skiddable shower

Here at wheaton labs base camp we have a skiddable shower with hot water from a compost pile.



This thread is for possible improvements, records of plans and designs, etc. for residents here.

Attached are Jesse Biggs' original Sketchup design images. There was a request to change the pitch of the roof - I'll post those perspective views next.

And the last two perspective images.

This summer (2014) Rick and Jason are working on all kinds of improvements, including some plumbing upgrades to make the showers both easier to use and easier to drain to prevent freeze damage.

We also want to add interior improvements for seating, clothing hooks, etc. Thoughts, ideas?

I think seating with hand held shower heads would encourage clean feet, lower water use and accommodate users of various physical ability.
A rocket fired hot tub for post shower use would sooth without wasting heat and water.
For the seating l suggest mirrored tile for easy cleaning and to facilitate self examination.
I know poo less is at least encouraged at the lab but I know I would want the seating cleaned with soap before I used it.
Am I being squeamish? Maybe. I do deal with other peoples poop for a living, up to my elbows sometimes, but I find soap,water, proper PPE and minimizing the dose seems to keep me well.

These showers are just what we needed last year. Having showers is far better than having no showers.

This year we have a bit more focus on "how do we make the outdoor shower so cool that people would prefer to use that instead of the indoor shower?" So there is effort to upgrade these showers a bit.

Leaving behind the upgrades for this shower unit .... if we were to build this all over again, I think I would want to make the following changes:


- rather than four stalls of the current size, I think it would have been better to have two stalls that are twice the size. I think it would be good to have more room in the shower - allowing for more decoration, easier sitting while changing clothes, more dry space to put your clothes.

- maybe build a wofati shower / bath house. Something that would be warm all year. Something where we don't have to worry about frozen pipes.

Any other ideas?

I am sure it is said somewhere, and I must just be missing it, but what kind of pump did you use to circulate the water? Or was it just pressure from the water being high up?

Adrien Lapointe wrote:I am sure it is said somewhere, and I must just be missing it, but what kind of pump did you use to circulate the water? Or was it just pressure from the water being high up?

Just using the pressure from the exiting house. A hose is run from a hydrant.

beautiful picture of the skiddable showers.



inside:

We had a visit from dirtpatcheaven and she took a bunch of videos.  Here is the first:



Subscribe to her channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/dirtpatcheaven

One of Jesse's videos goes into some details about how the rocket hot water heater works.

Glad to see the hand-powered washing machine being put to good use by being stashed inside one of the stalls in the skiddable shower. Seems like the perfect place for it.

Shower shack in December

Josiah has a new video about the shower and the rocket water heater - featuring jen!

Interesting. Started with compost heating and now using rocket. Has one proved more reliable over the other?

wayne fajkus wrote:Interesting. Started with compost heating and now using rocket. Has one proved more reliable over the other?

The compost heater requires rebuilding the compost pile each spring.  But since the first build, it was never built big enough so it did not provide enough heat.   The first build did provide enough heat.  

I really like it, and am thinking about building something similar.

At our annual Rock the Flock event, the musicians demand a changing room, so we bring in a RV so that they can change in, but we would like something more permanent.

Are there details on how this plumbing was done documented anywhere?

Would a solar heat assist (separate water from the water you use, for sanitation) help more?

How could this be scaled down for just two people, or would it just stay warm for a few days?

Really enjoyed using this luxury shower last month at the PDC. Would drop some coin to get my hands on some plans to help me build my own...

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:How could this be scaled down for just two people, or would it just stay warm for a few days?

After showering, the hot water could continue to be used for dishes, handwashing, etc. if it were close enough to other activities. The one at Wheaton Labs seems to hold the heat well enough for a comfortable shower at least half a day, if not 24 hours, in summer weather...

Hal Schmidt wrote:Really enjoyed using this luxury shower last month at the PDC. Would drop some coin to get my hands on some plans to help me build my own...

Hey Hal! I think I'd quite like that too!  Let's see how many others might be interested in some spiffy plans to build a shower like this. Maybe if anyone interested can give a thumbs up on this post?