How necessary are water heaters?

[kromboy]

Say you're in a skoolie that has water heater under the bed or somewhere else inside the bus.

Ambient temperature being room temperature, do you really need a water heater?

And those of you that have skipped on the water heater, have you run into any issues?

 

[Drew Bru]

If your intention is to just use it as a camper or short trips or something, then you could probably just get by heating a basin of water on a stovetop. If you're going to live in it for any amount of time, it's really nice to have hot water. Unless you shower at the gym or something.
We've got a 6gal tank RV water heater that we would heat up like once a day and it would and we'd be fine for hot/warm water all day long. We lived full time in that bus for a couple years and we learned to adjust our lifestyle to our water situation. When we had shore power, we had hot water all the time....which was nice and luxurious. When boondocking, we used hot water when we needed it.
If you're still in the planning phase, I think you should plan on having a water heater (again, if you're planning living in it for extended periods of time).

 

[ewo1]

middle of winter, freezing cold water shower,,, no thanks!

 

[BamaBus]

middle of winter, freezing cold water shower,,, no thanks!

Would it really be freezing cold water if it were inside a heated space as the OP stated?

 

[ewo1]

Would it really be freezing cold water if it were inside a heated space as the OP stated?

I was pretty much answering the first question, the post title "How necessary are water heaters?"

If your water tank is inside, under the bed - ambient room temp - water heater already installed inside the bus somewhere, you should be fine.
Water tank under the bus, no insulation, water heater might not be enough for a hot shower.

the second part of his question...

Say you're in a skoolie that has water heater under the bed or somewhere else inside the bus.

ambient temperature being room temperature, do you really need a water heater?

So to find an answer that fits to the question -

If you had NO water heater, depending on where your tanks located and or insulated, what would indoor ambient temp be when it's 30 degrees outside?

WINTER TIME- Let's say it's a warm/heated 70 degrees in the bus...water freezes at 30-32 degrees....
again depending on where your tank and water lines are, the water will warm enough to not freeze but too cold for me to take a warm shower.

It gonna boil down to, do you like cold showers or not, even if the water in the tank got to 60 degrees, to cold for me!

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

if cold showers dont bother you?
then the only thing you would need hot water for would be dishes and cleaning up after cooking.
boil/heat water on stove/fire.
3 tupperware square tubs 1 with hot water and soap.
1 rinse water and
1 with bleach.

 

[s2mikon]

Nothing is worse to do than omitting something you don't think you will need and then trying to install it later. I KNOW! I also know that the ladies don't like cold showers. I learned that a long time ago.