Has anyone bought / used the Joolca hot water system for camping?
@Winnie, did you buy one of these units?, I vaguely remember an FB post last year from you to Joolca asking if they had a stand or something.
Printable View
Has anyone bought / used the Joolca hot water system for camping?
@Winnie, did you buy one of these units?, I vaguely remember an FB post last year from you to Joolca asking if they had a stand or something.
Havent seen one in the flesh but have been looking at one of these units my self seem to be well made from all reports, would go with my own pump system i allredy have and save a few bucks that way .Getting sick of boiling water for the girls, to use up in a blink of a eye. hahaha
heres a link to one on ebay for $200 atm
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JOOLCA-HO...cAAOSwc1FXb9j1
Hey Todd, I got one as a gift. It kicks ass! Totally worth the money mate.
It is awesome to be able to roll out of bed on a minus degree day and just flick the switch to have a nice hot shower!
Haven't seen the 'Joolca' one but many of the brands will be the same two or three Units rebadged.
They work great, just need a bit of plumbing and IMHO an external pump... gravity feed is a PIA
Interesting that you say that ET, I have been looking at a few different brands on EBay, I wasn't sure if the Joolca unit had a different internal to allow it to be rated for off-road solid mount to my camper?
There is a fair price difference! How confident are you that the other brands are basically the same?
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2016/07/11.png
@MudRunnerTD, The price difference is Joolca is made in Melbourne from parts in China, the others are made in China from parts in China :)
... as confident as I am that there are only about 1 in 5 Winch/Solar Reg/Car Fridge manufacturers as there are Brand resellers for example.
Take a look at the layout of the Gecko/Red Track/Instahot/Instatemp/Gleamhous/etc Heaters and the only difference is cosmetic.
The Instahot is the only one I have used but I would bet quids those are all the same manuf.
Haven't used or seen a Joolca and layout is different so may well be a different manuf hence my comment of 'two or three units'
Also keep in mind Daz that Geko one does not include pump and other fittings that the Joolca one does
The hot water is mainly for showering whilst away camping in the bush ect... Iam happy just to use the old solar bag and can get 3 showers out of the 20L solar bag, but the girls (missus +daughter) still think they are at home with endless water to waste. I have a 60L water tank(stainless) that i put in the car when i go away,and depending on location have 2 more 20L jerry cans of water to take 100L in total . Thinking just going to retrain the girls on the hot water situation or start getting them to boil the water hahah
@caveman21 is it possible to buy two large stainless steel buckets to heat
over the fire, while one is being used the next one is warming up.
Its a great way to great hot water when dong the dishes as well. Just
throw all the dirty plates into a plastic tub with some concentrated soap liquid
tip in the boiling water and wash them when its cooled right down
Yer thats a good way of doing it 3D with the buckets, only prob we go camping a lot in the summer months and here in W.A. the have a lot of fire banns,which sucks theres nuthin better than havin a campfire .So restricted to using gas burners most of the time (I just use the butane single burners) . If i was to get something like the JOOLCA HOTTAP would have to add a gas bottle to the mix as well
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JOOLCA-HO...AAAOSwdzVXim8q
$399 all inclucive
I'm sure its included mate: http://www.joolca.com.au/hottapouting
Fair enough... the prev links are to the $299 option sans Pump
Basically they are all variations on a theme... Coleman HWOD, Companion Aqua Cube, Joolca etc are all portable Instantaneous Hot Water Heaters.
Some use cartridges with LPG option, some use LPG only, some have integrated pumps, some will handle mains pressure, etc.
They all work equally well.
My Coleman lasted for 5 years till the pump crapped out, the Instahot on a Camper I borrowed over east worked equally well.
The Truma I have on my van is pretty good also but they rely on storage so aren't a true instantaneous.
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 have a Coleman and to be honest rarely use it. It's ok but a bit of a hassle.
The Joolca unit or similar permanently mounted yo the camper would get used continuously I think. On my list
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!!!
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..
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?
Attachment 68188
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
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.
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.
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
Mine has a stainless steel screen filter to stop sand, rocks etc, and an inline water filter.