I guess I can look at it now and laugh. It’s not a hearty, full-belly laugh yet. And until the problem is actually fixed it’s still more of a small haha chuckle.
Last weekend we were all set to test every major function of the cart. We had everything ready to go for this major milestone, or so we thought.
When I was ready to purchase the hot water tank, the recommended tank was out of stock; I bought what I thought was a comparable tank.
The tank promptly arrived and I was more pleased than ever since this heater was silver and it matched the cart perfectly.
Here, see for yourself…

That’s the heater on the front of the cart. Looks great, doesn’t it?
So, back to last weekend and our big test. I first filled the fresh water tank, and I connected the propane regulator to the heater, and then to the propane tank and turned it on. After installing two D cell batteries I was ready to fulfill the hot water requirement for the health inspector.
I flipped the switch to the water supply after hooking up the 12v battery I will use for power. My wife flipped open the hot water tap for the sinks and within seconds we had a good water flow. Time for the heater to work it’s hot water magic. The heater will automatically ignite to provide the needed hot water once the water flows through.
We should hear a few audible clicks and then the heater should light….nothing. We shut the water off and double check all the connections. We out en the hot water tap and try again, still no ignition and clod water running from the hot tap. Well, crap!
I immediately bust out the instruction booklet and hand it to my wife. She pours through the troubleshooting section while I triple check all connections. We find out it needs a minimum 25 psi, from the water pump, to ignite. We soon learn the pump I purchased only puts forth water at 20 psi.
Now, it was that me to test the heater to see if it was the heater or water pump causing the issue. The instructions said to hook it up to the garden hose to see if it was, indeed, a pressure issue.
The garden hose produced enough pressure to ignite the heater and, ahhhhhh-angels signing-we had hot water. We now knew it was the pump.
A little mad but somewhat relieved, I head off to purchase a pump that’s rated a little higher in the psi department. I picked up a 12v 1.0 gallon per minute (GPM) pump that uses almost 30 psi to deliver water.
About 15 minutes later I had the new pump installed and I was ready for hot water. At this point, I’m jacked up like I’m waiting on a gold strike.
A spin of the hot water tap and we wait, and wait, and wait. Still no hot water. The frickin new pump, with a 30 psi, still would not ignite the water heater. Son of a b……
We soon found that not only does the heater need a pump that delivers of 25 psi, but this heater also needs a MINIMUM 2.5 GPM WATER FLOW.
So, the new heater is on order and we’ve had to push back inspection until we make sure the new heater will work with a 1.0 GPM water pump.
Stay tuned Murica, we will keep you posted.