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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Shower Night, New Battery Powered Shower
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Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 14 Dec 2019 18:19
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Yep! Going on a week up here so about time to wash the stink off! Presently on the front porch melting snow.... we use melted snow for washing dishes, flushing the toilet and showering.

Snowstorm moving in. Snow showers off and on today. Supposed to be 98% cloud cover, and it was but had blue sky breaks between 11am and 2pm, perfect! Didn't float solar but almost. From 5pm today until 5pm Sunday we have 100% chance of snow... anywhere from 5 - 18". Who knows until it's done.

Picked up a battery powered shower doohickey on Amazon... good reviews so we're going to give it a try! Let you know how it goes.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 14 Dec 2019 18:23
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Pictures...
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ICC
Member
# Posted: 14 Dec 2019 20:24
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Hmmmm.... have you ever had insect problems with that firewood stacked against the wall? I had carpenter ants migrate from firewood to the wood siding at my old place. That was a quite a task to remedy.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 14 Dec 2019 20:52
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Ok, tried the battery powered shower... great! Puts out a really good stream. The only negative is th he pump is submersible so you have to reach into the bucket (heated water in a 5 gallon bucket) tyr o turn it off and on. I would definitely recommend this if you are winter camping at the cabin and don't want to fill your water system.

Worth the $36.00... here is a link to this one... there are others: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IFHFJXI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UT F8&psc=1

Another item worth considering if you are outside in the cold and snow working...insulated rubber gloves, we are impressed with how warm these are... may be others better: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0169GX7W6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UT F8&psc=1

Waiting out the snowstorm... hope to get my wifi solar system up and running tomorrow, then start burning slash next week. Monday and Tuesday the highs are supposed to be in the negatives or low single digits... great time to be standing by a big fire!

cspot
Member
# Posted: 15 Dec 2019 09:25
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For the cost, that looks like that would work just fine. We had a zodi that ran on batteries. The battery pack is separate from the pump. It was still a pain in the but to turn off and on though.

Not sure what your water system is, but I made mine which runs on a 12V shurflo RV pump so that I can stick a 5 gallon bucket in the cabin with water and draw out of it. Works well for the winter. We simply carry water in.

FishHog
Member
# Posted: 15 Dec 2019 10:22
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I used a zodi with battery pump for a number of years and it was almost always a pain.

Switched to a zodi extreme that I just heat on the woodstove. Going on 10 years with it and can't recommend it highly enough.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 15 Dec 2019 12:23
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ICC... no not yet but it is only stacked there during the winter. I'll keep my eyes out come spring to make sure nothing is building a home in our logs!

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 15 Dec 2019 12:31
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Cspot.... this one is rechargeable. Came with a cord the hooks into a USB port to recharge.

We too use a Shurflo during the summer, we have a 550 gallon cistern for warm weather use. We put a 50 gallon water tank in the loft for winter. We have to transport water in 7 gallon totes from the spring - one mile away by snowmobile and sled. Then the totes are brought inside one by one - we have 5 right now - then I use a small pump to move the water upstairs to the 50 gallon tank.... a removable PVC pipe with a spigot on it sits right over the kitchen sink. So the spring water is reserved for drinking primarily and snow water for toilet, shower and dishes.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 15 Dec 2019 12:35
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FishHog... I looked at those but figured for $36.00 and a plastic bucket... it was worth a shot. Definitely like it! I need to mount the showerhead holder on the wall. I used wire around the regular showerhead to hook this one on but too sloppy.

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:28
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Our first shower was a zodi pump, basicly the same as this Amazon one. The problem we had was we where heating water up with 1gal kettles. It would take 2.5 boiling to get 5gal of hot shower. That takes nearly 4hrs for 4 people to shower.

I decided to buy components I could scale up the system and keep using. We went to a portable on demand heater and 12v RV pump. We filled a 55gal drum on a trailer from a stream then drove it to the shower location. It is so nice to have almost unlimited hot water shower. A hot shower is always something I enjoy at camp.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:42
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Brettny... we have an on demand heater for the cabin.... inside unit, not installed yet. Not sure I could incorporate it for winter use but you've got me thinking.

Using the big gas burner and 12 gallon kettle helps heat up a lot of water.... but at this time of year it is starting as snow so it's not quick. Our spring is 2 miles away by snowmobile. We save the spring water for drinking primarily. Hoping to rig up a 50 gallon tank on skis so we can just make one trip.

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 09:57
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A barrel on skis sounds like a very good idea. A pair of yard sale downhill skis or even a sled made from a barrel.

I have yet to figure out a good early winter water system. But our water lines are just sitting on the ground at the moment. We gravely feed down from a IBC tote on a hill on our property. It was frozen solid last month. Next will be burying a 200+gal tank.

I hear a lot of people use a tank in the loft in the winter. How you keep that from freezing when your not there idk. Unless you can drain and refill every trip. I would still keep the portable shower pump around for winter use.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 10:15
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Our neighbor has a 1000-1200 gallon tank buried up above us. He still drains it in the winter as the lines down from the tank surface under their generator shed before buried again over to the cabin. As I think you have pointed out before, no amount of insulation will keep standing water in a pipe from freezing. But early spring and fall he has no worries about frozen water system.

We will drain our 50 gallon loft tank when we leave in January. I hope to do some plumbing this coming summer so I can pump right from the 50 gallon tank on skis into the cabin, into our loft tank. I turn 65 in February and being a one armed guy... I'm getting really tired of lifting water totes, 7 gallon ones @ almost 60 pounds in and out of the sled, plus where we fill from the spring overflow is in a bit of a hole so I have to lift them up out of there as well. We pump from the ground floor into the loft tank but still, lift out of the sled, up on the porch then into the cabin. I'm getting all over that routine!

Aklogcabin
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 10:52
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Do you have electric start on your snogo ? Maybe you could buy a 12v pump . Use it to pump from portable tank to inside tank. Looks like you have cabin life well in hand.

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 18:53
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That's where the 12v pump will come in handy. With some fancy plumbing, few Tees and a hand full of ball valves you could use the same pump to fill the lot tank as supply water to a shower. Or just let it gravely drain.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 22:34
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AK... Brettny... yep! I have 2 Shurflo 12v pumps and I have been giving thought to what you suggest. I was thinking the Shurflo would be great for filling the 7 gallon totes at the spring. Already have hose fittings on the pump and my snowmobile has 2 cables that are attached to the battery for jumping it that would be great for powering the pump. Save at least a couple of lifts!

We also have a 1" Honda pump that works great. It will be the one to fill the 50 gallon tanks with.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 22:49
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I have a 3.5gpm pump. It takes roughly 30-45min to fill a 50gal drum with garden hose size hoses. Idk if a 1in had pump is really needed.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 23:36
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Yeah... the Honda does around 25-30 gpm might be over kill but when it's cold and your messing with water, quick is good!

justins7
Member
# Posted: 18 Dec 2019 13:00
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I have the same shower thing, and I also just bought a newer one that has a separate pump and a battery with double the capacity. It seems like there's potential to use it for other things, since it's got detachable hoses. Works great. Hooks on the outside of a bucket:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SQ8PG95/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF 8&psc=1

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 18 Dec 2019 13:56
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Nice! I didn't see that one.

LoonWhisperer
Member
# Posted: 18 Dec 2019 17:17 - Edited by: LoonWhisperer
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Very decent shower for the price. We set one up to use as a faucet for our old bunkie. It had a separate switch that was handy but was not rechargeable which would have been a nice feature. Here it is in action lol

battery shower

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 19 Dec 2019 08:19 - Edited by: Nobadays
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Loon... nice adaptation!

Lots of snow shoveling, snowmobile riding and even one town trip.... where our pickup broke down - fuel pump quit - good thing our neighbor...only neighbor this winter was coming to town so we could get a ride back to our snowmobile, cabin.

Been about 5 days so if I can peel my long johns off I believe it's gonna be a shower day today!

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