Camco Heated Water Hose Review – Showcasing my Awesome 1st YouTube Video!

Last Updated on January 27, 2024 by Jeremy

When it comes to water supply to your RV, you need something that is reliable, sturdy and manufactured to the highest quality standards. However, is there something available that can withstand sub-freezing temperatures?

Sure there is! Introducing my Camco Heated Water Hose Review – An intriguing, well detailed, informative review that will include my very first introductory YouTube video as an added bonus.

Let’s get down to action shall we?

Camco Heated Water Hose Review: Introduction

Name: Camco 25ft Cold Weather Heated Drinking Water Hose

Website: Homepage (camco.net)

Price: Prices vary by length of hose

Owners: Don & Teresa Caine

Product Video: YES (see below)

Overall Rank: 7.6/10

Who is Camco?

Camco is a manufacturing company that started out way back in 1966. With a lot of patience and over time, the owner, Don Caine and his wife Teresa started the business and expanded it from a single antifreeze product to a mountain of different acquired products.

For the full history, read this article here: Camco RV Products & RV Accessories.

Eventually, once upon a time, the birth of the heated water hose happened and the rest of the story proceeds as follows.

Why a Heated Water Hose?

Although Camco designs products for RVs specifically, a pre-made heated water hose can be used in pretty much any cold weather application.

The reasoning behind a heated water hose is for the sole purpose of water not freezing as it is supplied from source A) to source B).

Typically, in the camping world setting, the water supply source in colder temps comes from a hydrant. However, from time to time, hydrants can freeze at the exit point, which in turn, can freeze your supply line (or hose).

To avoid this, heat tape would be wrapped around your normal hose using electrical tape and plugged into a power outlet. What this does is regulate the water temperature to stay at a constant warm temperature to avoid a total freeze.

Now in Camco’s case, they went one step further and wrapped their standard 5/8″ water hose in a PVC protective rubber sleeve that eliminates exposure of the heat tape, as well, protects the hose from debris and damage.

Let’s have a quick look of my setup on our RV from the video below.

Tell Me More!

So from the above video, you can essentially note that the hose itself was rather short. That’s because they come in three different variations: 12′, 25′ & 50′ lengths.

Each hose comes with the following features:

• -Energy saving thermostat that heats only when needed
• -Durable exterior PVC jacket
• -5/8″ thick hose with female ends and a male-male fitting included
• -18 AWG 6′ Power Cord w/ LED indicator
• -NSF61 certified, BPA, phtanlate & lead free
• -Freeze protection to -28 Celcius
• -Operates on 120V
• -Ideal for RVs, Livestock, Agriculture, Kennels, & Other Uses
• -Doesn’t leach chemicals into drinking water

Have a look at Camco’s very own advertising video to get a better understanding, below.

Overall Personal Experience

Last winter took a lot of ingenuity to create a water supply hose that would not freeze. What started as a normal 100′ hose from a hardware store, ended up a short 6′ quick-disconnect hose attached right to the city water connection on our trailer unit.

Attached to a hydrant which had heat tape, we utilized our contraption to a point of -4 degrees Celsius before freezing issues started. Although it took lots of weather watching and pre-planning to utilize it throughout the winter, we made it work. Without boring you to death, let’s advance to this winter.

Our current weather situation is set in the scene of the Kootenays. Winters here are usually pretty mild, and can get as cold as -20, but is extremely rare for it to happen beyond a week or two. The average temperature hovers between -7 and +9 Celsius throughout the winter months.

Discovering this invention of a heated water hose has changed everything. Upon initial setup, here’s what we noticed when we received our Camco heated water hose.

1) The Packaging of this product comes inside a cardboard box. It is a perfectly rolled up water hose with one loose fitting, and an instruction manual. Simple, easy, not time wasted here.

2) Being a 12′ model that we own, it was rather bulky to operate at first, but was easy to unravel with a little bit of patience. Once properly stretched out and positioned in place, it was a matter of connecting the dots.

3) Starting at the hydrant end, the female end of the hose was attached, and hand-tightened.

4) Next, the male fitting insert was attached to the city water connection on the trailer unit, and tightened.

5) Here, is when attaching the other end of the hose to the recently installed male fitting takes place, and hand-tightened.

6) At this stage, I turned on the water supply, and plugged in the already included thermostat and heater cord. This is where it was noticed 2 problems. I had leaks at both connections / fittings. A simple fix of channel-lock pliers and confirming the hose washers were installed fixed that problem.

Caution comes to play here however on two things:

• – Do NOT over-tighten the fittings. Although hand tight should be sufficient, it was apparent that the stainless steel fittings needed tightening beyond slightly, just to avoid a constant drip, even with hose washers. I am not sure why, but this fixed the issue for me.
• – Attaching to the city water connection should be avoided directly, and consider using a 90-degree elbow pointing down. This will assist in less strain and pressure on the city water connection and hose combined. Even though it can be done directly, I would personally recommend against for those reasons.

7) Enjoy constant running, non-freezable water for your winter without unplugging the cord. At the very least, up until -28 Celsius.

UPDATE** Since October of 2023, we were on year two with this heated water hose connection. What started as a very awesome product, it didn’t last past 6 months of its lifetime. I’m certain it could if there were thermostats integrated with them, but this particular brand did not.

What happened was the hose bubbled and created a pin hole due to the extra heat laying against the hose for long periods of time. We ended up make-shifting our own hose from the supplies of this hose.

PRO’s & CON’s

Now, up until this point, in all honesty, I would say that the Pros are: Easy to use, easy to connect, hook and go, no worries from here on in. ** Confirmed January 27th, 2024)

The downside however, or Con’s would include: Extra tightening for ensuring of no-leaks, and 90-degree elbow not included. ** Which I would confirm, except now I realise over-tightening was not the issue, it needed to be seated just right.

This would be a great ideal scenario to include one of these things within their packaging, but then again, that’s why they are “sold” separately, for extra profit.

Other models?

Now upon further investigation, Camco is not the only manufacturer out there that makes these products (of course). Without competition, you wouldn’t truly know what’s best.

Valterra/Dometic make a brand of heated hose that comes available in 15′, 25′, and 50′ lengths, that are self-regulating, have no thermostat, and come with zipper installation cuffs for each fitting end.

Pirit PWL also has versions of a heated water hose, and lastly H&G Lifestyles make a model that seems to be gaining popularity as well.

But with the experience of Camco products and knowledge of their history, I personally would recommend this product (any length of hose) to anyone that needs a reliable water traffic source for their winter activities, even though mine didn’t last as long as it could have.

Final Thoughts

2 words: Preventative Maintenance!

Whether you needed it or not, this Camco heated water hose review comes to a conclusion in which explained was a personal video product description, a company modeled video description, and a personal story regarding the 12′ version of this product.

In knowing, it’s got a nice high customer review rating, we should note that although the pricing is slightly higher than other versions, it’s definitely worth it. The way I see it, you get what you pay for, and this is not a product that skimps out on quality and effectiveness.

The Camco heated water hose will almost 100% with certainty, be added to the Camping List Checklist, for next winters RV adventure, and is something every RV owner should consider having, even if not directly for trailer usage.

Wondering where to get yours?

Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!

Until then,

Cheers!