Have you ever been to a vacation cabin or went for a camping and wondered you could have had a hot shower amidst the forest! Well I have and I would not mind to spend some money just to have a portable Tankless Water Heaters for such purposes. Luckily Eccotemp has identified the niche and introduced Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater. This portable water heater is very light weighted to be carried to cabins or wherever you go. It has very easy installation process and a convenient setup for such purposes.
Portability
With 13 pound weight and no tank it is very much portable to campsite, beach side, pool side, garden side or wherever you need it to be carried. If you have a baby or pet you may understand the necessity of a portable heater and that need is fully met by this one with compact setting. All you need is to attach it to a standard garden hose nozzle and propane tank. Automatic ignition will do the rest.
Multiple spray setting
Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater comes with multiple spray settings. It offers 0.5 gallon per minute to 1.4 GPM, letting you choose your desired flow of water.
All parts are included
Unlike other tankless water heater where you need to spend extra 20-900 USD for spare parts ranging from valve, wires to circuit breakers; except the battery this water heater comes with everything it needs to get started. –
• Heater body | • gas regulator | • garden hose adapter |
• shower nozzle/hose set | • vent shield | • and instruction manual |
• hardware |
Alternative power source
As it is designed for outdoors, manufacturer has given the option to run it by battery when electricity is unavailable. So you need not to worry about power source as long as you do not forget to buy the battery and bring it along.
Eco and energy efficient
It needs 20-80 PSI of water pressure for a good pressure of hot water, the burner turns on at sensing the flow of water and stop after 20 minute to let it save the energy. Apart from reducing energy use it also helps on escaping the risk of scalding.
Ideal location
It is a portable heater which can be brought to anywhere as long as there is a water supply. It has a dimension of 14.5" tall, 11.5”wide and 4.5" deep. It needs 2" clearance from a wall, 1' side distant from flammable stuff, 3' from a window and from an overhang, and 18" up from the ground.
Pros
- It has a Compact 13-pound body for easy portability.
- This portable tank less heater generates more than 1 gallon of hot water per minute.
- Needs only 20-80 PSI of water pressure to provide minimum flow rate of 0.3 Liters Per Minute.
- Very convenient 2 D Cell Battery Ignition.
- Ideal and probably best choice for outdoors.
Cons with Solution
One-year limited warranty on parts
When some company’s give a lifelong warranty Eccotemp offers only a year’s warranty. Makes it expensive for coming year’s repairing.
Solution
Well that is a fact-Only a year of warranty is a sure turn off in buying a durable home appliance like portable tankless water heater. Some very satisfied users still won’t trade it off in exchange of the benefits. They say it is still worthy and with alertness you can keep the value well served for longer period –
- Protect from freezing- If you have installed it at your porch/garden for round the year outdoor usage; you need to take some preventive to let it not get frozen and break the hose pipe. If you lay the head down to drain water from the hose back out than risk of breaking the plastic shower head reduces. Even if such incident happens a 7 dollar shower head can replace the existing one. I guess it is much less hassle than dissembling the faulty parts calling the manufacturer and asking for a change, or sending it to them with the postal charges and waiting for the repairing; which happens in many life time warranty cases.
- In case of a leak at LP gas- If you have sustained a leak in longer period of usage on continuous basis a Teflon tape or yellow pipe dope (approved for gas)will serve the purpose to hook the leak .
The valve restrains the water flow
The shower that comes with the unit has a water restrictor. It doesn't let sufficient water through the tankless unit as a result flow is low and water is scalding hot at the lowest setting.
Solution
It can happen if your PSI is too high than the required, one solution is to spend $10 for an in-line on/off valve or for a shower head that does not have a water restrainer with an on off switch. This small investment will let you control the water flow.
(Q&A)
- Q- It sounds great, Can I use it inside?
- Ans- It is designed in a way that does not let carbon monoxide to exhaust. It has open vents so you cannot use it inside, it may pollute the indoor air. Still if you want to use it indoor you will need to moderate it by adding exhaust and removing handle.
- Q- How can the 20 minute shut off be stopped?
- Ans- You can introduce a cheap repeat-cycle timer. Then set it to cut off the power for few seconds in every 19 minutes, or you can manually shut off the heater. This let the time down cycle to reset and let not the heater stop until you need it to stop. After the shower you can shut of the repeat eye cycle timer and go back to 20 minute cut off if you wish to do it for safety purposes.
- Q- Can I mount it side ways?
- Ans- No only upright position is suitable.
Conclusion
Many of us feel the need of hot water in an outdoor wash basin for washing the chlorine off after a swimming or washing the pets off. Many other needs a portable tankless water heater for travels too. For those Eccotemp L5 Portable Tankless Water Heater is simply appealing. It is easy to carry and maintain. It gives 1 gallon per minute flow which is enough for an outdoor evening bath under the sky or any other purpose. It looks like for outdoor portable tankless water heater this one stand on top.