I did what you do, Jeff, but never liked having to have to hold the
shower head while trying to wash -- I like to scrub with both hands. So
I put a diverter valve on the line that feeds the nozzle and I now hang
the nozzle up in my little shower area, and with the valve flipped one
way, the water comes out of the head; flipped the other way, the water
goes down a second line to the bucket. Much nicer being able to rinse
off with both hands and not have to hold the shower head.

On 7/25/2008 1:22 PM Jeff @ Autostadt West wrote:

> I use that same style Zodi all the time.  It works very well for me, but it
> does require a bit of technique.  I keep the Zodi and everything else I need
> for a shower in a 5 gal. painter's bucket.  When I take a shower, I put the
> cold water in the bucket, drop the water line and shower head into the
> water, start the pump, fire up the Zodi, and let it circulate for a minute
> or so.  I just pull the shower nozzle out of the bucket when I'm ready to
> "hose down".  When I'm not using the water (i.e., soaping up) I drop it back
> into the bucket.  Works great.
>
> I'll probably go to a hot water on demand system when/if the Zodi breaks,
> but for now it works perfectly.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of B Feddish
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:30 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Another portable hot water on demand system
>
>
> Right.
>
> The Zodi I had was this towering contraption that sat on top of a propane
> bottle in your tent. It always looked in danger of falling over in your
> shower. You would turn on the propane then start clicking the starter which
> would wait until there was enough propane in the air surrounding the unit to
> create a flame cloud. Then, as Troy says, if you left the flame on and did
> run the water it would scald the water in the pipes so the first batch of
> water was steam then spurting scalding water. You then had to take a quick
> shower as the pump would dump about 1/2 gal a minute of water on you.
>
> Actually I could somewhat deal with it but my wife could not and when my
> daughter was born I got rid of it. I got the Coleman hot water on demand and
> have not looked back.
>
> Thanks,
> Bryan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Troy
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 3:21 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Another portable hot water on demand system
>
> Zodi used to make a unit that would work on top of the Westy stove. You may
> be able to find one used on eBay. Zodi has since come out with a new unit
> that requires a pretty good-sized stove to power it, IOW, not suitable for
> the Westy. I recall a number of people saying that they used them (the old
> model) with success. I suspect a lot depends on your expectation. One of the
> drawbacks to the Zodi units is when you turn the water off the heat does not
> shut off. So, when you go to turn the water back on it comes out scalding
> hot or you end up melting the hoses in absence of water. I suspect if you
> are just using this device for heating up some water for dishes it would be
> fine, but for regulated shower use I think this thing would be a source of
> frustration.
>
> The Coleman, despite its size, is still one of the best units I tried and
> can actually be used with 40� water from a stream or river for showers or
> dishes, without having to recirculate water to get it up to temp.
>
> Troy
>