Recirculating Shower

[frater secessus]

I've thought about recirc in sticks and bricks because I love long hot showers but know they are wasteful.

I was thinking about a quick actual shower, then close the valve once clean and start recirculating water through instant-on as needed. No filtration needed.

 

[Scott7022]

Thanks for chiming in frater secessus,

Yeah, I am thinking this might be a direction to go. After all the input it should be the simplest and Russian thinking is simple better. I will have water and a ton of energy so an electric on demand and recirculate after the "cleaning cycle". I love shaving in the shower, a wasteful and guilty pleasure I even practiced in Africa. The brianstorming isn't done on this one and so thanks for your input one and all. No stupid questions, only unasked questions are stupid.

 

[theinfamousj]

For a sticks and bricks recirculating shower, you can always do it Japanese style: scrub yourself impeccably clean in water collected to flush your toilet, then with your impeccably clean self, soak in hot water designed for reuse.

Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[tmorrgold]

Wow, so I have been doing some research and I figured I'd post my finding in case others were thinking about doing the same thing. First off this is hardly a new idea. Several companies in Europe and the USA are or have tried kickstarter programs to make these. One company in Europe makes them and they are cool but stupid expensive. So after getting some responses from manufactures I have some how and why's. Basically if you design a shower the water has to be drinking level safe. This certification level changes dependent on the state. California has the most restrictions and it makes it too expensive to bring a product to market. Hey, most of us have showered in a place you can't drink the water. Past that my tub model still holds true. Just because you use 30 gallons of water in a tub the soap, shavings, and "parts" washing gets diluted but is still not drinkable. Tubs are legal, showers are not. Sigh! Ok moving forward Large Koi pond filters are the cheap and easy answer to the filtration issue. Most have small, built in, UV sterilizing lights . They will handle the pressure and volume and require an external pump. Most of the tropical tank fish filters have an internal pump and it is less than adequate. I will be adding an additional inline UV lamp, does two jobs. Kills bacteria missed by the first small light because of increased rate of flow. Adds a little thermal energy to the water and slows the cooling process. Boil half a gallon of water and mix in another 3/4 gallons of temperate water to a base with a six inch rise. Turn on the pump, and wait till he oxygenitics shower head is the only thing adding air to the system and enjoy. Should be clean enough for the cats I roll with. One additional benefit of the Koi pond filter is it has a bypass for draining the swamp. Flip a switch and the water gets diverted to an outside grey container under pressure sucking the system dry.

SO with all this information, any concerns questions or ideas?

I've been researching this idea and haven't come up with much.  Your post had the most information I've been able to find so far.  How is your project going so far?  I didn't understand the part in your post about "Boil half a gallon of water and mix in another 3/4 gallons of temperate water to a base with a six inch rise."

So far it looks like the biggest problem with the recirculating shower idea is filtering out the soap.  Does the koi pond system take care of that?  I'm also wondering if a water accumulator would be useful for possible flow issues.  Thanks!

 

[max+sophia]

I don't know about recirculating, but for heating, Cycle Cruza on youtube uses this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KLKGJ1I/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3D4YNHFJVI5AA&colid=2IADWSXOCY293

On your Amazon link, this <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CGBZXNM/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07CGBZXNM"><b>GARLAT</b></a> instant shower, was interesting.

 

[reppans]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but I found a good solution to the shower problem through extreme water conservation. Picked this from backpacking (where you have to carry your water) but all I need now is Dr. Bronner's and one of my Sawyer/Platypus/Evernew drinking water bladders, and a spare bottle cap with holes drilled in it. I started out with a 2L bladder and with practice, am now down my 0.6L Evernew bladder.

As you can imagine water management becomes increasingly easier with less and less water - obtaining, transporting, heating, disposing, and even less steam build-up inside the vehicle. For me, the trick is the right amount Dr. Bronner's (which rinses squeaky clean with least amount of water) lathered up in my hair, and then I scoop that hair lather to wet and lather my body (which doesn't need to be fully wet). I use 1/3 of the water to wet my hair, which of course leaks down to wet half my body, and 2/3rds to rinse everything with clean water.

My indoor minivan shower set-up in shown in the Shower Hacks thread below.

 

[Firebuild]

I have used a recirculating battery operated shower to rinse off salt water and wash my hair after scuba diving off the beach for a few years. Granted, after an amazing nighttime ocean dive showering is as much about warming up as it is about cleaning up, so it's not really the ultimate hygiene solution, but I think it still has some applications. I have two flexible buckets I got at Target and two big water jugs, which I fill with super hot water before my dive. It will be still warm but not too hot to use by the time I shower.  I fill the first bucket with water and stand in it, with the battery operated pump placed inside the bucket re-cycling the water. Yes, I am pumping the salt water I just rinsed off back over myself but it feels great and is pretty diluted on the repeat trip. Obviously I lather up with the water off, and once I have shampoo in my hair I switch the pump to a second bucket with fresh water because I don't want the shampoo to come back through. Once the second bucket is empty, my shower is over. 

This link is to a much fancier and newer version of my dive shower:
https://www.amazon.com/OOKLEE-Recha...sr=8-19&keywords=battery+operated+shower+pump

I couldn't find the buckets, which fit inside each other and squish up pretty well, at Target.com anymore so I guess they are discontinued. They are kind of like what's on this link but less rigid and less expensive. This was the closest thing I could find. 

https://www.amazon.com/Tubtrugs-SP75GBK-Flexible-Gorilla-Capacity/dp/B008MXZTQ2

 

[JT646]

Has anybody heard or done a recirculating shower? Small space showering is hard. I prefer outdoor showers and I am really not that shy. I do like to be respectful and polite however. But I will not have the ability with my next project to go south and north as the weather dictates. The idea of going out in the cold to have a hot shower is not really in the want to do ticky box anymore.

Scott,  If you haven't already seen this:


Long video on a really cool (and $$$) van....the portion about his shower starts at about 10:20.   Looks interesting...but his radiant heated floor is what I want.

 

[AJ452]

Wow, that's a sweet van. I'm digging the shower, the radiant floor heat and the sweet solar panels that also serve as a deck because they can be walked on.

 

[maki2]

Think it through for a system just for a shower. It needs its own hot water heater that all the water runs through, new incoming from the water tank as well as recirculated water. All the shower water would have to be completely filtered and safe to drink if the kitchen and the shower shared the same water heater.