LP water heater for the sugarhouse

[gmcooper]

In the past there had been a few discussions of smaller LP water heaters for the sugarhouse. This fall I bought an LP instant water heater for our barn and will be putting one in the sugarhouse this winter. It is an Ecotemp fvi12. Produces up to 3 gpm up to 165 degrees. Has a digital temp readout with adjustments to set water temp. Also has a burner control adjustment as well which lets you save on fuel if you do not need burner at full capacity. We use it in the barn everyday for warm water for the horses but have also used it to wash trucks and other stuff. I can see washing out sap tanks during the season. The biggest draw back so far is a delay in getting hot water out. Maybe a minute getting to full temp on the coldest mornings. Cost was about $269 including exhaust pipe and shipping.

http://www.energystead.com/eccotemp-fvi12-lp-tankless-water-heater/

I see they are now $239.00
Mark

[adk1]

yeah, I have been thinking about one of those for awhile now, but have had to spend my & on things to actually make syrup. I have water to the sugarhouse so connecting to one of these heaters would be the ticket!

[RunInCircles]

I have a Rinnai R75LSi (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S3V4IE/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=hi&psc=1) propane heater for my house, and I too saw a huge drop in my electric bill after the switch.

Somehow it only recently occurred to me I could get hot water at the sugarhouse using a LP tankless too...my two major problems being lack of electricity and...water. Sugarhouse is 1/2 mile off-road. I could put a 55 gal tank (or a 275 gal caged tank?) at elevation. Enough pressure?

I'd need to figure out how to get water there...another tank and a pump? I run all gravity to the sugarhouse, so I don't have a pump, but it might be in my future. This is all starting to seem more realistic.

[lastwoodsman]

I set up a similar brand on a cart for the sugar house. I use it with my pressure washer for washing out the sap tanks as well. I used a l135.00 RV pump to maintain water pressure and I can use it anywhere I can plug in the rv pump. You can see by the photos the setup. There are also you tube videos from EZ water heaters that show this. I keep a 50 gallon barrel of fresh potable water in the sugar house, drop the hose in and the RV pump turns on and off automactially as I draw water. It can heat up water to hot to touch instantly.
It does work very well.

Here is a link with photos of it.

http://s1012.photobucket.com/albums/af243/last_woodsman/


Woodsman

[RunInCircles]

Wow Woodsman...what a great little setup that is! I found the video from the manufacturer, if anyone is interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiybpozesSM&list=UUHBZtRwvG2g-POejScuNn8A&index=10&feature=plcp

And I like the modifications you made to add the pump. It looks like you're running it off 120 AC though, do you suppose I could mount a 12v battery on there? How long would that last?

Also, how does the pump turn on automatically? I've never owned an RV..is that the norm? How does it "sense" the need for water?

[lastwoodsman]

The rv pump only turns on when you draw water and it holds if I remember correctly 40lbs psi. I got it off e-bay. You could run it with a deep cycle battery and a inverter and should run several hours.
The pump was 130.00 or there abouts. It is the first one I ever used but I hooked up my small pressure washer to it and it works like it is hooked to your house. I also for kicks used a 50 foot garden house and the pump will suck the water out of the tub with no problem and it self primed.
I would like to say it was my ideas but as you can see from the website I copied their idea and it was a good one.

I think I paid last year 140.00 deliverd for the water heater. The filter from Menards was 18.00.

Woodsman

[lastwoodsman]

Another thing the way I have it hooked up I can by pass the hot water heater and just run water through the pump like a outside spigot on your house. So in a way it does double duty as you do not need to use the hot water heater part of it .
Woodsman

[Redmaple]

Check out this homemade portable water heater on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUC4gGCYsps

[gmcooper]

Eccotemp has a unit that has a 12 volt pump built in and it may even come on a cart to make it portable. They also have a unit that runs on 2 d cell batteris for the igniter all you need for that one is a water supply.