I have converted the original Bowen water heater in my
1966 Safari from LP to electric using a Hott Rod kit. I removed the original, non-working Hunewell thermostat from the tank and used the larger of the Hott Rod brass adaptor fittings to install the new electric heating element in its place. Installing the Hott Rod thermostat required cutting a square hole through the steel water heater housing. The thermostat has a peel and stick foam tape on the back used to attach it to the aluminum tank, but I did not want to rely on that to keep the thermostat in place so I cut a bicycle inner tube, stretched it tight around the inner tank and then tied it tight against the thermostat. While I had the tank out of the trailer I replaced the pressure relief valve (didn't want to trust the original). Since I never intend to use LP on this unit, I also filled the gas vent pipe with triple expanding foam to help insulate the tank. The water is comfortably warm, but it is not hot. If you are looking for really hot water, I could not recommend this method. But if anyone is interested, I can post photos of this project.
Linear Mode
