Minibus to motorhome

Two on Tour said:
Another way to heat your water is to use the load dump from your solar panels to power a low voltage electric element when your leisure batteries have charged.
I'm in the middle of setting this up in our MH at the minute.
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That'll be interesting to see. I'd just be concerned about the darker months and whether there would be enough power
 
Craigderby said:
That'll be interesting to see. I'd just be concerned about the darker months and whether there would be enough power
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This will be running in conjunction with our factory fitted Whale gas/240v water heater. I'm using a separate hot water tank for the solar side of it so I can use the whale if the solar is is not giving enough.
On a new build like yours you could incorporate several water heating options into one unit and use whichever is cost effective at any particular time to heat your water.
For us, solar was not being harvested for most of the day after our leisure battery is charged which is a waste of a free commodity.
 
pappajohn said:
There won't be.... 12v to heat water is like pushing water uphill with a hairbrush... . It will not work.
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And why won't it work then? Plenty of other are using solar load dump heat their water, which rather proves the concept and it worked just fine on my mock up. :moon2:

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Two on Tour said:
And why won't it work then? Plenty of other are using solar load dump heat their water, which rather proves the concept and it worked just fine on my mock up. :moon2:
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what is solar load dump, I assume excess.
But if excess, why not have larger capacity battery to store and use for other things too ?
 
Tombola said:
what is solar load dump, I assume excess.
But if excess, why not have larger capacity battery to store and use for other things too ?
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Once your batteries are fully charged by using your solar panels, your panels are still producing power which is now not required so basically in simple terms, your solar charge controller switches off the feed (load) from your panels and this is referred to as solar load dumping as you no longer have a use for that power from your panels and the potential power you could harvest is wasted.
You could as you say have more batteries to store more from your solar, but another way is to store this power in heating water, which in our case will save us LPG as we are off grid for the most part.
The viability of using a solar dump load depends on the amount of solar you have and of course how much sun you get.

Because we are mostly off grid, we have over 400 watts of solar to get us by in the lower sun months and poorer weather, but come the summer month and lower latitudes, we have way more solar than we can normally use, so heating water which we use is just making more use of what otherwise wound go to waste.
 
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I find in the warmer sunnier months i use less hot water as i either cold shower or use beach showers. Extra batteries harvesting the sun means larger inverter capability which could then power a 240v water heater for the short time required for a shower. Also if a b2b charger fitted that will also charge the batteries that could power the Inverter and in turn the water heater. The problem id have with solar dump heating the water would be the time i want to shower matching with the time the water is hot.
 
Two on Tour said:
And why won't it work then? Plenty of other are using solar load dump heat their water, which rather proves the concept and it worked just fine on my mock up. :moon2:
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How do you fit a 12v element to a motorhome boiler?
My only experience is a 1ltr 12v kettle.
15 minute teabreak was over before it even got warm.....with the engine running.
 
pappajohn said:
How do you fit a 12v element to a motorhome boiler?
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I haven't, and you may have miss where I said that in my case I'm using a separate tank for the solar water heating.
Without going into loads of detail, I have bought a cheap Chinese water heater, and swapped out the 1600watt 240v element for a 300 watt 12v jobby which is drawing 25 amps and for the capacity of the tank I'm using it took about 40 minutes to heat the water from 17c from the tap to 74c which is what I have the thermostat set at. Even if the conditions are such that the solar is delivering less and it takes 3 hours to get to the thermostat kicking off the power to the water heater, then so what, I still have the Whale if I'm desperate for hot water.
I'm using a 12v 3 way motorised valve to select whichever tank I want to draw hot water from.

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Two on Tour said:
I haven't, and you may have miss where I said that in my case I'm using a separate tank for the solar water heating.
Without going into loads of detail, I have bought a cheap Chinese water heater, and swapped out the 1600watt 240v element for a 300 watt 12v jobby which is drawing 25 amps and for the capacity of the tank I'm using it took about 40 minutes to heat the water from 17c from the tap to 74c which is what I have the thermostat set at. Even if the conditions are such that the solar is delivering less and it takes 3 hours to get to the thermostat kicking off the power to the water heater, then so what, I still have the Whale if I'm desperate for hot water.
I'm using a 12v 3 way motorised valve to select whichever tank I want to draw hot water from.
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And if the tank is insulated it’ll be warm enough for a shower at 11pm... in sunny climes you’ll have a free hot shower every day.. that’ll save a lot of gas...👍🏼
Sounds good
 
Is the tank insulated?

If not build a plywood box with 2" all round space and fill with expanding foam = insulated tank.

It's how they do odd shaped fridges on board boats same principle just the other way around.

Cheers James
 
Jamesh said:
Is the tank insulated?

If not build a plywood box with 2" all round space and fill with expanding foam = insulated tank.

It's how they do odd shaped fridges on board boats same principle just the other way around.

Cheers James
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Yup, stainless steel tank, insulated and cased for less than 50 quid and has a thermal cutout for over heating if the thermostat fails. (y)

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Bargain!

Where did you get it if you don't mind me asking? New or s/h???

Cheers James
 
Jamesh said:
Bargain!

Where did you get it if you don't mind me asking? New or s/h???

Cheers James
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I bought mine from eBay, loads on there to choose from. Mine is Chinese, but was from UK stock.
We have space constants for placing the tank, so mine is an 8Ltr, but that's enough for a shower and washing up.

<Broken link removed>

More to choose from https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...nk+water+heater&_sacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=15

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This site contains affiliate links for which MHF may be compensated.
Two on Tour said:
I haven't, and you may have miss where I said that in my case I'm using a separate tank for the solar water heating.
Without going into loads of detail, I have bought a cheap Chinese water heater, and swapped out the 1600watt 240v element for a 300 watt 12v jobby which is drawing 25 amps and for the capacity of the tank I'm using it took about 40 minutes to heat the water from 17c from the tap to 74c which is what I have the thermostat set at. Even if the conditions are such that the solar is delivering less and it takes 3 hours to get to the thermostat kicking off the power to the water heater, then so what, I still have the Whale if I'm desperate for hot water.
I'm using a 12v 3 way motorised valve to select whichever tank I want to draw hot water from.
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What a great idea ,,, why ain't motorhome builders looking at this. Love it
 
Northernraider said:
Most motorhome builders cant even design a van with a useable payload never mind anything out the box.
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A lot of the problem is, the youngsters don't want to take a C1 test a lot of the oldies don't want to or can't keep their C1. But they still want all the bells & whistles also modern chassis's are heavier.

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After I finished work today I started taking the glue residue off. The van was fully stickered up from it's school minibus days, and although the vinyl had already been removed the glue is very much in place.
I used an eraser wheel which fits into a drill. I only did the door, and forgot to take a before pic, but here's a half done and then done photo.
The door could be polished now and you'd never know they'd been there, but I'll be repainting it.
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It's on days like today when you decide to clean the roof of the Iveco that you think a small van might of been a good idea. Not finished as rain stopped play.
I also cleaned the wheelarches out, which it's got to be said are in great condition for 17 years old. They'll certainly be getting repainted to keep them looking as good as they do.
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Making the most of a bit of sun and a week off work.
Finished cleaning the roof today, then rubbed down a few patches of surface rust until I got to clean metal, before the primer went on.
Fingers crossed I'll get some top coat on tomorrow.
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Good work don't skimp on the top coat save getting up there in future.

Cheers James
 
Jamesh said:
Good work don't skimp on the top coat save getting up there in future.

Cheers James
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Certainly not in a rush to go back up. I had to buy some bigger step ladders just so I could reach!

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Raptor the roof youll never have to touch it again. Ill be raptor spraying my full roof , the roofrack , rear wheel carrier , bumpers , wheel arches etc. Good tough non fading paint that never needs washed or polished.
 
If you wish to use a product such a raptor, or bedliner spray talk to speedcoat who have a product that they are releasing (delayed due to COVID and so no shows) which is self applied. They may be willing to do you a deal to get their product out there.
 
Northernraider said:
Raptor the roof youll never have to touch it again. Ill be raptor spraying my full roof , the roofrack , rear wheel carrier , bumpers , wheel arches etc. Good tough non fading paint that never needs washed or polished.
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Do the full body on it mate raptor smooth looks great and a tough as old nails. Fantastic stuff covers light imperfections easy👍😷
 

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