Temporary Shower Setup

BrianT · August 26, 2016

I hope you will forgive me for asking a question that isn't directly related to the RV. But I suspect some of the parts and pieces I may need could be RV parts.

For the first time in quite a while, my dear wife and I find ourselves living in a house. It's not an ideal setup. We had to "move in" with my parents for "a time" because of health issues and we're not sure how long we'll actually be here. It's likely to be several months, perhaps longer.

The part of the house we occupy has a small half bath with a sink and a toilet but no tub or shower. Right now, it is not so comfortable to use their bathroom for showering. We can, but it's much more communal and less private than we'd like. It would be so much nicer to have something more private, in the part of the house we occupy. We just are not in a position to be able to put in something permanent right now.

We have hot and cold running water at the sink and could easily get a bucket of warm water for bathing use. We can easily dispose of waste water from a tub down the drain. But I'd sure like to have running water for a decent shower.

I should qualify what I mean by a decent shower. We've lived in an RV for nearly 11 years and navy showers are the norm. I would guess that a luxurious shower would take about 3 gallons of water. And that's closer to what we're looking to accomplish, not the typical household type where 100 gallons isn't unheard of.

I've seen some "camping showers" where there is a little battery operated pump that you drop into a bucket and a length of hose with a shower head on the other end to get the job done. They don't cost a lot but reviews on Amazon and similar places really suggest that quality is abysmal for such things. (I could be wrong.) I've seen one setup that looked kinda like a portable pressure tank like we might use to even out the pressure of the RV water pump where it got filled and pressurized from the tap. Unfortunately, those things only held 2 gallons and comments on Amazon suggest that after about 1.5 gallons, it's more like a dribble than an actual shower. I even saw a big bag thingy that you had a foot pump to pressurize a hose for a shower head, but again, reviews of cheap quality.

I'm not opposed to a "tub" with a PVC framework surrounding with some shower curtains, a tiny bilge pump to get waste water into a drain and a 5 gallon plastic bucket for fresh warm water. But I'm not so sure about a good way to get a decent shower out of it without spending a lot of $ or getting something so cheep that it fails after the second use.

An RV water pump with a shower hose (and a head that shuts off the flow) would probably do the job. I'd need a small battery to run it. I have a small charger to keep it charged if I'd go that route.

But I figured maybe I'd run it past the group to see if I might be overlooking a good plan.

Whatcha think? I just want a temporary shower with some privacy that we can use for a few months.

Thanks!

somewhereinusa · August 26, 2016

Why not just run a hose from the sink to get hot and cold water, you can use a water hose nozzle for shower head and it has a shutoff. Use a small stock watering tank with small pump to empty tub.

tinstartrvlr · August 26, 2016

http://roadshower.com/

Saw one of these on top of a van. A few tied together and routed indoors or wherever could make for a nice long warm shower. Guessing the black pvc gets the water pretty warm!

BrianT · August 26, 2016

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to run something off of the current sink faucet. It will require something on the order of a 10' hose and some adapters that I feel like I can trust.

I hadn't seen the roadshower before. They're a little pricey. But it did get me to thinking about whether I could do pretty much the same thing with a 5 gal bucket. I don't need it to heat the water. Hmmm. Could I pressurize a 5 gal bucket enough to do anything useful and pretty much accomplish the same thing pressure wise?

Thanks for the input!

Devilishjim · August 27, 2016

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to run something off of the current sink faucet. It will require something on the order of a 10' hose and some adapters that I feel like I can trust.

I hadn't seen the roadshower before. They're a little pricey. But it did get me to thinking about whether I could do pretty much the same thing with a 5 gal bucket. I don't need it to heat the water. Hmmm. Could I pressurize a 5 gal bucket enough to do anything useful and pretty much accomplish the same thing pressure wise?

Thanks for the input!

Yeah that road shower did look a lil pricey and only 20 lbs pressure too. If your sink has the screw on strainer piece, They make an adapter that screws in there for regular garden hose for hooking up portable dishwasher or washing machines and with a small 12V sump pump you could pump into toilet ? It wont run over household toilet starts draining after it gets overfilled. A bilge pump for a boat would work just fine.

edit: that adaptor for washer is a quick coupler so you can disconnect and go back to regular no problems

Dutch_12078 · August 27, 2016

In my youth, our family used to take baths in a large galvanized tub set up in the kitchen near the wood fired cook stove when visiting my paternal grandmother on her farm during vacations. Those of us that were too big to sit in the tub "showered" of a sort, by having pitchers of warm water slowly poured over us by another family member standing on a chair as we stood in the tub. That's likely not practical in this day and age, but perhaps the large tub itself could serve as a shower pan for a portable setup. I recall seeing them still available in the 30-40 gallon range with a $30-$40 price tag.

BrianT · August 27, 2016

I need to make a trip to the local Home Depot or Ace Hardware to see what I can find. There are lots of sink to shower connectors that are nothing more than a rubber boot to go over the spigot end and have the water exit at the end of a short hose with a shower head. But I think the dishwasher / washer connection would work a lot better. It's a positive and water tight connection. Then I'd just need to get the shower hose attached. Just might work!

I do have in mind a fairly heavy watering trough from Tractor Supply that seems like it would do fine for a "shower base".

Thanks for the thoughts! I think I can make something happen. :-)

voyaginator · August 28, 2016

The solution for the shower depends on how temporary and installation cost.
In the very temporary (portable) and not expensive, there is a 5-gallon warm solar shower - http://goo.gl/vD9w2q

If hanging the bag is not possible there is the Nemo Helio shower pump - http://goo.gl/ko8Cwk

and there is also a battery powered sink pump - http://goo.gl/ZzAScl

For camping and boomdocking, I found the 5-gallon solar shower very handy and cheap (less than $30), and as long as you have some sun you get a warm shower.

BrianT · August 29, 2016

Thanks! Interesting options, for sure.

Guess I dropped enough hints that the family is looking into the possibility of installing a proper shower in this part of the house. If they don't, I may need to pursue a different option.

Actually, I'd thought of seeing if I could alter that "battery powered sink pump" to add a remote on/off switch that I could use to turn the thing on and off while taking a shower. I can't see that it would be rocket science. Then again, it's hard to tell exactly how that thing is put together without getting one and taking it apart.

We'll see. I do appreciate the thoughts. Thanks, all!