'm a bit sick of my Coleman to be honest and if I can take one of these to Fraser I would have a happy wife!!!

The $51 jobbie ended at nearly $200......

[Cuppa]

I had a Glind kit fitted to the GQ for a few years. The problem is the engine needs to be hot. You need to plan your shower for as soo as your stop driving or you have to warm the car up. You then have to cycle the water through until it's hot enough then use it. I wasn't a fan.

I had one of those too at one stage, but like you say, needing to run the motor up to operating temp, & then having to keep it running whilst using the hot water, combined with somewhat imprecise water temperature control (using the vehicle's heater controls) made me not a fan either.

However the idea of heating water effortlessly & for free was appealing, so what I now have (& the second vehicle I've had one in) is a variation on the same theme. A Calorifier. Essentially works like a Glind, but instead has a copper coil inside a larger & insulated tank, which means you have hot water whenever you arrive at camp, & insulation on the tank keeps it hot for 2 or 3 days. Tank size can vary to suit use/space available. Mine is a commercially made unit which admittedly are somewhat more expensive than these gas instantaneous units, (price comparable to other caravan type hot water systems) but for those handy at fabricating/adapting stuff a DIY version shouldn't be too much of a challenge. A tank with a copper coil running through it connected into the engine cooling system, plus an inlet & outlet for water into the tank. A pressure relief valve is required for safety, & a tempering valve - which automatically mixes cold with hot at the outlet to give a precise & constant pre set temperature. The water in the tank heats to engine coolant temp, typically up to around 90 deg.C which when tempered with the added cold to give safe temperatures 'extends' the tank's capacity significantly. A 30 minute drive is sufficient to have a tankful of hot water (for my 25L - larger tanks may take a bit longer). Of course a pump & a water tank are also required, whereas the instant gas heaters can be run from a bucket or even directly from a creek or other water supply.

Just in case anyone is thinking of mounting an instant Gas water heater inside a camper - this is seriously not a good idea. It's also probably illegal. I say probably only because canvas structures may be a legal grey area (which doesn't make it safe). They need to be mounted outside to be adequately vented in order to prevent risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. (Like the Joolca drawbar mount - needs to be set up each camp). Ones which can be mounted inside have to have proper venting to the outside & are far more expensive & essentially a different product altogether to those being discussed here. IMHO the instant gas water heaters as being discussed here are most suitable for those who set up a base camp rather than those who move on daily.

[Winnie]

I want to make some sort of ground spike bracket for mine, a star picket would do the job.
I'm not a fan of the drawbar mount, it means you have to have the shower setup within a couple of metres of the trailer, and if you're a fan of long hot showers like me then you end up with a muddy mess around and under the camper.

But on a freezing cold morning camping there is not much better than jumping in the shower for half an hour, pumping water out of the creek so you don't have to fill buckets. Once it is set up it is effortless to use.

[the evil twin]

If you want to use creek water make sure you have a very good filter on the water inlet side.

Any sort of fine sediment/mud/etc will clog up the heat exchanger

[Winnie]

Mine has a stainless steel screen filter to stop sand, rocks etc, and an inline water filter.

[the evil twin]

Mine has a stainless steel screen filter to stop sand, rocks etc, and an inline water filter.

Sweet...... i ran one of those inline filters with the hose qwik connects and it worked great and was easy peasy to swap out when it became clogged.