hot water in camp...who has and how?

[toad]

Just looking for ideas, We use a zodi for the shower... but I would like hot water to the dish pit, aka kitchen sink and to the shower... rather than packing the zodi in.

I have tried building a hot water tank/heater with a copper coil in the fire and a tote of water but i can't get it to work, it wont circulate...not sure if the copper coil im using is too small, is there a minimum size of coil i should use, diameter/length?
We do have running water to camp, we use a hose from a creek up the hillside and run it down to camp. I'm thinking tie into that line run some hose then connect to a copper coil in the fire, then back to a hose to the kitchen sink...somewhere in there a T to the the shower. but i dont think that will be enough pressure to run a shower tho...maybe fill a tote of hot water and pull it up over the shower or a battery power pump like the zodi.... what length and size of coil would it take to get hot water with only going thru a fire once? ( an average size camp fire)...would love to see pictures of hot water systems in remote camps or get any ideas...
Thxs

[landphil]

Maybe you're over thinking this? We heat water over the fire in a large canner pot, which itself makes a great sink for the dishes, its fast, and no problem filling a hot bath.

[rides bike to work]

If your using gravity to bring water to you have that go into your copper coil in the fire. I have a15ft roll of1/2" copper that I put in the fire and it comes out hot on the other end.

[Good2bCanadian]

I've always found a pot of hot water and a facecloth, strip down to your ginch, a quick wash down goes a long ways to feeling civilized after the crust has set in.

I had a Zodi. It was a nice little set up.

[rides bike to work]

If your using gravity to bring water to you have that go into your copper coil in the fire. I have a15ft roll of1/2" copper that I put in the fire and it comes out hot on the other end.

[toad]

I agree,...a bird bath is good... the zodi is way better.... we use our camp a lot and I think having running hot water would be so nice and can be done very very cheap....

[swampthing]

I saw a pot in a guys camp. It was made of stainless steel, held 5 gallons and had a tap on the bottom. He had it sitting on a grate beside the fire. He would fill a shower bag with 60% cold water and top off with this hot water. I would like a pot like that.

[toad]

i've used shower bags...solar or filled with hot water....the zodi is way better its a propane burner with a battery power pump and come with its own tote...i just dont want to pack the zodi in....

[f350ps]

Get yourself an EccoTemp on demand hot water heater, $120 out of the US. Bought one a few years ago and it's the BOMB!!!! You can thank me later! :) K

[snow]

why do you need hot water, other than to boil it for food/drinks? :-)

[toad]

^^^^^^Drinks??...why would i boil water to put into my whiskey or beer??? did I say it was stupid question day? i want a hot shower at the end of the day after riding my mountain bike and hiking 40 km for my elk....

[lip_ripper00]

I use an army immersion heater, I collect bad fuel a few months before. It will work even with the skankiest gas. I use it with a demand 12v pump. I can have 30 gallions boiling in about 20 minutes, lots to do dishes and showers


https://www.mainemilitary.com/ProductCart/pc/Heater-Immersion-USGI-Crated-Complete-M67-108p2411.htm

[lip_ripper00]

some people boil water to make tea, and yeah, as much as this sounds stupid to you, it sounds stupid to me to have a hot shower while hunting


lol I spend 10 days to 2 weeks at a time in the field, if I did'nt shower once or twice the animals would smell me a mile away! After you have pulled a bull out of a swamp in freezing temps, once its quartered and skined their is NOTHING like a hot shower!!

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_0958.jpg

[Darksith]

you are almost doing it right I am betting. Take a 5 gal pail or a heavier wall wine primary and use radiator hose and a copper coil. 1/2" copper pipe is acceptable. You have to stack the hoses coming into the water reservoir and dont make the bottom of the resi sit more than about 12" above the copper ring when you have it setup in the fire. Have the hoses enter your reservoir about 10" from the bottom for the lower, and about max 6" between them vertically. Make sure you prime the hoses and you should be fine. Always hot water is so easy at camp and so nice...wouldn't want to not have it now if you have a decent camp setup.

[Pre '64]

In my camp I have gravity fed water to the sink and just installed a round galvanized tank (about 10 gal) behind the wood stove, actually touching it, and fed cold water in the bottom and the top outlet to the hot water tap at the sink. The water is so hot sometimes you have to add cold to it so you can put your hands in it to wash dishes. of course it depends on how hot you run the stove. There is no danger of water boiling since the tank is round and is mostly heated just from the radiant heat from the stove. It takes a while from a cold start but once it gets going it's really nice to just turn the tap and get hot water to wash with or do the dishes.

[hunter1947]

I use one of them black plastic bags with a shower spout on the hose I put warm water in this bag put it up on a shelf I built then open up the valve water me down turn off wash with soap then open up valve and rinse off works good for me

[rec]

We used a 25 gal barrel 25 ft coiled copper by the fire and we had hot water all the time works great our group has quit going so it 's siting in my shed looking for a new owner that will use it .

[Jetboat]

I saw a pot in a guys camp. It was made of stainless steel, held 5 gallons and had a tap on the bottom. He had it sitting on a grate beside the fire
Was there banjo music? Ya sure ya'll didn't stumble across a 'shiner an his still? ;)

Oh, and another Zodi user here.

[swampthing]

Was there banjo music? Ya sure ya'll didn't stumble across a 'shiner an his still? ;)

Oh, and another Zodi user here.

You called it! I was in that camp!

[Ambush]

Timely thread. I almost ready to buy a Zodi or similar.

For the Zodi users; I've read that the double burner is substantially better than the single burner. True, in your experience? Anybody hooking them to a twenty pound bottle?

[panhead]

[QUOTE=Good2bCanadian;1488032]I've always found a pot of hot water and a facecloth, strip down to your ginch, a quick wash down goes a long ways to feeling civilized after the crust has set in.

__________________________________________________ ___________________________________

That makes me laugh, an old Russian blacksmith that I used to work with called that a "PTA" bath ... pussy, tits, and armpits.:mrgreen:



I don’t know what they learned at university, but they didn’t learn to think.

[toad]

The zodi is great, I have the single and it works awesome... the tote it comes in is plenty of water for one person to shower with. and only takes minutes to heat. my only complaint is the submesible pump seizes up and has to be replace... they do send them quickly and relatively cheap...i have had to replace mine once but i unseized the first pump a few times...they say to spray the pump with wd/40 when done using it..

[waistdeep]

We use a stainless steel tank that sits along side of our wood stove in the wall tent. It has a tap on it and allows for hot water on demand. Works excellent. http://www.canvastentshop.ca/woodcampstoves.html

[bigneily]

I bought a d cell battery pump from cabelas I think it is made by zodi and then use the big pot from my turkey fryer and set it full on top of my camp chef stove and bam in no time hot water. I also picked up a pop up shower tent for privacy, Works like a hot damn.

[rides bike to work]

I built one of these its a rocket burner design
http://i62.tinypic.com/e5r3tv.jpg

[rides bike to work]

http://i58.tinypic.com/2iaybma.jpg

top feed uses very little wood for lots of heat.

[Huevos]

This thread reminded me of how my dad first started bow hunting. He went to camp a couple days before rifle season, and there was a guy taking a bath in a cast iron tub.... With a fire built directly underneath. He had to go talk to him, a long time friendship was born and we were introduced to archery season. I guess my point is that there are any number of ways to heat water and get cleaned up. We used to use a galvanized garbage can with the copper coil in the fire. Water comes in the bottom of the coil and out the top, so set up your system accordingly. Sometimes, we had to adjust the coil in the fire to get it to circulate properly.