Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Going off grid - need hot shower

P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
Zodi or Coleman? These seem to be the most reasonable, but I'd like some
recommendations. Zodi claims 60 gallons on a one pound tank of propane.
Coleman says 40 gallons. Zodi says it is continuous and, if attatched to a
garden hose (I have regular running water with reasonable pressure), I don't
need to use the electric pump. Coleman doesn't say this, but I'm suspecting
it may be the same. Coleman looks more convenient but it sound like Zodi
might produce more hot water than Coleman and at a higher temperature. I've
never measured the temperatures of my choice for shower water... is 100
degrees hot enough?

Looking forward to your comments :)
 
M

*MYSTIC*

Jan 1, 1970
0
Chuck said:
I haven't measured my shower temperature either, but my Hot Tub (at home)
only goes to 104. We usually set it at about 98 to 100 (or less if the air
temperature is hot), so we can stay in it for a while. At 102 and above it
starts to be uncomfortably hot in just a few minutes.
You might take a look at Bosch tankless water heaters. They are an "on
demand" type. Only using fuel when actually needed.

Other companies make simular type heaters like "aquastar". There are
also waterheaters that use kerosene/deisel (maybe bio deisel) that you
might consider.
 
N

news.mw.net

Jan 1, 1970
0
Zodi or Coleman? These seem to be the most reasonable, but I'd like some
recommendations. Zodi claims 60 gallons on a one pound tank of propane.
Coleman says 40 gallons. Zodi says it is continuous and, if attatched to a
garden hose (I have regular running water with reasonable pressure), I don't
need to use the electric pump. Coleman doesn't say this, but I'm suspecting
it may be the same. Coleman looks more convenient but it sound like Zodi
might produce more hot water than Coleman and at a higher temperature. I've
never measured the temperatures of my choice for shower water... is 100
degrees hot enough?

Looking forward to your comments :)

I've read a couple of replies and it seems that the hottub crowd is
comparing apples and oranges... or strawberry daqueries?

I'd think that you would want to shower before and after being in a
hottub or hot-spring ! Especially a public one...

You climb into either one to have a good soak. You climb into a
shower to get clean. I shower for about 10 to 12 minutes maximum?

The reply about it being indoors or outdoors and the distance to the
showerhead was good.

I seem to recall that the Navy protocol was to turn on the water and
get wet, then soap up without water, then turn the water on again to
rinse the soap off ??

I don't mind lukewarm showers, I'm just there to clean-up.
 
V

Vaughn Simon

Jan 1, 1970
0
news.mw.net said:
I seem to recall that the Navy protocol was to turn on the water and get wet,
then soap up without water, then turn the water on again to
rinse the soap off ??

Yep, that is called a "Navy shower". The type of shower that the rest of
us take is known in the Navy as a Hollywood shower".


Vaughn
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
Chuck James said:
I haven't measured my shower temperature either, but my Hot Tub (at home)
only goes to 104. We usually set it at about 98 to 100 (or less if the air
temperature is hot), so we can stay in it for a while. At 102 and above it
starts to be uncomfortably hot in just a few minutes.

I should have thought about that. I had a spa and the max recommended temp
was 105 and I remember that was quite hot enough. But that is full body
immersion as opposed to a shower - which can be quickly cooled down (I would
think) by pipe distance and simply blowing through the air. Perhaps I
should do a little more of my own work.
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
*MYSTIC* said:
You might take a look at Bosch tankless water heaters. They are an "on
demand" type. Only using fuel when actually needed.

Other companies make simular type heaters like "aquastar". There are
also waterheaters that use kerosene/deisel (maybe bio deisel) that you
might consider.

Got a name for a kerosene brand?
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
Loren Amelang said:
If I start with "stick my feet in", I'll never get the rest of my body
in. The entry procedure is to verify the temperature isn't even hotter
than your lmit, then plunge in in one single movement, and _keep
breathing_. Once I am all the way in, the sensation of "too hot"
disappears, and with a little mental manipulation I can even interpret
the sensation as coolness. But I must say I was amazed to see an
elderly gentleman do the same trick in the 130F pool at a hot spring
once.

If you think about it, in some parts of the world 115F is a common
temperature for the air and everything else you would touch. Water
gets to you more suddenly and thoroughly when you jump in, but once
that initial shock is over, if you aren't moving around and increasing
the heat transfer it is no worse than being in hot air. And in the tub
you have cool air to breathe.

Loren

You've made some good points, Loren. I'm thinking a 100 degree shower may
be way too cool for my taste. I've taken showers with some other "intimate
friends" and they don't seem to like how hot I keep the shower - so we
stopped taking showers together :-(
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
Todd said:
My approach to a hot shower is unconventional but effective.

I have a 3hp diesel (burning WVO) driving a car alternator for charging
10 batteries driving a 2KW inverter for my 120VAC supply.

This diesel uses a hopper for cooling. I out boarded the hopper with
the bottom 18" of a scrap hot water heater. The standard hopper was
evaporating away too quickly and required constant surveillance. The
water heater is open at the top.

I fill a standard plastic bleach bottle (3qts) with rain water and
place it in the water heater/cooling hopper. While the diesel is
running and charging, it's also maintaining my hot water.

To take a shower, I pour the contents of the bleach bottle into a
"solar shower". It's just a plastic bag designed to be heated by
sun radiation and used for showering when back packing. I have this on
a little pulley and rope in a crude shower stall I built. Once filled,
I pull it up so it's above my head and I use it like a regular camp
shower.

The water temperature is naturally right for a comfortable shower. If
too hot I just add a little more cold water. To get by with just 3qts
of water I take an RV shower. This is three steps: 1) Wet down. 2)
Lather up. 3) Rinse off.

The drain from my shower just runs into a 5 gal plastic bucket which I
occasionally pour out in the woods.

Todd Marshall
Plantersville, TX

I just bought a small generator and was considering using the exhaust for
heating a container of water for a "Navy shower" (wet up, lather, rinse) -
but I have full water service and would perfer to tak "Hollywood showers".
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
Vaughn Simon said:
Yep, that is called a "Navy shower". The type of shower that the rest of
us take is known in the Navy as a Hollywood shower".

Sorry... seems I need to read all of the posts before I duplicate another.
 
M

*MYSTIC*

Jan 1, 1970
0
Got a name for a kerosene brand?

Toyotomi
I have a kerosene furnace built by them and it is quiet and has about a
91% efficency rating.

You can also find kerosene powered refridgerators too. Though I don't
know any brand names for them.

-MYSTIC
 
H

homeboy465

Jan 1, 1970
0
Todd said:
There's much more heat in the exhaust than the coolant. However, it's
probably a little tougher to capture.

I'm completely stand alone so water is also an issue. I use rain water.


When I was doing the planning I found my "Hollywood shower" used 15gal.
My RV shower uses 0.75gal. I just didn't have the water to waste and
filtering and recycling was going to be a major hassle.

/Todd Marshall
Plantersville, TX
from all the sailors/matlo's i have talked to and thats quite a few (i live
in plymouth uk naval town for hundreds of years) and their ideaa of a naly
shower is just using half a can of deoderant lol i know this has no insite
into your problem and if anything is even more enviromentally unsound but it
is a alturnative solution and you don;t even have to worry about having
water let alone heating it.

i have however seen a solar shower made using an old radiator painted black
and filled with water leave it i the sun for an hour or 2 and you have
something like 5 gallons of warm water i don't quite know the exact volume.
 
P

Piccolo Pete

Jan 1, 1970
0
*MYSTIC* said:
Toyotomi
I have a kerosene furnace built by them and it is quiet and has about a
91% efficency rating.

You can also find kerosene powered refridgerators too. Though I don't know
any brand names for them.

-MYSTIC

Cool thanks
 
B

Bruce in Alaska

Jan 1, 1970
0
Loren Amelang said:

Loren, The "Rule of Thumb" for CoGeneration in Small Water Cooled
Diesel Generators is:

1/3 of the BTU's goes out the Wires
1/3 of the BTU's goes out the Radiator
1/3 of the BTU's goes up the Stack

95% of the BTU's out the wires is recoverable
75% of the BTU's in Radiator is recoverable
50% of the BTU's from the Stack are recoverable

You need a very efficent Heat Exchanger to get the 75%
out of the Cooling System.

To get the 50% recovery from the Stack, you need BOTH, a good
Jacketed Exhaust Manifold, and a good External Jacketed Exhaust
Stack Section.

Bruce in alaska
 
What if you put the whole engine and the water and exhaust exchangers
into an insulated enclosure? Theoretically you could have no heat loss
except via your external system coolant and via the gaseous exhaust.
You'd have to condense the exhaust gases to get above 84% there, but
it shouldn't be impossible to get above 95%.

Remember that by running a compressor you can get over unity on heat
output. The COP of heat pumps is much higher than the use of power as
simple resistance heat.
 
B

Bruce in Alaska

Jan 1, 1970
0
Remember that by running a compressor you can get over unity on heat
output. The COP of heat pumps is much higher than the use of power as
simple resistance heat.

Well not quite, You CAN get "Over Unity" in the sense that you can
MOVE more BTU's than you will expend moving them, BUT you can never
increase the TOTAL BTU's in the system. Those BTU's that your moving
have to come from somewhere, and that will be an external input of
energy into your System.

Bruce in alaska You can get something, from nothing.......
 
H

homeboy465

Jan 1, 1970
0
the one i had seen the radiator was in good nick and there was no rust noted
and they are prettty rust retardant due to what their purpas is lol
but you are correst lol
 
H

homeboy465

Jan 1, 1970
0
True I don't think these are iron I think they are steel I could be wrong
though I often am.
 
H

homeboy465

Jan 1, 1970
0
Opus said:
If that is the purpose of this discussion, then I'd say no, as they are
both ferrous metals. One reason for aluminum radiators.

Op
no but steel do take a lot longer to rust than just rort iron
 
H

homeboy465

Jan 1, 1970
0
Opus said:
That's the problem. I can't!

Op
ok I'm talking 3rd graid stuff.. you remember you tyake 3 test tubes one
with a peace opf copper wire one with steel wire/cable and one with iron
strips half fill them ith water and see how long they take to rust? steel
took loke twice as long to rust. and rort iron if you don;t even know that
is just like cast iron it is pure iron nothing mixed in with it.
 
D

daestrom

Jan 1, 1970
0
homeboy465 said:
ok I'm talking 3rd graid stuff.. you remember you tyake 3 test tubes one
with a peace opf copper wire one with steel wire/cable and one with iron
strips half fill them ith water and see how long they take to rust? steel
took loke twice as long to rust. and rort iron if you don;t even know that
is just like cast iron it is pure iron nothing mixed in with it.

I think you mean 'wrought iron'. Yes, it is simple iron material that has
been 'worked' (i.e. wrought). The working helps to move crystalline
imperfections towards grain boundaries and thus make the overall material
harder (sometimes also referred to as 'work hardening').

daestrom
 
Top