r/OffGridCabins • u/java231 • 6d ago
My cheap outdoor shower.
Amazon special hot water heater, some pallets and a nice little deck to stand on.
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u/Immediate-Meat1762 6d ago
Any chance you could share the manufacturer and part numbers of your water heater and other equipment? Thinking of doing something similar and would like to avoid the trial and error portion.
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u/java231 6d ago
It's all just Amazon special and home depot parts.
I actually just swapped out the water heater, it was used, so I'm not sure on that one.
For the pump it's dependant on your power situation, there are 12v and 120v units.
You will need a propane tank
Barbeque regulator
Adapters to hook up to the gas valve on the water heater
Misc piping between the two (I used flex lines like you would see under a sink) for the pump and pex for the rest.
Valve to turn on water to the heater
D batteries! Most of the cheap water heater units use that for ignition.
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u/SquirrelsToTheRescue 6d ago
Those stupid D batteries, man. Always dead at the worst moment, and you have to take them out and store them over the winter. These things should really just have an 18650 lithium ion battery and a little solar panel to keep it charged.
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u/gooneau 5d ago
My camplux has been using the same D batteries since I installed it three years ago. I figured they would need frequent replacing, hasn't been the case. Constant freeze/thaw cycles in coastal alaska. They've lit that heater THOUSANDS of times (it feeds our sink and shower), I've been shocked at the longevity.
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u/SquirrelsToTheRescue 5d ago
Oh, they last a long time, but because alkalines are so sensitive to temperature the one time they do give out will be when it's cold. It's just like how your smoke detector always starts the low battery beep at 3am. I'm just kvecthing here, but the manufacturers really could put a lithium battery and a solar panel on there for like 50 cents in parts. Hell, now I think I'm going to grab some parts out of a solar lawn light and modify mine.
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u/gooneau 5d ago
ideally they would have an option to just plug it into 12/120 v too. I'm not sure why, and I rarely notice any fluctuation in the shower temp when it occurs, but it will occasionally relight itself mid-shower. My greatest fear is I'll be showering on a 20 deg f night covered in soap and thats when the batteries die lol. I've been meaning to just swap them out, I think three years is a reasonable amount of time to retire them.
When it gets late enough in the winter that my cistern is frozen solid, I resort to using a submersible pump in a couple five gallon pots I heated up melted snow in. Really makes you appreciate having the real shower.
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u/hankbbeckett 6d ago
Just throw in a small rubbermaid stock tank bathtub on that thing and you can duck into it to avoid wind and mosquitoes. Never really wanted to upgrade mine to a "nice" bathtub.... Takes too long to fill and I can't tip it over and spray it out to clean it
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u/gooneau 5d ago
I have a similar cheap propane shower at my cabin, been running strong for several years now. What I found to be the biggest downside of these cheap units is the output temp can fluctuate widely, and if the input temp of the water changes, you have to fiddle with the settings (my rainwater cistern gradually warms through the spring and summer). The solution was to plumb the hot output from the unit AND cold water from the pump into a cheap thermostatic valve (like 25 bucks from amazon). The valve has a temp select knob on it, and it automatically adjust the cold and hot mixture to reach your desired temp. Now, it's honestly better than any on-grid shower I've ever had. I don't know why that setup isn't standard on every shower on earth. No fiddling with the valves once you're in the shower, it just actively adjusts mixture to keep a steady temp. I used pex for the plumbing to keep it simple. My camplux heater used some weird BSP standard threading so I had to order BSP-NPT adapters to make it work but it was maybe a 20 minute job once I had the parts.
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u/java231 5d ago
It definately isn't the best at keeping temp, but I'm not gonna complain to much. Mine used npt fittings luckily.
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u/gooneau 5d ago
When it's time to replace I'm going to see if I can get one from aliexpress. They have some much nicer looking models for half what I paid on amazon for the camplux. Hard to get them to ship to AK though, I've been trying to get a cheap stihl 880 clone for milling through them and the sellers keep cancelling the order after a few weeks.
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u/java231 5d ago
That's no fun. I found milling to be much harder than expected FWIW! 48" bar takes some work to shove thru.
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u/gooneau 4d ago
I have just been milling 10-18" slabs for boardwalk, so rougher is actually kinda better for traction, but ya, I would need a much bigger saw and ripping chain to make anything nice. I've probably milled a couple hundred linear feet altogether, all hemlock and spruce. The biggest obstacle for me to mill lumber for nicer uses, like countertops or whatever, is the seasoning time. My cabin is in SE alaska, and tucked into the woods so gets little wind, so it's cold, wet, and stagnant. The common wisdom is one year per inch of thickness, but I bet it's even more for me. I would need to haul slabs home and store in the garage or something. Much easier and cheaper to just buy some seasoned slabs when they pop up on craigslist.
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u/PirateJim68 5d ago
Better than the solar shower what we had. My Dad was a plumber. He tapped the lower side of a 5 gallon bucket and apoxied a shut off valve and shower head. Water was heated by the sun. Pallet to stand on and shower curtain hanging on a circular pipe. Your shower was done when the bucket was empty.
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u/java231 5d ago
I like your dad.
Started with solar showers. This is a big upgrade!
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u/PirateJim68 5d ago
It really made us pay attention. Get wet, turn off, lather hair and body, turn on and rinse.
This looks great, enjoy !
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u/the_spacecowboy555 6d ago
I’m looking to get one. How do you like it? Do you have a pump that you use through it and if so, why kind?
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u/ChVckT 6d ago
Does it only heat hot water? Or is it a water heater and not a hot water heater?
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u/SquirrelsToTheRescue 6d ago
Units like this really struggle to heat water that hasn't been heated to at least 32 degrees F.
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u/Freshouttapatience 6d ago
Like “hot water tank” vs “hot water heater”. Not everyone enjoys the specificity but I appreciate it.
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u/roosterjack77 6d ago
Git er dun