Constructing powered shower.

[tattoogoddess]

Before you shoot me, yes I have looked for a thread about this with no luck.

We are on the final bits of our buying... One of the last things is the shower. We have the stall and the shower bags BUT I want a pump shower.
I don't like the zodi because you can't change the shower head as far as I know and I want a normal shower wand. The collman seems spendy and we would have to mod it some. Personally I don't care if the shower is hot. But we have 2 5 gallon solar bags and a black 5 gallon bucket. SO what is the best way to construct a shower with a pump? We have a geni, a battery with 40O watt inverter or a battery so ac or dc is fine. Shower has to be able to pump 7 feet of tube and an on off valve to. Confused if we can do an on off valve with a pump?. Hewlp.

[tattoogoddess]

This is what I really like.. But the Coleman is spendy so just thinking a normal pond pump.


Would something like this work? http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... d=0CEwQrhI

[Captain Goddammit]

I'd use a 12 volt RV type water pump. If you're resourceful you can grab one and the hand held shower wand from a camper or motorhome being parted out. The RV shower wands usually have a nice on/off switch built right on, and RV water pumps have pressure sensors and shut themselves off when the water flow is blocked, like when you turn off the faucet or the shower wand.
Check craigslist in your area for somebody scrapping out a camper.

[Boijoy]

[tattoogoddess]

Bad reviews.

Didn't even think of scrap rv's nothing is what if it shits out midweek? But it's an idiea

[Captain Goddammit]

If it works when you get it, it'll most likely make it through the week. They're pretty reliable and have hardly any moving parts. They're about $75 - $100 new. But the world is full of campers that leak and rot and can be scavenged for treasure.
I'd go with that setup for lots of reasons on top of being available free or cheap.
It's made for exactly what you want, and the built in on/off valve on the camper shower wand makes it easy to get the most out of your water supply.
They're small, water hoses clamp right on, wiring is easy and safe (it's only 12 volts) and it puts out a pretty good water stream.
If you wanted to get fancy, you could scavenge the propane fired hot-water heater from whatever camper donates it's other parts... and even the 30 or 40 gallon fresh water tank it probably has.

But that might be "snowballing" the whole originally-simple idea... doesn't that always happen!!

[unjonharley]

I'm going with a all metal garden sprayer.. The water can be heated right in the can on a camp stove.. Putting a tire valve stem on the can so it can be pressurized with a bike pump..

[junglesmacks]

You could also get a small $20 submersible pump and run it off of that inverter. Attach a hose to it, then whatever shower head you want. Plop it in your container, plug it in and woosh.. you have shower. Make a switch for it off the power wire if need be.

[unjonharley]

I have power shower.. Runs on 4 D cell.. Throw one end in a bucket of water, open the hand held valve and away she go's.. Puts out to much water for a camp shower.. Nice with the coleman instanit water heater.. The water heater slows way down when the heat is turned up.. So you have to run it into a bucket then up the power shower.. I have these for times of power outages..

[Sham]

I have used this for several years and really happy with it.. Runs of 4 D batteries. One set of batteries lasts the whole week. Also, I don't use a heater, since I shower mid-afternoon, and the water is always hot!


you may find this unit in the camping section of K Mart

[Jackass]

The zodi rocks! It's tried and true, simple all in one hot shower. It doesn't get better than that. If you want to put a regular shower head on a pump you better bring a small pond with you because you're going to blow through some water.

[Sham]

The problem with the Zodi is that it heats a steady flow of water--such as from a lake. If the water flow stops, the water becomes scalding. You now have a big issue of gallons and gallons of water passing through and becoming waste.

The pump above is the same one on the Zodi, but without the heater.

[socks]

I just bought another zodi after my last one lasted 8 years. The shower head it comes with does the job well
but it is removable.The final cost on Amazon was 34.00 with shipping.

[unjonharley]

Sham, that's the power shower that I have.. I'm not able to haul enough water to use it..

The zodi is what I have built.. With this one you heat the water to the right temp. The pressurize the water can.. $25 bucks..

[Sham]

Sham, that's the power shower that I have.. I'm not able to haul enough water to use it..

The zodi is what I have built.. With this one you heat the water to the right temp. The pressurize the water can.. $25 bucks..

I made that same type of unit, with water recirculation and it worked well for me. The big problem was getting anyone else in the camp to understand my set up. I couldn't even get them to understand to shut off the propane when they were done. I had to take showers with everyone just to maker sure they were doing it right. I washed their backs too.

[Savannah]

Sham, that's the power shower that I have.. I'm not able to haul enough water to use it..

The zodi is what I have built.. With this one you heat the water to the right temp. The pressurize the water can.. $25 bucks..

I made that same type of unit, with water recirculation and it worked well for me. The big problem was getting anyone else in the camp to understand my set up. I couldn't even get them to understand to shut off the propane when they were done. I had to take showers with everyone just to maker sure they were doing it right. I washed their backs too.

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[zerzura]

We just got this. No power needed. Of course you already have the bags. You can make you own from hardware store parts, but it will be almost as much.
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/shower/index.htm

Or scavenge an RV shower head and tube and buy a garden sprayer. Then dump your solar bags warm water into that.

[Savannah]

We just got this. No power needed. Of course you already have the bags. You can make you own from hardware store parts, but it will be almost as much.
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/shower/index.htm

oooooOOOOOOOooooo.

I might need that.

[zerzura]

If I get a chance, I'll test it out this weekend and let you know how it goes. I especially like buying stuff from small businesses who come up with good ideas.

[unjonharley]

That looks like a good unit... I use metal so water can be heated if no sun.. I always carry a solar bag.. Watch out, those things get real hot..Could even get hot enough to warp the pump.. That would put the whole thing out of action.. That is why Figjam
and I go with adding a tire valve stem. If the parts in the plastic pump go tits up we can use a bike tire pump..

[tattoogoddess]

This is one i was giving some thought to now that you said the pumps will just be to much.

[dragonpilot]

Hey, I'm all about showers and personal hygiene and all...it just always amazes me the lengths to which we go to make things more like home when we get to the playa...hell, I bring an RV...how much more like home can you get?

[FIGJAM]

But I don't want it to be like where I live, I want it to be like HOME!

[unjonharley]

best build what you can.. there are no cargo ports on the playa

[Rusted Iron]

We use the melted ice from the drink cooler for shower water so bringing enough water isn't a problem. (Getting it into the solar showers can be messy, instead I painted an old 5 gallon Alhambra bottle black and put it on the truck's lumber rack to heat and for gravity feed.)