Hot water - Coleman vs Primus

[Seashed]

I have beening looking buying a gas hot water heater for camping. We have always heated water over the fire, but with two small children now (2 & 4) this has become less desirable. We will only be using the unit to heat water. The kids have a bath and the adults will still use the old reliable 12 volt shower to recycle per-heated water in a large bucket. The two units that seem best for us are the Coleman "water on demand" and the primus heated shower unit.

On the surface the coleman performs well, hot within seconds. But I dislike the disposable gas cartridges (although an gas bottle adaptor is suposed to be availible soon), the rechagable battery (worried about problems with holding charge as they age) and they don't look very robust or easy to repair.

I haven't been able to get a demonstration of the primus unit, but it looks far more solid and easier to repair if in the middle of Moreton Island and problems occur. It runs on 12 volt from the car and from a gas bottle, so it comes in over the Coleman from that point of view. But my biggest concern is how well it heats water.

Does anyone have any experience with either unit or any thoughts on the above?

Thanks

Seashed

[Payneful]

I made a heat exchanger for the car ... endless hot water (steals heat from the engine). Let me know if you want more details and i will post some pics.

Sam.

[Seashed]

I have had a quick look at these. My concern was that if I went down the beach at night in the car my wife wouldn't be able to heat water. Perhas this is easily overcome by showeing early. How long does the car have to run for the water to heat? Was it hard to fit? Any preference on the unit type? There seem to be a couple around.

Seashed

[Payneful]

Seashed

I made my own out of copper. The car usually has to run for around 5 minutes or a quick drive down the beach .... most of the time its hot anyway because I have just come back from fishing ...

As far as fitting goes ... pretty easy because i made it to fit

They work a treat as far as i am concerned. Suits me because i don't carry gas, all of my gear is coleman dual fuel stuff, so i just carry petrol (gotta carry it for the boat anyway)

I will try and drag up some some pics of when i made it and some with it on the car.

Sam

[nomad]

Paynful, could you tell me how you made the heat axchanger. Size copper, pressure,water- litres per min. ect. Also- there are a couple of problems I see with the in-car model. 1/ I have been told (many times) by different reliable sources that ideling your diesel motor ( I dont know about petrol ?) for long periods of time (- heating the water) causes the Piston cylinders to "Glaze". Which I am told eventualy causes a loss in compression. 2/ I know when I go camping with friends, if someone brings a shower, the whole "Tribe" want to use it, and when a few familys go with you, that adds up to a lot of people (and a lot of that is the novelty aspect) I am going to the Victorian 4 wheel drive and camping show this weekend, if you want to know anything about some gear, let me know and I will get some info for you.

[Derek Bullock]

I have looked at both the Coleman and the Primus. There are a couple of others around as well.

For mine the primus comes out ahead. More robust in my view.

I also had a good look at the Glind hot water system once. If you want a heat exchange system for your car you cant go past them.

Below are a couple of interesting websites

Glind Hot Water System

Coleman Hot Water on Demand

Primus Hot Water Shower System

Cheers


Derek