Our outdoor solar shower for the cheap.

The outdoor solar shower we use all summer long. Just uses drip fittings, garden hoses, split valves and sprinkler. Reheats in about 15 min. Hot water gets scalding hot!

Garden hoses are generally not rated for hot water.

You can buy the correct hose though.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Premium-5-8-in-Dia-x-50-ft-Commercial-Grade-Rubber-Red-Hot-Water-Hose-20258070/100580705


Some people use Pex, coiled up in a big coil in a cold frame (to trap heat) as their solar heater.

The volume of water inside a 3/4-inch hose to be 1.01 gallons. The volume inside a 5/8-inch hose is 0.57 gallon, and inside a 1/2-inch hose, there are 0.25 gallon of water.

The mathematical formula is (3.14)•d•d/4, where "d" is the inside diameter. Using this formula, the inside area of a 3/4-inch hose -- with a 1/4-inch wall thickness -- is 0.1962 square inches. Corresponding values for a 5/8-inch and 1/2-inch hose are 0.1104 and 0.0491 square inches, respectively.

First convert the inside area from square inches to square feet, using the conversion 1 square inch = 0.0069 square feet. You can then multiply the result by 100 feet to arrive at the total volume of water inside the 100-foot hose, in cubic feet. Multiply by 7.48 to convert to gallons.

If you used an Aqua Helix shower nozzle (0.5 gal per min at 40psi) you can get, at a 50-50 mix of hot and cold water, about 4 min of warm water for a 100 foot hose.

Not quite enough for a 6 minute 'Navy Shower'.

This is dependent on water temperatures and heat losses to the shower nozzle.

If hot water was only 140 deg F and cold water only 60 deg F, your shower time will be shorter.

A good 18 min shower (females - average) would take about 350 feet of heated hose.
A good 12 min shower (males - average) would take 300 feet of heated hose.

Rubber hose will take longer to allow heat transfer to the internal water too.

You could coil up some copper tubing (3/4" diameter, about 5 feet long) and place it into a rocket stove for hotter water, longer showers.

Cold inlet at the top and hot outlet at the bottom in a vertical configuration.

Coiling that size tubing will not be very easy.

3/4" refrigeration tubing is actually 3/4" O.D. whereas 3/4" plumbing pipe is 3/4" I.D.
The use of loose sand or perlite in the tube can resist kinks.

I've used one of these before, with the hose laid out on black rocks on a beach there was pretty impressive heat.

The standard hose appeared to be standing up to this use fine, but it was only in operation a couple months a year.

Yes, there are lots of 'better' ways, but... to me this one seems like a great starting point, beats the hell out of no hot shower at all, and its very very simple.

We used a setup like this for showers at family reunions and it worked quite well. And there is something exhilarating about showering outside. I learned in a recent renewable energy class about the the bacterial issues with this simple setup so it's not part of my long term plan. But yes, another vote for outdoor solar showers!

Kalaina Nielson wrote: The outdoor solar shower we use all summer long. Just uses drip fittings, garden hoses, split valves and sprinkler. Reheats in about 15 min. Hot water gets scalding hot!

I like this idea. Something similar has been bouncing around in my head. A few of my questions...

What temperature is it outside while reheating in 15 minutes?

When you adjust with the cold water, is the shower water lukewarm, or steamy hot? How long does the heat last? I assume one gets wet, turns off the water and soaps up and rinses?

Old bones are greatly helped by luxuriating in a hot shower!

I built an outside shower.
It was mostly for summer use when it was so hot and humid.
I'd get so sticky I couldn't work.
Basically just to rinse off a couple times a day.

I threw a pully and rope up in a tree to lift a bucket for pressure.
A plastic cube in the yard heated the water.
Wasn't looking for hot water really.
"Room" temp was good enough on a hot day.
Was then raised into the tree.

On MASH they had a shower with a pull lever to turn it on.
I did the same with a 1/4 turn valve only tied a board to the cord.
I could step on the board and get water hands free.

Kalaina Nielson wrote:The outdoor solar shower we use all summer long

My dear old pa was raised with no running water in the house. I remember when they finally got a new bathroom with water. They had a platform kinda like yours with a 55 gallon steel drum painted black on top. In the summer, they had the M*A*S*H pull type actuator. In the winter it was a number 3 washtub in the kitchen. The rule was, if you took a shower you had to fill the drum back up. Not doing that would cost you, especially if that old bastard didn't have any shower water. I don't recall ever using it, but I do remember that and the earth house nearby. I did use that LOL