Hot Shower Install - GPM Pump Question

[mtnwater]

[scottjk]

I think I'm going with this shower head. Has anyone ever seen or used one?

That is until I just found this one... maybe I'll just order a bunch with return policies and do a YouTube review.

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-43712-White-Shower-Swi...amp;sr=8-1

http://www.conservastore.com/productdetail.php?p=543
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[danfromsyr]

simple nuff and can take it to the spigot to refill and to the woods to rinse..
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[PDXWesty]

I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a tricked out shower head. We get shower heads in our office to take home and try out all the time. These new ultra low flow shower heads, well, some of them just suck, and thet're not cheap. Remember, you're not trying to recreate a home shower situation, you're just are trying to rinse off. I think your best bet is going to be a hand held sprayer.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[scottjk]

I emailed Bricor and asked them what GPM and PSI rating would work best for their Ultramax Shower Head and this is what they said...

'Unfortunately we haven't a clue? We don't know your system that well,

engineering'


So it would be a gamble to spend $75 for a shower head.
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[ragnarhairybreeks]

there is an interesting thread on the IG16 site that even though it is focused on drinking water, has some shower info

http://www.ig-syncro16.de/forum/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=16434


alistair
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'86 7 passenger syncro, converted to westy pop top, project still in progress
'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94, now gone...
https://shufti.blog/
Old address still works...
http://shufti.wordpress.com

[dubbified]

http://www.amazon.com/Bricor-B100-Super-Max-Shower...amp;sr=8-1

They say if you buy this from Bricor directly, they will adjust for PSI you're pushing? mmmmm.. Interesting.


http://www.metaefficient.com/shower-heads/low-flow-showerheads.html

[scottjk]

This looks interesting. Too bad they don't seem to make one with a handle and an on/off switch. Looks like good pressure and spray for .55 GPM

http://www.tinyhousetalk.com/ultra-low-flow-shower-head-for-tiny-houses-rvs-and-boats/
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[joseph928]

[scottjk]

Nice Dave. I have been using your plans for my ideas also. Thanks for sharing.
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[davevickery]

This is my setup.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2...p;start=20

I started with a 1 GPM Shurflo Nautilus pump - $46.36 Found on Amazon.com. It was fine, but the flow diminishes the higher the shower head is and maybe with the length of hose. So above my head it would not extend out very from the side of the van when attached to the sliding door. I plugged some of the holes in the shower head to get it to shoot out further, but it was still only about 1 foot out. I burned that pump out when emptying the tank (forgot it was on) so my replacement is a 1.1 GPM flojet that is an on demand pump so you can stop flow without turning it off and it doesn't hurt it. It is better quality I think and supposedly can be run dry with no harm. http://www.amazon.com/LF122202A-Automatic-1-1-GPM-12-Volt-3-5-Amp/dp/B000O8AZ6M

It shoots out enough farther now and I think it is perfect.

Medium hot water is a spawning ground for germs. You will have to empty the tank regularly and probably clean it out with bleach more often. My tank is only 4 gallons and is a nice compromise. The complete parts listing is in the thread above. It works great. Uses the rear heater fan switch, setting #3. Originally I removed the rear heater, but I have since put it back. Everything fits and still works great.
Dave

[tschroeder0]

I did a mod for a shower that was very simple. I like some of the mods I have seen but I think that many are way to complicated and can have much potential for problems down the line.

I had a Zodi camp shower but hated that you had to have it running all the time as it would overheat otherwise (that is the copper tubing would get so hot it would melt the plastic tubing)

So, I tapped into my water tank(drilled a new hole) and with the install of some longer water lines to the Zodi a T and a valve all I do is have a full water tank, fire up the Zodi and hang it from my poptop latch, use the pump on the zodi to heat and recirculate the hot water right back to the water tank. Now you have nice hot water in the tank. The Zodi can really heat water fast.

Once hot I shut down the zodi and then just use the pump (that comes with the Zodi) to pump the nice warm water to my extra long spray nozzle outside and I can take my time and shower. You can obviously turn the pump on and off as needed and take your time.

Any water you do not use is not wasted as it just remains in the tank and cools down.

Very simple and it works very well.

[derekdrew]

General notes from hard experience: Unless you are planning to be always connected to external fresh water supply, I suggest an extremely small gpm flow, like maybe using the little pump for the drinking water supply. This will make your water last much longer with little wastage in showering. You can get many showers out of a tank that way, whereas if you use a big pump you may not get two showers out of the stock westfalia tank. Also, heat exchanger based pumps where the heat exchanger is in the flow line are intolerable because you are supposed to vary the amount of water flow as a means of controlling heat transfer and thus temperature. But it is much too hard to control the heat this way, and you would then have no control over the amount of flow, and have a lot of backpressure sometimes on the pump, thus burning it out maybe. Anyway, I found out the hard way not to do this. Instead, get a stainless steel coil, maybe from a windshield washer tank heater (mercedes?) and put that into your drinking water tank.

[PDXWesty]

Technically, what you are doing would not be allowed by the plumbing code if this were a house. There is a potential for contamination of the drinking water tank with glycol from the engine coolant system. Any leak in the heat exchanger or fittings would contaminate the water in the tank. It would be good if you could keep all your connections and fittings on the outside of the tank and not the inside.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[dubbified]

That accumator will stop the start/stop condition when getting smaller amounts of water.. claims smoother operation.

My parents are on well water, and we had two rather large versions of that.. using air from an air compressor to pump up a bladder.

Pretty cool.

I "WISH" there was a way to coax some of the heat output from the Propex.. or they'd make a all in one answer.. shunt a vent one way.. heat your water... shunt another.. heat your cabin.

but.. being able to heat water on a campfire or alternate heat source is another idea altogether..

[scottjk]

PDX... I spoke with a Shurflo tech about throttling the pump with some type of a valve system but he didn't seem to think it would be a good idea. Said it might be hard on the pump. That doesn't make complete sense to me because I'd image that people in RV's adjust their flow rates all the time via sink and shower controls.

It definitely makes more sense to go with the bigger GPM pump due to the flexibility. The way I see it is the pump shuts off when there is 30 psi in the system lines so if I restrict my shower down to the point of creating 30 psi in the lines it should just shut off, but it might cycle too much.

Guess I better buy a pump from somewhere with a good return policy.

dubbified... that accumulator looks interesting.

"Really helped to minimize resonating the noise through the trailer when the pump is running. Now the pump comes on only after the faucet runs for 3 to 5 seconds depending on how far open you turn the faucet. It doesn't do that on/off, on/off, on/off thing when you have the faucet on just a little bit. Very pleased with it. Worth while project".

That seems to answer the cycling question with the larger pump and restricted flow.
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[dubbified]

There is also a really cool device some of the espresso stands use.. its a pressurebladder you can rig inline.. keeps some of the stop/starts of the pump to a min..

http://www.amazon.com/SHURflo-182-200-Pre-Pressuri...JLUXCDQ40P

[scottjk]

I'm going to do almost exactly what roversnsplits did. I'm going to tap the rear bench heater lines, run a copper coil 'heat exchanger' in to the water tank (I'm going to try and open the coil up more than 4.5 inches and squeeze it down so it looks more like a stove heating coil. This way as the water depletes there will still be a good portion of the coil toward the bottom of the tank). I'm planning on making a switch and indicator panel to install somewhere in my dash area to turn on/off the solenoid and monitor function of the system.

I'll also cover the entire tank with Reflectix insulation to reduce heat dissipation.

Pump will be 'on demand' at 30 psi hooked to both the front faucet and a quick disconnect off the rear back cabinet with the expectation of showering off the back end with the door up. I'm upgrading the sink faucet to the Shurflo kit that GoWesty sells.
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1985 Westfalia 2.5L EJ

[70coupyel]

My van came with a hand held shower head plumbed in so you could use it with the rear deck open. In tank submersible pump and that was fine for rinsing off after surfing. Sorry I don't have the spec for that pump handy.

edit: Looks like 1.5 GPM Here
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[PDXWesty]

Scott - You might want to use a 2-2.5 gpm pump if you can. You can always add a small valve to throttle the flow down to your liking. 1 gpm is really light for a shower spray. Typical sink sprayers are about 1.5-2.2 gpm. Those small pumps are also listed at a very low head pressure, so you want to get a pump for the gpm you want at the correct head pressure. You'll need to calculate the pressure loss through your piping, hose, and sprayer and have your pump rated for that.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto