Building a Solar Shower
April 28, 2009 – 12:54 am by Lindsay
There’s a perfectly good shower in your bathroom–why on earth would you consider building a solar shower?
Well, here are a couple reasons…
- Shower showers can save you money in water heating costs (traditional gas water heaters are big energy sucks since they’re continually heating and reheating water 24/7).
- You can tie a solar shower into a rain catchment system, meaning you don’t have to use water from the city grid to bathe (check the regulations regarding rain catchment and allowed uses in your area).
- You can shower outside and enjoy nature (watch out for peeping neighbors).
- You need more DIY projects! This is the perfect chance to practice your MacGyver skills in the backyard.
Okay, that’s all well and good, but is building a hot solar shower tough or is it something anyone can do? Are there ready-made kits or do you have to go the DIY route?
Let’s look around and see what people are up to…
DIY vs. Ready-Made Solar Shower Kits
A quick look at Amazon shows us that there are indeed solar shower kits
If you want something more sophisticated that actually heats up enough water for the family, then you’re going to have to traipse into do-it-yourself land. Fortunately, there are quite a few stories (and even videos) of folks who have built a solar shower and shared their experiences. Since this is something I’ve yet to do (the whole Pacific-Northwest-largely-cloudy climate hasn’t inspired me to do much with solar yet), I’ll refer you to some great articles out there on the web:
- 20 Gallon Solar Hot Water Shower — Materials list, instructions, and pictures to boot.
- Solar Hot Water Batch Collector — This one involves building a largish holding tank for the water and then running several systems (including an outdoor shower) off the heated water.
- Weekly DIY Solar Shower — Based of the system the Dervaes family made on their urban lot in California.
And lest you think this is an easy home improvement, you may want to watch these videos on YouTube:
DIY Solar Hot Water Shower Pt 1
DIY Solar Hot Water Shower Pt 2
If you decide to try to your hand at a solar shower, let us know how it turns out!
Tags: save water, showers, solar, solar shower
5 Responses to “Building a Solar Shower”
This is an awesome idea. I’m going to show my husband. He would love to try his hand at building on of these solar showers. Thanks for sharing this information.
By Ingrid on Apr 28, 2009
Hey! A quick note to thank you for the kind comment at my blog, and to say that I LOVE YOUR BLOG! These are tremendous ideas, and I’m grateful for them. Keep it up
By Gena on Apr 28, 2009
I have a question. We are in the process of building one and have purchased black hose for the hot water but, in testing the water is really hot. How do you keep from having it too hot? We have children so I don’t want them burnt.
Love the blog. You left a message on my blog a while back and thought I’d let you know we have everything planted. I found muscles that I forgot I had.
By susan on May 8, 2009
Hi Susan,
From what I’ve read there isn’t any way to adjust heat and the shower can get really hot if you’re in a warm climate and you’ve got it on a metal carport roof or some such. I did see (I think in one of the videos on YouTube) a more complex set up that had the water going through the family’s regular hot water heater. This would take more work (and I’m sure cost more) to set up, but I think it would allow you to use the water heater’s regulator to insure no one gets scalded.
Maybe someone will come along who is more technically inclined (or who has dealt with the issue themselves) and can offer better advice.
By admin on May 8, 2009
There used to be a valve that had a bi-metallic strip that opened and closed the hot supply side that was used in nursing homes and the like. I had one around here that I took apart to fix, but I finally got tired of looking at it and farmed it out.
You could also put louvers over the tank to shade it from the sun if the ambient temperature reaches a certain amount.
By Chaz on May 30, 2009