PlethoraOfGuns
Adventurer
Ok, so you guys wanted more. Well, this is probably the coolest part of the build so far. Onboard hot water shower. It all started when my girlfriend and I were standing in Cabela's looking at this portable black bag solar shower thing. I said, "Hey, how about something like this?". If you have ever taken a female counterpart out camping for more than one night, you will eventually discover that they won't function as well as they should without a shower. To avoid confrontation and make the whole trip just better for all parties involved, I had the whole shower while camping idea. Well, as she examined the nicely packaged device, many questions arose.
-How much water will I have?
-How hot will the water be?
-What kind of pressure are we talking?
-How long will the water take to get hot?
-In terms of thermodynamics, how big a part does temperature stratification play into the system when calculating the coefficient of heat loss due to this inadequate thermal barrier that the storage tank is made of?
-Seriously, no shower curtain?
Well, I don't necessarily understand everything coming out of an engineer's mouth, but I have a general understanding of how to make women happy. So upon noticing her disappointment in these "cheap" shower kits, I nodded, "Oh, I'll get you a shower!" and off to the drawing boards we went.
Let's start off with the core of the system. This is a 30 plate heat exchanger. They are common use for chilling beer wort, we're just gonna use it backwards from how it was originally designed. Mounted it inline before coolant goes into heater core. Could have gotten a 20 plate as the 30 plate makes more than enough heat. We're talking 100+ degrees increase in temperature with a single pass.
Used a 18 gallon Valterra ABS tank. These things are so simple and a great bargain. I had to weld up an aluminum cradle to hold it up under the truck bed.
Few options with this pump setup. We can pump water into and out of the onboard storage tank or 5 gallon water cans, run the 25' hose with coarse filter out to a lake or river and pump it right from there, or hook up a water hose from someone's house or something and not even use the pump. Before any water goes through pump, it runs through small particle screen filter. To activate the 12vdc water pump, there is a switch on the dashboard and inside the cabinet that the shower is in. They both have to be engaged to run the on-demand pump.
And on the business end I had to incorporate a mixing valve to get the temperature down to showering temperature. Also have a valve before shower head to conserve water. If needed, a hose can attach after mixing valve to wash the dogs or someones car or whatever.
Of course, had to make the ladies happy with a shower curtain. Just bent some 1/2" EMT and got a 9" curtain.
Curtain rod gets stored up on roof around spare tire.
Ahhh, perfect shower temperature everytime!
Here is a recent setup taking water out of water cans. Full bore flow, 5 gallons last about 4 minutes.
Nothing beats a nice warm shower after a few days out and about. Oh, and remind your female counterparts not to bring a flashlight into shower with them when it's dark...:Wow1:
-How much water will I have?
-How hot will the water be?
-What kind of pressure are we talking?
-How long will the water take to get hot?
-In terms of thermodynamics, how big a part does temperature stratification play into the system when calculating the coefficient of heat loss due to this inadequate thermal barrier that the storage tank is made of?
-Seriously, no shower curtain?
Well, I don't necessarily understand everything coming out of an engineer's mouth, but I have a general understanding of how to make women happy. So upon noticing her disappointment in these "cheap" shower kits, I nodded, "Oh, I'll get you a shower!" and off to the drawing boards we went.
Let's start off with the core of the system. This is a 30 plate heat exchanger. They are common use for chilling beer wort, we're just gonna use it backwards from how it was originally designed. Mounted it inline before coolant goes into heater core. Could have gotten a 20 plate as the 30 plate makes more than enough heat. We're talking 100+ degrees increase in temperature with a single pass.
Used a 18 gallon Valterra ABS tank. These things are so simple and a great bargain. I had to weld up an aluminum cradle to hold it up under the truck bed.
Few options with this pump setup. We can pump water into and out of the onboard storage tank or 5 gallon water cans, run the 25' hose with coarse filter out to a lake or river and pump it right from there, or hook up a water hose from someone's house or something and not even use the pump. Before any water goes through pump, it runs through small particle screen filter. To activate the 12vdc water pump, there is a switch on the dashboard and inside the cabinet that the shower is in. They both have to be engaged to run the on-demand pump.
And on the business end I had to incorporate a mixing valve to get the temperature down to showering temperature. Also have a valve before shower head to conserve water. If needed, a hose can attach after mixing valve to wash the dogs or someones car or whatever.
Of course, had to make the ladies happy with a shower curtain. Just bent some 1/2" EMT and got a 9" curtain.
Curtain rod gets stored up on roof around spare tire.
Ahhh, perfect shower temperature everytime!
Here is a recent setup taking water out of water cans. Full bore flow, 5 gallons last about 4 minutes.
Nothing beats a nice warm shower after a few days out and about. Oh, and remind your female counterparts not to bring a flashlight into shower with them when it's dark...:Wow1:
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I thought it felt extra sluggish back there. I believe the belt for the pto was the only thing keeping the contact body on the vehicle.