Something I like to do after a swim is have a nice warm shower. Now wouldn’t it be even nicer if that shower was outside, and the water was heated by the sun? An Outdoor Solar Shower maybe?
Well look no further, my green friends. That is exactly what we have done, with a little bit of upcycling on the side.
It all started when at the start of October last year, Kim requested a place to wash her hair after swimming. She had been using the hose up until then, and continued to do so throughout the summer, mainly because I couldn’t find a permanent and somewhat greenish solution.
Initially, I made her a shower deck for materials that I had lying around. This was back in January. All I had to buy was the decking screws, as I had all the other gear.
Teddy certainly liked it, and we put it in place before landscaping the pool area with stone.
So with the shower base in place, we had to find a solar shower. I did look at some designs on the net, but I couldn’t really find anything that would suit the area.
Solar Shower
Kim was the one who found it, but initially I balked at the price. However, once I did the maths, it worked out cheaper than if I sourced all of the materials myself. So we purchased the unit from this online store, for A$119.
Also as chance would have it, a couple of days before we installed the shower, we had a delivery of flat pack furniture. The wardrobe components were loaded on a hardwood pallet, that was too good to burn. So we decided that with a coat of natural oil, it would make a mighty fine privacy screen and soap holder.
Upcycled hardwood pallet
We bolted it to the wall and one of the arbour support posts.
The shower itself was very easy to construct. Nothing to describe really, just screw the top pipe into the bottom pipe and screw on the shower head. A little bit of plumbers tape to make sure everything is water-tight and it is done.
The flick mixer works well. Turned to the left you get piping hot water, in the middle; lukewarm and to the right cold from the tap.
The bottom pipe must be bolted into concrete or a solid structure. In this case, bolted it to the small deck that I made, with some reinforcing behind it so if someone leaned on the shower, it would not fall over or come loose.
I got a plumber to connect it permanently, with proper fittings, because the alternative as suggested by the instructions that came with the shower was to connect the hose with a normal clip on fitting. I wanted it to be a fixture and not have to wind the hose up every time we used it.
It has a tap on the wall on the other side of the gate as you enter the pool area.
Easy to flick on as you proceed into the shower. I figure that during the summer the water was about 50°C, and in winter it is about 20°C. Not a lot of sunlight shines on the shower unit in the winters, which is okay because we don’t have a heated pool. As the angle of the sun gets higher as the seasons march towards summer, the entire black pipe is heated for most of the day. Because hot water rises, most of the top pipe near the shower head is very warm, and you have to temper the water with the flick mixer.
As the cold water floods in from the mains it slowly replaces the hot water, beginning the process anew.
Demonstrating the solar shower
The runoff water runs under the gate into the garden area, so there was no need to add in a drain.
So for about $200 including the plumbing, I would say that it was a fairly cheap job for this sort of set up. I know where I will be showering in the summer. In my very own outdoor solar shower.
It is a good backup for our indoor showers should the solar and gas heating fail, and I can run it from my rainwater tanks and small pump if necessary.
I am very pleased with it, and even I like it even better that there are no heating costs! Free hot water for the whole family.
Thank God for Privacy Screens !!! Hope you dont have one of those neighbours that pop their head over the fence asking for a cup of sugar. Great Job Gav, now if i had your pool…….id think about doing the same.
Cheers Lynda. Good thing is that we have 7 ft fences, so the privacy screen is more to avoid those embarrassing moments when people come through the gate or back door.
Gav
Nice Job Gav
Cheers Mick!
Love it! We had a similar system when the house was being built and we had black poly pipe not covered over by earth yet – the showers were so hot!! I always wished for a way to have it back again-maybe this is the answer. Perhaps put a bell on the back gate or back door in case someone surprises you with a visit though!
Sounds similar to those solar pool heating systems. They are just black poly pipe laid on a roof somewhere, and the water heats up during the day.
We have found that this shower goes above and beyond that method because you can add in the cold water with the flick mixer. Who ever thought of the design was a clever person.
Gav
Nice job, Gav, but I’m still a bit confused. Where is the water reservoir that the sun is heating? Is the unit mains pressure?
Hi Bev, the water is stored in the big long black pipe that gets heated by the sun. With mains pressure applied, the hot water escapes first (being at the top of the pipe) and flows out the shower head. The cold mains water eventually replaces the hot when it is all used up, ready to be heated by the sun all over again.
Gav x
OK, thanks Gav, I’m with you now.
Looks awesome! I’m guessing with the weather we’re having you won’t be using it for a while though! I have friends who have outdoor showers; really great way to get extra water into their gardens. Are you going to put some plants nearby?
Hi Lindsay. I have the small wicking bed at the end of the shower base, so a lot of water will enter it. As we use only natural homemade soap, I don’t think this will be an issue.
We are interested in doing this as well but wondered how well it is working for you? After we swim in the evenings in summer we have a shower so are not sure whether it would work for two showers as there is no sunlight. Does it only work well during the day? Thanks, Caron
Hi Caron. It does work well now we are getting a bit of heat during the day. It is still fairly warm after dark (warmer than the pool)
Hi Gavin, I was looking at this shower on Amazon but it only holds 8 litres of the Solar heated water, how long until the hot runs out ? My calculations would be a very short shower!