Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Hot Water Heater

Our float cabin is off the grid.  You can live simply, or with lots of modern innovations.  For hot water, many people have chosen tankless hot water heaters run by electricity (solar or generator) or propane.  There are also wood stoves that generate hot water.  You can make your own, or purchase one with that feature built in.

Wayne and I have chosen to adopt a simpler solution.  We like to have hot water for cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, and winter tub baths (lake water is just fine in summer).

 
We use pots and pans on top of the wood stove to heat water. From October to May, we have daily fires.  In the middle of winter, they last all day.  You can heat a lot of water in that amount of time. 

On bath day, four large pots on top of the wood stove will give us enough hot water for a bath in our regular size tub in our new bathroom.  Plus the extra heat needed to get it boiling warms up the cabin for when we are done.

Add an equal amount of cold water and that's all you need for a good scrub and soak.  Well, that's all you need for a shared bath that is.  But it's double the fun to get clean with your good buddy. -- Margy

6 comments:

  1. Ahem, the racy bits of off grid living!

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  2. I once lived like you did, a lot of work and reap the rewards afterwards.

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  3. When I lived in the Bella Coola valley, I had a big canning pot, the largest size possible, always on the back of the airtight stove that heated the house, from early fall to late spring. Its good lid, a handy-sized pan for a scoop, and a mitt were the rest of our hot-water system. Worked fine, and we had none of that winter dry skin that I always get in the city.

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  4. Racy bits and environmentally friendly too. It doesn't get much better :) Very interesting post and the brightly coloured kettles were beautifully "in tune" with the warmth of the overall tone.

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  5. I like it Margy. I do have an on demand hot water system which simply works way to well for having a shower to ignore, but I do get alot of different uses out of my wood stove too. Some ideas originating right here on your blog.

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  6. Thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting on My World post. Guess it was a bit racier than my normal posts.

    Stephanie - You are right, you feel like the work you do has so much benefit.

    Susannah - You are so right about the extra moisture in the air during the winter. On the other hand, we have to watch out for condensation in the rafters that sometimes "rains" down from above.

    Frugal - Thanks for the compliment. And I learn a lot from your posts as well.

    Margy

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy