Heated water hoses can be expensive to buy. Here’s how you can make your own and save some money.   First you need to determine how long of a hose you need for your cold weather camping. Don’t make a longer hose than you think you will need as heated hoses are bulkier and take up a fair amount of space to store. Since we don’t camp often when temperatures are below freezing, we only made a hose long enough to be used while working at Amazon in Kentucky during their peak season (Oct-Dec). We purchased a 10ft premium water hose and 12ft heated pipe cable through Amazon. You can purchase here by clicking on the links below.

There are a couple of other supplies you will need. Some inexpensive electrical tape, aluminum foil, and enough pipe insulation to cover your hose.  I used the foam vs the rubber because I could not justify the additional expense of rubber pipe insulation.

You can purchase the pipe insulation and enough tape to cover the hose from Amazon by clicking the links below.


The first thing I did was check that the heat tape actually worked. I didn’t want to build the hose only to find out I received a defective heat tape. I also wanted to feel how hot it would get. I placed the thermostat under a bag of ice and it worked great. The heat tape got pretty warm but not hot enough to damage the hose.

I used aluminum foil on the outside of the hose to better distribute the heat and to protect the hose from the heat tape.  I attached it every foot or so to the hose with a wrap of electrical tape.

Next I put the pipe insulation on and wrapped the entire length with electrical tape. The electrical tape protects the somewhat fragile pipe insulation from damage. And the tape is easy to repair should it become damaged.

There is a thermostat “button” that senses the temperature of the hose and turns on when the temperature gets to low, and off when it is warm enough. The button rests against the hose and it covered with the tape.

Total cost of the hose was about $43.  A new 10ft heated hose costs about $69, so I saved about $26. Considering it took less than a hour to put together I think that’s pretty good. You would obviously save more money building a longer hose.

Time is money and not everyone wants to build their own hose.  Here is a 12 foot hose from Amazon that is ready to go.

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