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camp shower installation

SensRanger

Active Member
Joined
September 14, 2005
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City, State
Ottawa, ON
Year, Model & Trim Level
96 Ranger XLT 4x4 Xcab
Howdy there, I am planning on fitting a camp shower setup on my Ranger so thought I'd see if anyone has done something similar and what your thoughts were. I plan on using a coaxial coil heat exchanger like this(dead links)

and a decent 12v pump to pull (often near freezing) lake and stream water into the coil where it will be heated from the coolant. I was going to put a T fitting and tap on the line in to the heater box so the coolant only goes through the exchanger during showers. Temp will be controlled by blending fresh water with the hot with a tap on the freshwater line after the pump.
I am going to put quick connect fittings somewhere accessible so the only thing to do at the campsite is to connect the freshwater hoses and drop one end into the lake and the other over a branch for the shower and turn on the pump and taps.
Anyone set something like this up and how did it go? I searched but did not see anything.
Cheers
 



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Bump to the top for the day crew...
 






signing up.
 






Man I have been searching. I saw an episode of "TRUCKS!" (think it was trucks?) a long time ago when they installed one of the simple units on an old Jeep. It seemed very straight forward and it made me want one on my truck. Hahaha

I plan to put a warm water shower on my boat this spring, so would love to see what you come up with.
 






Lets see if I'm following you on this. I would think that this heat exhanger would have to be as close as you can get to the coolant tee fitting. And how about the amount of coolant in the system before it goes thru coils. Is it enough. How many feet extra is in the coaxial tubing. I would think the differance could be enough that this could be a problem. How about air in the lines? Is there an aftermarket system allready in the market place. Sounds interesting. I know on my Canadian hunting trips the shower was built on a dock on the lake. We just put buckets of cold and I mean cold water in a container above shower and let gravity feed to a shower head. But your idea would be great.
 












Now I understand. Checked out camp showers and it showed how to. Ok with the heat exhanger mounter permenantly and coolant added for this. I can easily see how it works. Also i like that cartoon of that Toy land cruiser. in the site.
 






Rookie, many closed loop boat engines are cooled in much the same way, the raw lake water is sucked up into a fluid/fluid heat exchanger, which cools the coolant, the raw water also flows through the exhaust jackets and cools the exhaust manifolds :) Just a little something I have learned in the last few boating years.


I think $340 might be about $100 more then it would cost to actually duplicate this setup on your own though...
 






Hey thanks for the responses. I was hoping to use the cabin temp dial to control the shower temperature instead of the freshwater line tap, but discovered that the coolant temp out of the heater does not change with the cabin temp dial. Too bad, I was thinking I will still use the coolant out line for the heat exchanger connection since its on the left and I was hoping to mount the coil above or near the heater blower. Pump, etc location tbd. I will post pics etc once complete but that probably won't be for a couple months.
 






Signing up! This is awesome!
 






On tracy's jeep we are planning to use a heat exchanger that comes on semis. I guess they use it in the cold temps to heat the fuel. It is a 6" in diamiter and about 8" long. We are usuing a 12 volt pump from an rv to power it. Still need to mount it up and see how it works. Total we should have less then $100 into the whole thing.
 






i may have to do this for the wife.. i have to run over to the plumers wharehouse and see what they got to fab some thing up...
 






I put one of these heat exchangers in my explorer, (dead links) it works excellent and when you look at the web site in installations thats my Explorer there using :D

There are 2 more companies that make vehicle showers, Twine and Glind all are Australian companies.

(dead links)

These exchangers work very well one of the best hot showers you'll ever have in the bush when camping where there are no facilities.

Baz.
 






Wow good info there!
I like those suckers....
 






i am gonna make a setuper for myself, all copper and just a little cheaper on the price. i'll be picking up the copper tubbing this week. I think a 3" piece for the main case, and a 1/4 or a 1/8 (what ever i can get in small but not too small) and do a double coil inside the 3" tube cap it and be done... need to find a good solid pump around 50 bucks. I'll be using quick release hose fittings to do all the plumbing which i am running to the rear hatch. The Shower will use the rear hatch as the roof with i dont know yet (shower curtins i think attached to the hatch somehow) as a concelment area. plus the grab handle will able me to toss the shower head thro it. This hopefully will be done before memorail day.
 






oh anyone know of a small tank 3-4 gallons or something that will fit in the spare tire location to use as a reasivor.
 






ok i got 50" of 3/8 id copper tubeing ( i had nice hand bender) i am ginna see what thee smallest radius is i can bend it is, and make a coil about 8 inches long, after that i am gonna make one to gover that and be just under size of the smallest large size k wall pipe i need thinking 3 or 4 inch max. if i can get 20 feet in to the 8 inches that would be great for heat transfer. still looking for a place to mount it. to plumb it in i am going to cut in a pair of tees on my heater core supply and return(one for suply and one for return to allow for use without the heat being on). I *should* be able to mount my pump just behind the headlight by my airfilter box with a quick connect near that. In the rear i am going with a double filer setup. The wife is picky. the first one will be just a screen and the second an actual water filter element. (a cheapo at that). I decide to go with a cheap wand shower head with a water saver shut off for the rear. Which will save on water if i am not near a source. My tail gate area is the next area i am working on. Trying to figure out a way to make a folding system i can toss up so as to let the wife take a shower and be concealed. I personally due to military op tempo and lack of facilities have go for 45 days with only water bottle baths so :D this aint for me but others might like it. If i dont go camping this weekend it will be done with a price list on everything... so far 85 spent.
 






zhanx, got any pics of your set up?
 






sorry was gone and missed this... i'll get a couple pics up after work today
 



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