My horses are at home and I don’t have warm water to the barn spigot or even the house spigots. So I am going to buy one of those portable hot water systems. Seems like the prices are usually $150 to $200 for the basic ones. Anybody have a particular one they can recommend? Or what to look for when shopping for one? What to avoid?
Thanks!
The Schneider one is the only horse system that I would have. You could probably rig up something very similar cheaper with any portable tankless hot water heater that allows for garden hose connections. The ones with tanks don’t really have big enough tanks to wash and rinse a whole horse.
I got the insta hot from Schneiders. I love it. I dropped the propane tank into a plastic container and strapped the whole business onto a dolly so i can roll it around. It looks a fright but is very functional. Just remember to drain it every time, and wath out: the drain plug is easily lost.
That’s funny because it was an ad in Schneider’s catalog that my mom saw and said “that’s all they cost? We should get one”. Wasn’t sure if it was a good one or not since I’ve never even seen one in person before. Thanks!
I now have the Instahot from Schneiders, I used to own a hotwash. I prefer the schneider’s insta hot because you don’t have to preheat, you don’t need an electric plug and the hot water lasts as long as you need it. That said, it is propane which is always a tiny bit scary…
[QUOTE=islgrl;7036707]
I now have the Instahot from Schneiders, I used to own a hotwash. I prefer the schneider’s insta hot because you don’t have to preheat, you don’t need an electric plug and the hot water lasts as long as you need it. That said, it is propane which is always a tiny bit scary…[/QUOTE]
I bought the Propane one from Schneider’s a couple of years ago. It is . . . OK. The hose connections leak quite a lot even if you’re incredibly fastidious about it, so making it truly “portable” (like going to shows) means a LOT of fiddling around and water leaking. The hot water flow is fair, but not robust–the hose is small in caliber and so flow is quite restricted.
At best, with water that’s fairly cold coming in, I get lukewarm water. Which is vastly better than nothing while bathing a pinto, don’t get me wrong! 
But nothing beats my hard-wired instant-on tankless hot water system at home. My barn is hopefully putting one in this summer and I’ll probably sell the portable unit, which has not survived the “is it worth it?” test and is sitting idle.
I’d give it 2.5/5 stars after the first six months of use.
Here is the human version at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Eccotemp-L5-Portable-Tankless-Outdoor/dp/B000TXOJQ4
There are a LOT of portable tankless hot water heaters available. What you don’t get is the long output hose that goes with the Schneiders.
http://www.amazon.com/EZ-101-Tankless-Water-Heater/dp/B003327HDK/ref=pd_sbs_sg_5
http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Triton-Portable-Heater/dp/B00D6LK3K2/ref=pd_sbs_sg_2
On the other hand, if you want to spend 2k, you can get this one from Cabela.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Zodi-Outback-Gear-Hot-Tap-Pro-Portable-Shower-and-Water-Heater/1436312.uts?productVariantId=3311776&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=shopping&WT.z_mc_id1=03564171&rid=40&mr:referralID=0015250f-d791-11e2-a969-001b2166c2c0
I also have the insta-hot from Schneider’s (though I got mine cheaper at Camper’s World). I added an extra-long 50-foot coily hose and after using it mounted to a dolly for portability, finally decided a semi-permanent mount on the wall in my wash stall is handier. (I don’t need this to travel, just for bathing and washing wounds in the wash stall.)
I LOVE IT!
With the 50-foot wand hose, I can use this puppy all over the barn now, to clean buckets, etc.
For me – I have plenty of water flow and my water can get HOT, in fact, I have to be careful that it does not get too hot.
I saw an upgrade to the standard propane tank last week, and am going to get it. Available at U-Haul (why?) with a plastic base for stability and a GAUGE so you can see how much propane is left. Why did it take so long for someone to finally add a gauge to these little propane tanks?
I know a lot of people complain about water flow and lukewarm water … but I honestly could not be happier. I have plenty of water flow and as I wrote, the water gets HOT. You have several controls on the insta-hot to regulate water flow and temperature … mine is perfect.
The ONLY thing that has frustrated me is that even a tiny breeze will blow out the flame … so now mine is protected and if necessary I can close a couple of doors and keep it completely out of the wind.
Here is my wash stall installation: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/977550_10200778826466360_1052703344_o.jpg
I have one and LOVE IT, can’t imagine how I ever lived without it. I do have to agree the hose connections are fiddly, however easily remedied with a bit of teflon tape (99¢ in material that literally takes 3 seconds and zero talent to apply - for those easily put off by all things ‘handy’, myself included 
) and good brass quick connect fittings. Those two pieces in place, non-fiddly, quick on & off, zero drip… very happy.
The hose is small in caliber, and after experimentation with other hoses, I realized its to give better water pressure with the smaller diameter.
The water pressure is ‘meh’ at best, but with the little spray nozzle they provide just enough pressure is present to bathe a horse or blast some crap off a dirty bucket (which believe me, even a ‘meh’ blast of hot water beats the pants off a strong blast of cold water… hot water just cleans so much better).
I love the Schneiders unit because its so user friendly and very very portable. I have the caddy they sell too, and while I feel its slightly over priced for what it is, mine has held up to abuse for almost 3 years now. There is no way I’d want to try to use the unit without the caddy unless I intended to permanently mount it some place.
For my situation - I self care rough board with no electricity - the unit is manna from heaven as far as I’m concerned. Hot water literally on demand, anywhere I want it, is SUCH a wonderful luxury. I just wheel the unit around anywhere I want to go to fill or clean something. No lugging buckets.
Heck, in the snowy winter, after making a piping hot breakfast for the horses, I wheel it right out back and blast all the salt and road crud off my truck. Hot water cleans so very well! And its easy to forget how nice a sparkling clean windshield is after driving around with that ever-present film of salt spray thats the hallmark of winter where I live. :lol:
Camping World:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/eccotemp-portable-tankless-water-heater/37786
Can you add just any hose for the output or does it have to be a special hot water one?
King’s Ransom, where did you get your hose?
Thanks again. I ended up ordering the insta hot one. I’d love to have a real hot water system in my barn but I’m not that well off! LOL Hopefully this will do the job.
Ideally, I’d have gone w/ delta’s hardwired electric tankless, but what I ended up doing last fall was picking up an Ariston at Lowe’s that was plug and play.
I needed it for winter mashes and warm drinking water. 6 gallon capacity, and yes, it gets hot.
If the plumber ever shows up to fix the hydrant, I’ll finish my plan to mount it and put in a mixing setup so that I can use it for warm water baths.
To answer a couple of questions – No, you do not need a hot water hose with the insta-hot, “regular” hoses work just fine.
Yes, the suggestion of using Teflon tape on the fittings, and good brass quick-connectors stops the leaky connection issue (as it would on almost any plumbing connection) and makes attaching and detaching hoses much easier (again, as it would on almost any hose-attachment situation!).
I got my 50-ft. coil hose wand from the local farm store, garden section. NOTE: I did have to buy an adapter for the connection to switch from the short-hose hand-wand included with the unit to this one, which is made for a garden hose. I’m sorry that I don’t remember the size, but what you’re looking for is an adapter the size that makes a garden hose fit a kitchen faucet. Once I ditched the short-hose wand that came with the unit, I’ve been extremely happy.
50-ft. of hose might be a bit over-kill. Those coil-hose wands come with 25-ft. of hose too, and that might be better. I originally got the 50-foot because I felt my “portable” unit was a bit unstable and wanted to keep that unit and propane tank as far away from my horses as possible. So, I would set up the unit around the corner from the wash stall, out of the way of errant hooves.
If you look at my set-up, I am still not happy with the placement of the propane tank. When I can get the contractor back out here, I am going to put the tank inside the feed room, which is right behind the wash stall wall that you can see in the photo. Then, I’ll have a hole drilled for the gas hose so the tank will actually reside in the feed room, behind a wall and completely “safe” from any horse that might decide to lose its little horsey mind.
Another tankless heater spammer.
Who would buy from spammers anyway?
Reported.
“gangerous”? Do cheap products harbor clostridia?
I have this and it is excellent.
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