Camping Gas Water Heater Buying Guide

Hot water is like home. Therefore, the presence of a camping gas water heater can generate hot water on demand for showering, making hot chocolate, washing dishes, and other activities. 

If you rarely camp, a portable water heater might be overkill; a simple solar-heated shower might do the trick. However, if you plan to spend a lot of time on an aboveground rig, converted van, country cabin, or even simple car camping, an instant tankless water heater can significantly enhance your experience. Along with your camp stove, your water heater will serve as the centerpiece of your camp kitchen.

These water heaters are called tankless water heaters because instead of maintaining water temperature in a tank, they heat the water as soon as it passes through a heating element, drawing from an external water source (usually a portable water container). 

In this guide, we'll focus on tankless portable water heaters that use some kind of fuel (usually propane) to heat water instantly while camping.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a portable water heater for camping. The list below is not exhaustive but provides you with some of the most important features to consider when looking for the right water heater for your use case.

The most common fuel for camping water heaters is propane. It's relatively cheap and readily available, and the tank can also be used for camping lights and stoves. 

For ease of use and versatility, a system using propane is our preferred setup if traveling primarily where propane is readily available.

Diesel-powered heaters have grown in popularity in recent years as technology has rapidly improved. Since diesel is available in most countries, they are especially popular with people who are on long-term international overland adventures. If your vehicle runs on diesel or you are going abroad, these models may be the best choice for you. 

Portable water heaters provide a rating of how much hot water can be produced per unit of time. This is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a unit. Depending on your needs, you may need higher output. However, this needs to be balanced against other factors, as higher output units are generally larger, heavier, more expensive, and use more fuel. In the suggestions below, we have done our best to indicate the flow of the unit.

Some camping water heaters are more efficient than others, producing hot water that uses less fuel than other appliances. Ideally, you want a more efficient unit, but this calculation may not be as important as other factors such as size, weight, cost, and flow. Other things being equal, the more efficient unit is selected.

There are many tankless portable water heaters on the market, but not all of them are suitable for serious camping. Many are suitable for RVs, which are relatively protected and generally immune to off-road driving conditions.

While instant water heaters usually use some kind of fuel to heat the water, they usually have electrical control systems and water pumps that require power. This power is typically provided by a battery or by power from a vehicle, wall outlet, or another external power source such as a generator or portable power station.

The above briefly introduces the method of choosing a camping water heater. If you want to buy a camping gas water heater, please contact us.

Greaidea is a professional custom gas stove manufacturer. In our R&D department, 16 engineers are employed to guarantee our R&D advantages and continuous improvement. Spend 3% of revenue on research and development each year. With an excellent manufacturing team and quality control team, we can achieve an annual output of 800,000 sets of gas stoves and 300,000 sets of the highest quality range hood products.