Power drill water pump for the shower

teardropper · Post by **teardropper** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:53 pm

I've never used a power drill water pump, so I don't know how well it would work for this. I want to use it to pump out the shower basin, maybe 5 gallons at a time. But before I get one and try it out at home, I thought I would check here to see if anyone has tried this. It's appeal is that it is cheap. What other kind of pretty cheap pump would work?

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:33 pm

I carry one as an emergency spare if ALL else fails but they really suck. If you can find someone scrapping out an old camper or trailer, grab the water pump from that. Harbor Freight sells a 120VAC electric water pump that works quite well, I use one for transferring water from 30-gallon drums to my camper.
There are small pumps that are sold as camp shower pumps that work OK.

teardropper · Post by **teardropper** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:45 pm

Captain Goddammit wrote:I carry one as an emergency spare if ALL else fails but they really suck.

When I first read it I thought you meant it was powerful, but now I'm not sure...

Thanks. I'm looking at shower pumps right now.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:46 pm

Would a bilge pump work? I seem to remember that they are somewhat affordable.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:55 pm

Hey! Yeah, bilge pump, great idea! Those can even handle fairly grungy water. And they're even 12-volt!

teardropper · Post by **teardropper** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:13 pm

Yes. A bilge pump. 12 volt or D battery. I like it.

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:37 pm

12 volt bilge pumps are awesome. They don't consume much power but don't try to pump more than 6 vertical feet or the power consumption goes up and the work done goes down.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories

The attwood pump I have works best but any ol one will do.

teardropper · Post by **teardropper** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:10 am

Yep. I found one, and it should work. Lots better than what I had planned. So we should have a dry shower. All will be happy...

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:47 am

Cut out all the figuring an stuff. Get a 6$ tranfer (hand) pump from Harbor Freight..

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:57 pm

I don't know much about pumps, even less about bilge pumps.
So from what I'm seeing some of these pumps, on the ebay link, are 30 bucks, some are 110ish.
To make a simple shower I probably wouldn't need 1000-2000GpH right? It would work with one of the 800GpH models? Take and set a bucket of water on top of the car, put the pump in there, and have it pump down as the shower, then after wards pump the water into the evap pond?

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:43 pm

I'd think for this application, the cheapest is your best option. It may well be toast after a trip or two to Burning Man anyways, so better to spend $15.

It'll move enough water to let you shower and run your evap setup. Our camp used such a pump one year to lift the water about 5 feet and run it down a grass mat type of thing that allowed the wind to blow through.

I've never used one as a shower pump. We just use a clean garden sprayer that is painted black to absorb heat during the day and warm the water up. Give it a few pumps and you've got pressure and when you don't want to let the water keep running, you just stop holding the spray handle down.

Get a campmate to join in and alternate with the soaping and rinsing. Call it an interactive experience.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:04 pm

$24 at harbor freight gets you a decent 12v pump with garden hose connections on each end, and jumper style clips on the end for connecting to a car or marine battery.

This pump will easily do the job and work for many years.

Attach a diswasher spray head to the end of your hose to create pressure enough to properly wash your hair, and to conserve water by not running continuously.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:20 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:$24 at harbor freight gets you a decent 12v pump with garden hose connections on each end, and jumper style clips on the end for connecting to a car or marine battery.

This pump will easily do the job and work for many years.

Attach a diswasher spray head to the end of your hose to create pressure enough to properly wash your hair, and to conserve water by not running continuously.

One of those pumps, dump 5 gal. in about 50 seconds..

Some where is my stuff I have a shower shower pump from a sports shop.. Takes a pack of D cells. Just pumped out of a bucket to a hand held shower head.. I'll see if I can find it and give you the name/#

illy dilly · Post by **illy dilly** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:23 pm

Ha Ha! This year we wont smell like a Yeti Camp (though that could be a good name for a camp)
I hadn't thought of anything that simple. All my ideas were huge and overdone. Often my need to be lazy beats my need to be clean.
You could at that point just do it in the evap pond, then wash feet separate when you get out.
Thanks again guys!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:45 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:$24 at harbor freight gets you a decent 12v pump with garden hose connections on each end, and jumper style clips on the end for connecting to a car or marine battery.

This pump will easily do the job and work for many years.

Attach a diswasher spray head to the end of your hose to create pressure enough to properly wash your hair, and to conserve water by not running continuously.

That's a good idea!

You could at that point just do it in the evap pond, then wash feet separate when you get out

And we usually attach three or four 2X4's over one part of our evap pond with space between them and use that as a place to stand during your shower. Then no need to get your feet in the gick!

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:31 pm

oneeyeddick wrote:$24 at harbor freight gets you a decent 12v pump with garden hose connections on each end, and jumper style clips on the end for connecting to a car or marine battery.

This pump will easily do the job and work for many years.

Attach a diswasher spray head to the end of your hose to create pressure enough to properly wash your hair, and to conserve water by not running continuously.

That's not necessarily a great idea, an RV water pump would be a lot better because it's a diaphragm-type pump designed to build pressure. Most of those other pumps aren't happy when the flow is restricted or totally blocked. There's a reason all RVs use the type of pump they do. And, RV pumps also have automatic shut-off switches. They run when they need to and stop when there's no water being used. They cost a bit new but old RVs are everywhere, you shouldn't have too hard a time scoring one.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:44 pm

Captain Goddammit wrote:
oneeyeddick wrote:$24 at harbor freight gets you a decent 12v pump with garden hose connections on each end, and jumper style clips on the end for connecting to a car or marine battery.

This pump will easily do the job and work for many years.

Attach a diswasher spray head to the end of your hose to create pressure enough to properly wash your hair, and to conserve water by not running continuously.
That's not necessarily a great idea, an RV water pump would be a lot better because it's a diaphragm-type pump designed to build pressure. Most of those other pumps aren't happy when the flow is restricted or totally blocked. There's a reason all RVs use the type of pump they do.
And, RV pumps also have automatic shut-off switches. They run when they need to and stop when there's no water being used. They cost a bit new but old RVs are everywhere, you shouldn't have too hard a time
scoring one.

The only problem I've had with RV pumps was.. The hot water tank was set to high.. It melted some parts.. Other from that they would be the best bet for the playa..

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:33 pm

I am on my 3rd shurflow in the RV now, both replacements were used when I installed them.
I've thought of replacing it next time with one of the harbor freight jobbies, just so It can be heard it and stop being left on all the time.
(my light is pathetic, 79')

I have two of those Harbor Freight pumps , and I have been using them for 5-6 years, albeit they are an impeller pump, it is hauling ass so fast that the volute and the blades are as clean as new when I check them before using them each year.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:54 pm

Where do I get a 12 volt bucket?

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:58 pm

My shower basin is a 3' kiddie pool with a sink drain cut in to the bottom of it. If it is on my trailer I just put the little bit of the edge where the sink drain is over the side of the trailer and it drains in to a half barrel. If the basin is on my shower deck then it just goes through a hole in the plywood and in to the half barrel.

I have a float controlled bilge pump in the bottom of the half barrel that feeds the water up to the evaporator which has a gravity return to the half barrel by way of sink drain and flex pipe.

Hauling out the grey water would be easier but I like tinkering with things.