onboard shower

Has anyone ever used a power steering cooler off of a boat as a water heater for an onboard shower? They are a fluid to fluid heat exchanger, so you would be running engine coolant through one side and water for the shower through the other.

Has anyone tried this? Would the shower water get hot enough, how much water flow can it handle and still be warm?

I know there are similar products out there that appear to be the same thing that are marketed as onboard shower systems.

If it will heat the water up enough, I'm probably going to use a bilge pump to move the water and a five gallon bucket as the resevoir. Haven't decided what to do for a shower head yet.

I used a diesel fuel heat exchanger once in the late 70's. It was about 16" long and 4" in diameter and easily fit under the hood of my K20 Chevy. The water was pumped through with a 12vdc RV water pump.

Here's the issues I had.
1. Water Source, the pump only had so much lift so you need to be close to the stream, lake, pond, etc.
2. The pumps gpm was to high for effective heat transfer, even with a shut off valve and "sea shower"
3. Run off, grey water that close to the source was uncool. Today grey water on the ground is illegal in most areas.

I went back to just jumping in the water source and doing a quick rubdown and now have an RV with shower.

Tom

Boatwrench said:

I used a diesel fuel heat exchanger once in the late 70's. It was about 16" long and 4" in diameter and easily fit under the hood of my K20 Chevy. The water was pumped through with a 12vdc RV water pump.

Here's the issues I had.
1. Water Source, the pump only had so much lift so you need to be close to the stream, lake, pond, etc.
2. The pumps gpm was to high for effective heat transfer, even with a shut off valve and "sea shower"
3. Run off, grey water that close to the source was uncool. Today grey water on the ground is illegal in most areas.

I went back to just jumping in the water source and doing a quick rubdown and now have an RV with shower.

Tom

Click to expand...

The ones you can buy use a 5 gallon bucket. That way you don't need to be close to any water source.

I think grey water legalities has to do more with dumping tanks then taking showers outside. IF it was illegal they wouldn't have out door showers on most moterhomes and trailers they sell these days.

I have a large sun shower and it gets the job done. It's just a PITA to hoist a full 'shower up a branch.

I'm thinking about recirculating the water in the resevoir (5gal bucket) through the exchanger to warm it up more. It will take some creative plumbing to get it to work, but shouldn't be too hard.

If I put a Y on the line downstream of the exchanger where one way goes to the shower head and the other goes back to the resevior, then I should be able to get it plenty warm.

As far as the grey water thing goes, I will be using the same sort of soap with the onboard shower that I would use in a lake, but with the onboard shower the water will be released on the ground away from a water source.

http://www.safetycentral.com/norbatwipfor.html


Water is so last year.

Rev

One thing I just have to ask is how this would be more efficient than one of the many propane based heated camp showers that are on the market right now. Idling the 4.0 for hot water seems excessive.

http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consumer/zodihottaptravelshower.html

I have seen one of these in action. It recirculates the water in a bucket that doubles as the storage case for the kit. It get's the water plenty hot. When your're ready, just pick the shower head up out of the bucket. That's your recirculation mechanism: shower head in the bucket.

I use the Zodi as well, we have the single burner and cant imagine needing the dual. I drop the pump in a Sceptor water can and preheat the can...then turn off the burner. If i use the water directly from burner it can scold you.

Matched up to a decent shower shelter i picked up.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324151&highlight=onboard+shower

Here is a long thread about onboard showers, i'm sure you'll see something here that can help if your deadset on an onboard setup.

One year an uncle of mine found the plumbing coil out of a boiler or something. Basically metal pipe coiled up like a slinky, with an inlet and an outlet. He has a big outdoor fireplace, so he buried the metal piping in the coals, and built the fire up more on top of it. Plumbed where it came out of the pool filter into the coil, then the outlet back to the pool. Plenty of warm water coming out. You could replicate that with a 5 gallon bucket and a 12V pump easily. Just a thought for the DIYers.

winch might come in handy there...

GSequoia said:

I have a large sun shower and it gets the job done. It's just a PITA to hoist a full 'shower up a branch.

Click to expand...

I saw an FJ 55 with two 4" or 6" sch 80 pvc pipes running the length of the roof, one on either side of the roof rack, that had a shower head plumbed in to them. The dark gray would heat the water if it was sunny and not too cool . A quick coupler with a hand-held shower would seem to be less prone to damage on the trail. Not sure how much water they would hold, or what it would weigh.

Boatwrench said:

I used a diesel fuel heat exchanger once in the late 70's. It was about 16" long and 4" in diameter and easily fit under the hood of my K20 Chevy. The water was pumped through with a 12vdc RV water pump.

Here's the issues I had.
1. Water Source, the pump only had so much lift so you need to be close to the stream, lake, pond, etc.
2. The pumps gpm was to high for effective heat transfer, even with a shut off valve and "sea shower"
3. Run off, grey water that close to the source was uncool. Today grey water on the ground is illegal in most areas.

I went back to just jumping in the water source and doing a quick rubdown and now have an RV with shower.

Tom

Click to expand...

Hey Tom, hoping you'll see this. Do you remember what the GPM was on that pump you thought was too much flow?

I remember the brand name was shurflo and I'm guessing not much more than around 2gpm. Picked it up at a Camping World. The heat exchanger was small maybe 14-16" long and 6" in diameter and was removed after an engine change out on my cutter. The pick-up trucks engine coolant would provide the heat to the exchanger and then the 'fresh' water source would get the transfer. So truck engine coolant flow is another factor.

The pump lift wasn't that great but the discharge was adequate, the pick up truck that had been sitting in camp all day would need to be started and get warm prior to use. I was in my early 20's and just wanted to get the dust and grime off after a day of dirt bike riding. We always camped lake side so the source was there.

I didn't think it out or tinker with the system after the initial thought and install. I'm sure some tweaks would make it work better, along with using the trail vehicles coolant as the heat source. Ryan makes a good point about outside showers on RVs, but the drainage and the source are seperate. Never crossed my mind until just now to have the shower head at the end of a long hose placing the waste further from the source.

Good luck and have fun.