Camping gas water heater
Your own build, not a rebadge: made to your drawing, certified for the market it lands in, packed complete for the shelf, and a sample in your hands in 10–18 days.
Where it goes
The same unit, three jobs. What changes between them is who is drawing the water and how far it has to travel — not the machine.
What this build is
Where it goes, what it runs from, what it is built out of, and how it is operated.
One person carries it, and it runs wherever it is put down.
Ignition is the only thing on the unit that draws power.
A moulded resin shell, not a painted steel box.
No plumbing run and no wiring to install.
The specification
Every figure this build ships to, the dimensions an installer works from, and the connections it arrives with — the reference a buyer reads against a PO.
Flow · litres per minute
Inlet water at 15 °C. The curve shape holds across the range — only the rated power changes.
| DimensionsWidth | Height | Depth | Gas and combustionHeat input | Gas consumption | Gas type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 mm | 318 mm | 170 mm | 6 kW | 20 MJ/h | Propane / LPG |
| Gas setting | WaterWater flow | ElectricalIgnition | System voltage | Battery | Battery life |
| Market-specific, locked at build | 2.2–3 L/min | Battery, no mains wiring | DC 12V | 2500 / 4000 mAh | 80–120 min |
| BuildHousing | Net weight | Enclosure rating | ConnectionsWater in / out | Gas inlet | Mounting |
| PA66+GF | 6.1 kg | IPX4 | Hose tail, quick-connect | Regulator, hose-mounted | Handle and bracket points on the shell |
| DimensionsWidth | Height | Depth |
|---|---|---|
| 400 mm | 318 mm | 170 mm |
| Gas and combustionHeat input | Gas consumption | Gas type |
| 6 kW | 20 MJ/h | Propane / LPG |
| Gas setting | WaterWater flow | ElectricalIgnition |
| Market-specific, locked at build | 2.2–3 L/min | Battery, no mains wiring |
| System voltage | Battery | Battery life |
| DC 12V | 2500 / 4000 mAh | 80–120 min |
| BuildHousing | Net weight | Enclosure rating |
| PA66+GF | 6.1 kg | IPX4 |
| ConnectionsWater in / out | Gas inlet | Mounting |
| Hose tail, quick-connect | Regulator, hose-mounted | Handle and bracket points on the shell |
A field the source sheet leaves unspecified for this build is not carried as a dash here. If a figure you need is missing, ask and we will confirm it against the production sheet.
In the field
Overheat, tilt and dry-burn cutouts, and the control face your end customer actually touches. On a gas appliance the protection answer is what your compliance people ask first, so it is set out here rather than buried in a feature list.
The outlet is watched, and the gas is cut before the water runs past the temperature you set.
A unit knocked off a tailgate stops firing rather than running on its side.
No water in the exchanger means no flame — the failure mode that kills an unfed portable heater.
And how it is operated
A single press lights the burner — no hold-and-purge sequence at the unit.
The control face shows the state the unit is in rather than a bare dial.
Flow and outlet are set once at the start of a session and the unit runs to that.
Before you go further
Three cutouts answer the field; the checks behind them answer your compliance people — those are below. Send market and volume, and the reply is a cost direction and a sampling plan.
Evidence
What is verified before a unit is packed, and what you receive to put in front of your own compliance people. Neither is a claim about a certificate — it is what the shipment arrives with.
Metals and gas-path parts checked against specification before they reach a line.
Cut-outs and fittings checked to the drawing the order was built from.
Burn-in run on the unit, so the flame is proven before the enclosure is closed.
Over-ignition and flame-out checked on the assembled gas path.
Residual-water check, because a trapped charge is what cracks an exchanger.
Carton and drop check against the pack the container will actually carry.
In the shipment file
OEM / ODM
Your own mark, from a drawing to a shipping container: what moves, and what stays fixed.
A private tool changes the part itself rather than the mark on it. It is quoted against your drawing once that drawing is locked.
A manual is a compliance document in most markets, not a leaflet — so it is written for the destination rather than translated after the fact.
The gas setting and the certification scope are fixed at build, against the market you are selling into — not adjusted at the destination.
Colour, logo, carton and manual all move without tooling spend, so a first order does not have to fund a mould to carry your brand.
Terms and evidence
The terms as they will read on the order, and the documents that travel with the container.
Buyer voices
Two buyers on the camping build — a second price point off one platform, and the protection check an importer runs before the first shipment.
“Two brands, one container, and neither one undercut the other.”
The brief was a lower-shelf unit that would not cannibalise the one above it. Gulfstone kept both on one platform and dropped the constant-temperature control from the lower build — same exchanger, same gas path, same ignition.
Both lines shipped in one 40-ft, split by SKU. Two brands, one PO, one supplier relationship — and the second price point landed 22% under the hero SKU without touching its volumes.
“The protection list is what our importer asked about first — and it held.”
Compliance opens every meeting with what the unit does when it fails. Gulfstone sent a unit for our own bench check: all three cutouts tripped and matched the sheet, and it reached us in 12 days rather than the 6 weeks we had budgeted for.
The bench check cost one call and one sample against the 4 months we usually allow, and the certification file cleared both markets with the first shipment — no second round of paperwork, no held container.
Questions on this build
The five questions that only come up on this build — the control difference, the power source, the feed and the gas supply.
Start a program
Market, annual volume and the certification it must carry — three lines, and we have what we need. Your reply comes from the engineer who would run the line, scoped to your program rather than matched off a shelf.
