Emergency heat period I would imagine.  With enough you could probably keep your moat thawed.

With some modifications to the stated use, you could possibly have some sort of circulating hot water system or use it as a hot water heater for a shower/sink in a hunting/camping cabin.

Main use would be...it's designed use, hot water for washing self/dishes/clothes.  I can't recall if it got the water up to boiling (no reason it shouldn't though) so you could even, theoretically, render water safe for drinking, though I really wouldn't want to due to the high chance of getting rust/POL into the water.

Most water can be rendered safe to drink merely by pasteurizing it.  It only needs to get to 65C or 150F.

You could float nalgenes in it for a couple of hours till they come up to that temp.

Or you could get real fancy and use it as a hot water bath and heat potable water by running a series of coils through a tank of heated water.

How much will they sell for shippped?  It could be a slick answer to hot water at hunting camp!

I know they can get water hot enough to scald, I assume that's hot enough to pasteurize.  They would probably be great for hunting camps...

I've washed dishes using the water heated with those back in my guard days. If I remember right it'll get the water scaling hot.

Too many uses to list for heated water if the shtf.

Hell, even a warm bath during shtf would be a welcome luxury you couldn't put a price on.

funny.......but I was going to post the exact same question.......

I don't have one, but have been trying to think what the heck you could
use one for, as they are readily available...

comon guys! We need some really good ideas!!

I'm thinking Stock tank as well.
So as not to turn this into a for sale thread or get it locked,
Are you listing them on your website yet, or trying to gauge interest before getting a bunch?
MIKE

I would think it would take a lot a fuel to heat up 30-40 gal of water in a trashcan/ barrel, but if you and your whole family were all bathing, washing the days dishes and maybe washing clothes a once it would probably be worth it.  But then again it would be just as easy to have a couple metal 5gal buckets by the fireplace warming all the time (in winter that is)
Just some thoughts......

PTk

The old saw about a watched pot never boils never lit one of these puppies.

Nothing I have ever used brings water to a boil faster than an immersion heater.

well shame on me for beign the frog in the water - I didn't notice they were gone but I sure remember using them.  Do I recall setting two up in a GP medium to heat the entire tent?  does that sound right?  there was soi much flow of air through the tent it was probably safe but hell we could have died from some CO2 poisoning.  this was mid 80s.

170* to kill most if no all bugs in the water. 150* would be a little low.

Got the info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Pasteurization_Indicator

First time I was in, we set these up to boil the cosmoline from our new M16A2's.  Worked pretty well too!

Could I use it to heat my spa?

We used them to heat water for showering while on OPs in the Sinai Desert for the MFO in the mid 80's.  Basically they were the same setup as in the picture, but were placed on the top of a plywood shower stall with plumbing from the lower side of the can down to the interior of the stall.  The floor was simply a pallet covered with a rubber mat.  I can’t remember if there was also a cold water supply to the shower or you had to wait until the water temperature was just at the right temp. for your shower.  

They were also used to heat T-rations if I remember correctly.

Also, I believe that the small amount of fuel went a long way.  We used diesel, and I don't remember having to refill them too often for the 2 weeks we would be out on an OP.

I guess if one has a primitive BOL, it could be put to good use there.

I wouldn't use it to heat any drinking, bathing water or dish washing water. Mainly because the exhaust gases run through that donut, and if there is any leak, you will get exhaust gases and oil residue in your drinking water.

I think I would set it up as a small water to water boiler system for emergencies.

Take a coil of 25' of copper tubing and place it in the bottom of a garbage can. Hook a hose to each end of the copper tubing, and run it to your actual water heater in your home. You could just solder in a couple of "T" connections on top of your water heater and a valve on each one of the feed lines to your heater. That way you can shut it off and store the whole thing until needed. When needed, attach the hoses and open the values.

The heater will heat a few gallons of water in your garbage can, and that hot water will heat the potable water in the copper tubing and put it into your water heater will it is actually usable and more convenient. It will thermosiphon and heat the water in your water heater.


The other way I would use it, is instead of heating potable water, it would go into a heat core from a vehicle and I would place a fan behind it and heat my room, BOL, shack, or whatever. I would use a small electric water pump if I was doing this. Those heater cores do put out some good heat. Some bigger ones are around 35,000 btu's. Even a small radiator from a car would work with a fan blowing across it.

Seriously, that is about the only two ways I would use it. When I was in, all I ever seen them used for was heating C-Rat cans and that was only a couple times.


" target="_blank">

Red is the copper tubing
Blue line is the water level in your garbage can
Brown is the heater itself
Dark blue is the water heater in your home
Pink are the copper lines from the water heater to feed the home

Moonshine.

elevated to make a hot shower

noticed this on CL:

http://houston.craigslist.org/for/1491632492.html

...not sure of the "PLACE THIS HEATER IN A 55 GAL DRUM OF WATER IN THE CENTER OF A ROOM" part (or, for that matter, the rest of the ad's 'advise')