Save Household Energy Blog

Posts Tagged ‘solar heat’

In order to extend the number of days in the year for which my homemade solar shower can be used, I added some insulation to allow the water to heat up on even 50 degree or cooler sunny days.

The insulation consists of the following:

• Two inch dense foam along the back side of the heating chamber so heat will not be drawn away by the metal building. In the photo above, this is the pink foam at the back under the plastic.
• An extra sheet of clear plastic spaced approximately 2" above the bottom sheet. If you notice in the photo, 2×2 wood spacers have been added. This 2" air space will provide insulation on the top and sides.

In addition, I doubled up the black plastic bag so the inside bag would be shielded from the sun. In my first attempt, the top of the black bag became extremely brittle after several months. The bottom of the bag I used in my first attempt was not compromised however.  With this setup, I anticipate that I can get a full year of use before the bags need to be replaced.

I look forward to giving this new shower a try on a cold day! Today, it was raining, so I don’t think the water will be too warm. The 100 yard commute will certainly prove to be refreshing if the outside temps are under 50 degrees. So far, the coldest temperature I have used this shower was about 49 degrees – but in that case the daytime highs were in the low 70’s.  With this new setup, I anticipate that the shower will be usable on far colder, but sunny, days.

I will post again after trying this out on a cold fall day.

It was a bit late last night when I got around to taking a shower before bed, but I thought I would see if the solar shower still had warm water. At 10:30PM I took a battery powered camping lantern with me and set it outside the shower. This provided more than enough light, although I would like to rig up a permanent light for after dark in the future.

The water was still warm! So the 20 gallon reservoir holds the heat for a while. It was fairly warm during the day (84), but not extremely hot.

I have plans for improving this shower: Add another layer of plastic over the top to form an insulating barrier as well as adding 2" foam insulation to the back side against the wall – this would insulate the water and help it maintain heat even better. I will post again when I do these updates. Hoping to use this shower into October, even here in cold northern Wisconsin.

Go to Free Solar Shower Plans to see how you can build a shower like this for around $25!