Hi

This is very basic and there are variants to this, but basically, most vans have a small, gas only or gas/electric or electric only hot water service with a small tank of around 22lts(this varies with different makes and models). The electric ones generally work of 240vlts so are generally used when plugged in at a caravan park. The gas ones or gas/electric use gas supplied via the gas bottles on most if not all caravans campers etc.
As with home hot water, it is then plumbed to various taps in the kitchen and shower as needed.

I hope this is of "some" use
regards
Ian

thank you for your reply.

so if you have an on board shower, you probably need instant gas system and large bottles of gas?

thanks Peter,

 

do you run out of hot water for 2 people using sink and showers with such a small 22l storage HWS?

 

Regards,

Mark 

-- Edited by Hot Water on Thursday 26th of April 2018 07:07:31 PM

-- Edited by Hot Water on Thursday 26th of April 2018 07:07:46 PM

-- Edited by Hot Water on Thursday 26th of April 2018 07:13:29 PM

Meredith wrote:

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We have what is one of the most common caravan water heaters, a gas/electric Suburban 22 litre unit. It only takes about 20 minutes to fully heat the water from cold and that gives us enough water to both have a shower. When free camping and using gas we generally only turn it on when we know we will want hot water. If we are only washing a few dishes we usually just boil the kettle on the gas stove as thats a more efficient use of our gas.

-- Edited by Meredith on Thursday 26th of April 2018 07:52:55 PM

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 thanks for this info, im a little worried about gas in caravan actually, does anyone else feel the same way?

Willdoe wrote:

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Any gas appliance fitted to a caravan are required by law to be fitted/approved by a certified Gas Fitter. Installed appliances should shut off the gas if the flame goes out. I feel they are safe provided they are used correctly but it does not give you a cast iron guarantee.

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 the only other issue concerning me is a possible impact to the bottle or hoses via a vehicle accident.

 

i really dont like gas and only have electric at home.

 

is it same as barbeque gas?

 

what is 9 kg fill price usually?

-- Edited by Hot Water on Friday 27th of April 2018 04:17:37 PM

skins wrote:

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HW, your concerns re using gas is OK especially if you are not familiar with using gas. As long as you have a healthy respect for using it you will be fine. Back in the day I used to work in heavy industry and saw a few larger gas bottles zip off into the distance owing to sudden impact pressure loss and a few on light with fire gushing out the top. Back when I was an apprentice we used to put either acetylene or propane into plastic garbage bags. Put the bags under the boss's site sheds, light the bags & wait for them to explode, it was only a little explosion but it was enough to upset the boss's. No one ever got hurt. But I digress.

You can get safety alarms which detect propane also and if you do get one of these make sure you follow the directions and place it near floor level of your van as gas is heavier than air and will settle a bit. They also put an ingredient into the propane so you can smell it. Your internal oven/gas top has a safety valve in it so it should not leak gas if you leave a burner on and you don't travel with the gas on either. The gas bottles themselves can handle an extreme amount of heat eg: sun and a fair amount of abuse.  And remember when you turn a gas bottle on only turn the knob a quarter of a turn. That way if you ever need to turn the gas off in a hurry you only have to turn it a 1/4 of a turn instead of turning the knob all the way off. A lot of people don't know this when turning on a gas bottle- the same amount of gas still goes through the regulator. But valuable seconds if in the extremely unlikely event that something may happen.  

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 thanks for your reply. is it same as barbeque gas?