Van Essential: Solar Shower

I admit, I was not expecting much from a black pvc bag of water, but it has surprised me, in a good way.

It did take three attempts before I figured out what I need to do to make this solar shower work. The first attempt resulted in a lukewarm drizzle. The second resulted in a much warmer bag of water. The most recent attempt gave me a hot and satisfying shower while boondocking in the desert.

What I found;

• Do not fill the bag. It takes too long for the sun to warm all 5 gallons. 2-3 gallons seems to warm quickly and gets very hot.
• Lay the bag of water flat and on something that will not sap the heat away. Concrete and asphalt will sap away the waters temperature. If you must, place some insulation (cardboard?) in between.
• Hang the bag from as high as possible so the nozzle can always point down. If you have to point the nozzle up, the pressure drops to near-nothing.
• Take your shower at the hottest part of the day. Don’t wait for evening, as the water will cool, shower at 2-3 pm and you will have your hottest water.

I used the above ideas in my most recent shower. By 1pm on a sunny Arizona day, with the bag sitting on top of my fiberglass van topper, the water was nearly too hot to shower. For me it was perfect, but I like scorching showers normally.

Hey, if you have no other means of a hot-shower, this does work!

You can find more of my opinions on van essentials here.