Hot Showers

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
after much research I am going to use a standard RV tank water heater. I might go with the dual propane/electric model, but propane for sure. the dual heating element ones are about the same price. it depends what's available when the time comes to buy. highdesertranger
 
I have a 6 gal Atwood water heater in mine, there is no temp control, its either on or off. The water seems just right.

Let me add mine is Propane only. Atwood was bought out Dometic.
 
I've been poking around on this topic in recent days and have come to the conclusion that a recirculating shower with hot water is a very doable solution. Main trick is you'd have to have a semi-dedicated space inside, with a shower pan that isn't rigged to drain to gray water.

It largely comes down to having a small holding tank, a small water heater, a pump, and some filtering gear. Just a matter of putting them all together in the correct order.

Most of the solutions I've found in videos involve being able to draw water out of the fresh tank, and also push the water out of the shower pan into the gray water tank and then pump it back into the holding tank; frankly that just seems like unnecessary added complexity. I'm going to plan on a completely closed system. Drain the holding tank to gray tank manually, drain gray tank at an appropriate location, and fill the holding tank with fresh water at the same time the fresh tank gets filled. Makes your fresh tank go a lot longer.

The guts of the system can be most anywhere in the vehicle, and just run hoses to where your shower head/mixer is, and then back from the pan. Filters clean out any schmutz. If you go with an electric-only heater, put it on a switch and flip it on a little bit before your shower.

One issue with this sort of setup I've yet to puzzle out 100% is when you want to flush this system out (if it even really needs flushing). It's not necessarily a simple task to drain one of those water heaters - seems like it takes pulling it out of its normal space, taking it outside, and flipping it upside down. Not a herculean problem, of course, just a matter of making sure the unit is installed in an easily-accessable spot and can be mounted/unmounted, hose connections connected/disconnected, with ease.
 
My 6 gal tank with a plastic plug I replaced it with a ball valve, makes it easy to drain it. Also you can shower on 2 gals of water with a work.
 
yeah RV water heaters are easy to drain.

my concern with a recirculating shower is biological. what kind of filter are you going to use to remove feces and all the bio nasties? after all isn't that the idea of a shower to wash all the stuff off your body.

also using your grey water tank. doesn't your dish water go in there? it's going to leave a grease film and the water in a grey tank can smell to high heaven.

IMO your making taking a shower way to complicated. to me the very idea of a recirculating shower is kinda nasty. like recirculating your toilet water.

highdesertranger
 
I' d shell out a quarter for a fresh gallon from Walmart, before I use grey water to clean(?) myself.
yuck.png
 

Attachments

  • yuck.png
    yuck.png
    77.6 KB · Views: 3
I was briefly fascinated with the concept, but agree that it's too complicated and potentially very icky.  Our need (verus desire) for showers varies considerably by activity, season and location.  We used to plan shower stops, but have been avoiding public facilities lately.

We use a simple 12volt bilge pump/shower head rig with a collapsible bucket and Sterlite tub for hair washing in a pop up privacy shelter.  It takes under two gallons for the two of us (my hair is long), which is easily poured into a gray water jug for disposal.  I carry a folding dog pool for a full shower experience, but haven't actually used it yet.

Now that the air is getting cooler, I may find it a little less enjoyable, but one of my best memories is looking out the window of the shower at sunset over an 800' river gorge on a chilly night with my warm robe and a cozy fire waiting.  Back then, I thought a bug sprayer was the best.

Frankly, I hate solar showers, though others love 'em.  For me, they are too heavy, slippery and hard to keep clean.  Ever tried to hold onto one and pump (cold!) water at the same time?  Not fun.
 
What I found with solar showers in the winter is they just don't work. especially if there is a breeze the water just doesn't get hot it get warm but not hot. highdesertranger
 
The recirculating shower designs I've seen have been very good about filtering. Most use a spin-down filter to get the bigger stuff, then a pair of cylindrical filters (sediment, then carbon) in shells that look like water bottles, and then a UV sterilizer, all before pushing either straight to the cold-water feed or through the heater to the hot-water feed. All those filters can be removed and either washed out or replaced as necessary.

I share the ick feeling of using the gray water tank, though, and if I go this route, would build off a closed system.
 
This is my outhouse and shower.
The hot water goes in the 2 gallon sprayer.
bath.jpg
 

Attachments

  • bath.jpg
    bath.jpg
    165.8 KB · Views: 7
Planet Fitness is your friend. 20 bucks a month to be able to shower at any location in the country, if you have a card they won't give you crap for parking overnight, they have wifi, and all you can eat pizza and bagels once a month.

And I guess you can also work out.
 
Psyckosama said:
Planet Fitness is your friend. 20 bucks a month to be able to shower at any location in the country

In normal times this would be the way to go but this year many states closed down all gyms.

I had joined PF back in March but cancelled when COVID hit in a big way.
 
also for some of us boondockers there is no gyms let alone Planet Fitness's around. 20 bucks a month would just be a waste of money. highdesertranger
 
Sofi:  The pop-up shelter/weed sprayer is exactly what I used for years.  The sprayer was very handy at the picnic table, too.  I used to put a canning funnel in an empty cat litter jug for a sink/gray water container.  Worked well.  (Tech tip:  Keep a little Vaseline around to lube the pump shaft and seal when needed.  Also great on a cotton ball for a fire starter.)

When we started spending more time in developed campgrounds, I rarely used the sprayer and it took up too much room.  Same for the shelter.

Fast forward, and we're avoiding "amenities".  The shelter is back, along with a more compact shower option.
 
I have my rooftop water tank painted black, since I'm going to head down south it should stay pretty warm when I'm stationary. I'm going to rig up the back doors to pen so I can run a curtain across them for privacy when I use it as an outdoor shower. Once restrictions start getting lifted I'll look into a gym membership too.
 
Sofisintown said:
This is my outhouse and shower.
The hot water goes in the 2 gallon sprayer.

Here's a little mod I made to the nozzle on my sprayer. The shower head is from one of those solar camp shower bags (that didn't work so well).

DSC07375.JPG
 

Attachments

  • DSC07375.JPG
    DSC07375.JPG
    217.2 KB · Views: 7
Slowday:  Great idea!  I just happen to have one of those shower heads around, but the same reason you did.  If I ever go back to the sprayer, it'll have a home.
 
A few years ago I got a bar that expands and contracts made for hanging clothes across the backseat. It had hooks to attach to the grab handles. Somehing like that with a shower curtain with some magnets to keep the curtain to the door might work well.

Or even just a 1" curtain tension rod of the right length to keep tension between the rear doors.

Car clothes bar (sorry about the length of the link) https://www.target.com/p/3-x37-expa...o73aT7c8Lcbz15zicQRoCAbcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 

Latest posts

Top