No Options Apply Camec Digital Instantaneous Gas Water Heater
- Thread starter spiderpig
- Start date
Thats the one I found in a Goldstream camper I once had, to both our surprise it worked very well ( when on power) just to have hot water in a camper was pure luxury.
It took so little space directly under the sink, didnt cause one problem while we had that van.
Would I recommend one, if you are not phased by 300 bucks and camp in powered sites then a great investment, however I dont think it would be enough to run a shower as you asked when you look at the specs, great to fill the sink for washing up but I wouldnt be jumping under it for a shower outside.
Link is the first I could find but my mate has this type and it works just fine and I would jump under this type.
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Joolca-HO...ter-Camp-Shower-Caravan-Horse-Wash/1040519235
It took so little space directly under the sink, didnt cause one problem while we had that van.
Would I recommend one, if you are not phased by 300 bucks and camp in powered sites then a great investment, however I dont think it would be enough to run a shower as you asked when you look at the specs, great to fill the sink for washing up but I wouldnt be jumping under it for a shower outside.
Link is the first I could find but my mate has this type and it works just fine and I would jump under this type.
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Joolca-HO...ter-Camp-Shower-Caravan-Horse-Wash/1040519235
No haven't fitted anything yet, although if we did this is still on top of our list, would be nice to hear from someone who has fitted one. We are still tossing up which way we will go with our van, thinking of upsizing expanda or a work n play, so don't want to spend anymore on current van at the moment.
Yeah it's hard to find much feedback on them, I have only spoke to one bloke who has fitted one to a van who is traveling/living in it full time who reckons its a good thing, I'm strongly considering fitting one. Camec are sold out of them at moment new stock due mid September, ill let you know how it goes if I get one fitted.
Personally I think they are the go, I would like one on our next van but also haven’t had any reports on them
Well I bit the bullet and ordered the Camec instant hot water service and fitted it along with an external shower unit as well.
We have had one trip away since and we are so far very happy with it.
Easy to use, water heats up real quick, you set the temp from inside on control panel 35-60 degrees so you know exactly what temp you are going to get out tap you only get a small amount of cold come out first (what's in pipes) before you get hot water, so water wastage is minimal. For the shower once we knew what temp to set on control panel that suited us for showers we turned on only hot tap on fully and leave cold tap off so there is no water wasted while trying to regulate temp by adding cold water via cold tap if water is to hot.
I showered with it set at 45 degrees, for the kids that was a bit hot, we found that 35 degrees was spot on for them.
I have also plumbed it to sink mixer for washing dishes.
Cheers
We have had one trip away since and we are so far very happy with it.
Easy to use, water heats up real quick, you set the temp from inside on control panel 35-60 degrees so you know exactly what temp you are going to get out tap you only get a small amount of cold come out first (what's in pipes) before you get hot water, so water wastage is minimal. For the shower once we knew what temp to set on control panel that suited us for showers we turned on only hot tap on fully and leave cold tap off so there is no water wasted while trying to regulate temp by adding cold water via cold tap if water is to hot.
I showered with it set at 45 degrees, for the kids that was a bit hot, we found that 35 degrees was spot on for them.
I have also plumbed it to sink mixer for washing dishes.
Cheers
Attachments
That sounds great my mate was asking me about them and one would go well in Big Mal as my HWS is up front of van and shower is at back, 20 odd feet away so a lot of cold before hot so one of these mounted at the back would be the ants pants and only a short gas pipe run from stove/fridge, do away with the Surburban system........I suppose you could empty out a whole water tank under a nice warm shower, could be dangerous free camping.........love it.
Someone could crowd fund me for one ??? https://www.caravansplus.com.au/camec-instant-gas-hot-water-heater-white-p-17409.html
Someone could crowd fund me for one ??? https://www.caravansplus.com.au/camec-instant-gas-hot-water-heater-white-p-17409.html
I would not recommend one of these for you van or RV, i have had one installed for the past few months, It only heats up to around 40degrees, (on a warm day). Now the weather has turned cold were lucky to reach 30degrees. Takes several attempts to start if it starts at all. Have tried to contact Camec but keep getting told they will have to call me back. Never hear from them. About to have another brand installed and try to return this one to them as not fit for purpose.
I can agree with your sentiment. I picked one up in late 2018 at very special price using a discount voucher I received from Camec so thought I would give it a go. Me being not in a rush didn’t fit it for 12 months, a couple of days. before Christmas.2019.
Any way the heater was a problem from that moment but unfortunately I was unable to seek technical assistance due to Xmas shut downs. Finally in mid January I got onto Camec and must say they were very helpful.
As I am a plumber and gas fitter, they shared information so I could do some fault finding for them. This resulted over a period of time with replacing the control panel, the lead for the panel, along with a few other things, all to no satisfactory outcome.Some of the problems experienced included failure for the ignition to ignite the burner, burner would light but couldn’t get water to sufficient temperature or couldn’t adjust the temperature on the control panel. Most of the problems are associated with the flow control valve.
I could get it to light when on mains pressure but not pump. As a result I replaced my pump with a Sureflow unit with a flow of around 12 lt/m. This still didn’t help. Specifically the it required around 7 lt/m to trigger the ignition and then you needed to throttle the water flow back to get to temperature.
Anyway after mucking around over a couple of weeks or so, they finally agreed to give me a new heater. I installed the new heater and although it is temperamental it works better than the 1st one.but still not great, main issue being around the flow control valve. It would make perfect sense that the unit won’t work well in cold weather as the water temp being colder would require the water to move slowly to be heated adequatelily but that would then trigger the burner to cut out as it won’t detect the low flow. ( I use to have similar issues with Rinnai type heaters in the blue Mts in winter).
I was told that a version 2 of the heater was going to be released in the 1st quarter this year but may not have happened post Covid-19.
Would I install another one, no unless the version 2 was substantially improved.
What would I buy next time, not sure. Ive installed the Truma heaters in a couple of vans that I have been involved with the build and they work great but double the price. I wouldn’t install anything with a Surburban label as I am aware of the issues they are currently experiencing and may continue to experience in future with all their products.
The main issue is that the heater needs to have at least documented 2.5 lt/m flow to start the burner, but in the real world it was closer to 4 lt/ m before I could get it to light. I had to remove the aerator from the sink tap to get it going. Once lit you can back the flow back to around the 2 .5 lt mark to heat but you have lost afair amount of water before it was warm.As I stated my heater was a dud, the second one works but not like the Truma heater I installed in the last couple of vans I did plumbing on.
The suburban brand of heaters is another issue that hasn’t seen the full light of day.
The suburban brand of heaters is another issue that hasn’t seen the full light of day.