Hot water system

[cjf12]

What is everyone using for hot water in an uninsulated sugar shack? Thinking propane, but tank or tankless...pros and cons?
Was told tankless are a little harder to drain. You may need air to blow it all out.
Also with a standard hot water tank if you forgot to drain it, more than likely would make it through even a very cold night because of how well they are insulated.
I could just drain lines to and from tank also and leave on all the time so i wouldn't have to reheat all the time.
Tankless are almost 2x expensive also.
Thoughts?

Thoughts?

[mellondome]

How are you keeping the supply water from freezing? Wouldnt take much to put up a small insulated room in the corner. 4 sheets of 2" rigid blue Styrofoam.

[cjf12]

I have a box built in the ground. Thats where water filter and pressure reducer are. Spring water and i do get sediment. I have a ball valve that drains when shut off in the box. Figured i would slope lines so everything would drain either to ball valve or faucets. Was considering trying to put on demand in ro closet but would be tight. Trying to free up room in shack also. Anyone have an on demand mounted outside?

[maple flats]

I have used 2 different water heaters over the years. The first one I had was this one https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/eccotemp-l5-portable-outdoor-tankless-water-heater?a=1588405&pm2d=CSE-SPG-15-SZLA&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=shopzilla&utm_campaign=CI. It worked good but to get the temperature I needed running 35 degree permeate thru it only produced about 1.3 GPM. After using that for 3 years I got a bigger one, while this is slightly different, the specs are similar https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/eccotemp-power-vent-tankless-water-heater?a=1669090 It gives me 2.3 gpm running 35 degree permeate thru, I like that better. I still have the smaller one and keep it in case the one I'm using fails. Both drain easily, I just open the in feed ball valve, a second ball valve that drains the inlet water into my sink, on the hot line I have a hose connected to it, I just lay that on the floor with the hose nozzle open, then there is one drain plug that removes with my fingers. It took longer to type than it does to perform. That works good. On my set up I have a 3.2 GPM diaphragm pump that supplies the water, on demand. I never had an issue with freezing or draining, except one time this season when the forecast called for 39F for an overnight low but we got 27F. I had not drained the heater and it burst in one spot. I removed the case, squeezed the split closed, cleaned it well, fluxed it and soldered it using a soldering iron. It now works good as new. I should have known with weather forecasts that it would be wrong, but 15 minutes and it was fixed.

[cjf12]

Sounds like a decent set up. Easy as possible. With 5 boys thats a must. Had two tanks of sap lost this year because they forgot to close the tank they were pumping to. Cant say much I did worse at 13 and 14 years old.
Is there a reason you use permeate?

[cjf12]

Just impulsed bought this off of ebay for less than $300.
http://www.tanklesshotwaterguide.ca/2008/12/rinnai-r85/
Hope it works and drains as needed.

[maple flats]

I just found the listing for the heater I now use https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/eccotemp-l10-portable-outdoor-tankless-water-heater?a=1588404

[maple flats]

That Rinnai R85 looks like a better one than mine, it will heat 4.5 gpm at 75 degree temp rise, mine does half that at 77 degree rise. Good buy. I just hope it is designed to drain completely, if not you will need to build a well insulated place for it and a dependable small heat source.
I notice you said you are on spring water. Is it hard water? If yes, be prepared to flush the heat exchange coils or they will plug up with lime. At the very first hint of flow restriction , unhook it and pump white vinegar thru it until the flow returns, if you wait for the flow to get too low, sometimes it can not be cleaned and you have a pile of junk. Soft (not softened) water is all I've ever run in either of my tankless heaters, but I used to sell, install and service outdoor wood fired "boilers" with hot water coils for domestic hot water. Places with real bad water (hard) I had to flush the coils routinely. Those who waited until they only got a trickle of hot water sometimes ended up needing to buy a new coil at the tune of about $250 20-30 years ago. I don't know if the heat exchanger on the tankless heaters have replacement coils available.
If you do have hard water send me a P.M and I'll go thru the flushing equipment and process.

[cjf12]

Fair amount of sediment but not hard. Spring bubbles into sort of a backwards drain field collecting from about 5 or 6 different places it works up. I think thats why we get a little more sediment. Have to change filters often but other than that, great water.
From what I can tell the 85e is electric pilot light. That allows it to be mounted outside up to -20 degrees. The one I bought is used and never metioned the e part. So I have to research it a bit. Little skeptical because I didnt have much time to look into it before it went off bid. Gonna start to now with kids in bed.

[BSD]

I put in a Camplux 2.6GPM tankless heater. It runs on 2 D batteries and i have it hooked up to a 100# propane tank outside the shack. it was some of the best money spent this season on the new shack. being able to wash with screaming hot water makes all the difference in the world. no more waiting until the end of the boil to start cleaning stuff back in the house (plus the mess that gets made moving it back and forth). I just run a garden hose from the house to the shack and hook it up, then disconnect if it's going below freezing and drain the hose out on the hill.

Draining the heater for freeze protection is as simple as removing the thumb screw plug and opening the wand end in the sink. it drains out by itself. survived some nights down to 10 degrees this season that way.

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