Tuesday, March 23, 2010

SOLAR SHOWER



For lack of anything else to do this morning and limited on what I have to work with I decided to start on a solar shower. Add another point to It'll Du because it is part of the soon to be solar shower. First picture is a frame I built out of my cache of junk and hardware that I brought with me from Plano. And who says being an obsessive compulsive pack rat is bad? The first picture is of it attached to the It'll Du with a very long screw. Shouldn't be a problem there. The next two pictures after that are doctored to show how tarps will be used as curtins to block the view of the general public. The fourth picture is how I have the A frame bolted to the stakes which were pounded in to 12 inch deep holed drilled in to the rock. It ain't going no where as is.  The tarps will only be added at shower time and taken down after the shower. No High wind condition showers! I hear that gets pretty chilly anyway even in hot weather though.

I may use one of the blue containers at first and then switch to a metal tank later. I have the polly carbonate to build a solar heating box when I get the wood to build the box out of. Once I get more pallets I plan to add a piece of OSB board as a floor on top of one and cover it with a tarp to give something to stand on besides the jagged rocks. I also plan to get the plumbing fixtures to add a drain in the center and pipe it down hill to another container so the gray water can be used for watering plants later.

At first I'd planned to build a stand alone pyramid to make a shower out of, but I'd have had to loose the two prop rods holding the dungeon doors up against the sides. I'd have had to come up with something else to do that to so decided to add to the functionality of the It'll Du and it should work out good.

Do I have a plan or what? ;)

16 comments:

  1. Fantastic! Looks great. Keep up the good work (or should I say GREAT!)

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  2. Looks like it'll work, very functional, sounds like it should just get better. You should try one of those high wind showers tho, you can wash and dry at the same time. ;-)

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  3. Unfinished or not it just might get used today. I sure could use a shower and don't want to have to waste the gas for driving in to SB for just that.

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  4. David, I don't understand why you are building a shower when you can take a shower in SB when you make your monthly grub run.
    Liked your set up on the batteries. The wind genny should keep them topped up while ya sleep.
    Keep on keep'n on.

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  5. BB, I don't want to go over 3 1/2 weeks without a shower. Didn't get it setup where I could take one here so went to SB anyway and took one. I couldn't stand to be around myself anymore.!

    BTW the BIG WIND finally hit on my way back. Just made it back to the dungeon. The lights on the falcon started going out and coming on as soon as I turned on the road to come up here. Glad it didn't happen on 118. I think I'm in the power business now. If the genny survives this wind it should be able to survive anything. It is really getting after it!

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  6. I like your shower set-up. "It'll Du" is quite versatile :-)

    Glad you were close to home when the Falcon lights started messing up.

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  7. MsB, yes the It'll Du is turning out to be a real dynamo of usefulness. ;)

    The Big Wind fizzled out about 10:45 and I mean near dead calm so there went my dream of supplying the world with electricity. Or even putting a good charge on the batteries. Think I heard it get back up some time during the night, but I don't think that lasted long either. At least the wind genny and It'll Du are both still standing this morning. :)

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  8. Looks like the video of the wind genny running is out. I took several short ones with it ramped up to full steam, but even on video mode the camera more or less stops a lot of the action and makes it look like its just barely moving. Best I can tell you is look at a Cessna prop when its revving up for take off and you might have an idea of how it looks. (A circular blur) In this case imagine that Cessna prop having red white and blue stripes painted on it and you would see a circular blur with red white and blue stripes. ;) Get close enough and it almost sounds like a Cessna. Fortunately its far enough away from here that the sound and vibration isn't a bother. Should be giving the critters and snakes hell though! BTW It has been charging real well since about 10:30 and the wind is getting higher so no gas usage today! :)

    As for the shower. I went to the storage and scrounged around to find what I could to make a make shift shower to hang in it until I get the rest built and once again my hardware stash came through. I will be able to have my shower here the next time! When that time comes I'll post pictures of how it is setup. I've also increased my water capacity from 33 gallons using three 7 gallon jugs and 12 1 gallon jugs to roughly 90 gallons using a couple of 30 gallon totes I had in the storage. out of that when full 69 could be used for showers and what ever and 21 would be for drinking and cooking.

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  9. Like to see how the shower is working, and the genny. I remember what it was like to go without a shower for 3 weeks. But it was too cold outside to take one while I was building my cabin in Alaska. How about a sweat lodge? maybe and early morning or late sweating around some hot rocks and water?

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  10. OGT, I have a sweat lodge here in the dungeon. Maybe I could start charging to let people spend a few hours in here. I'd want real good insurance though. ;(

    Its down right cool out in the wind, but I'm starting to enjoy sitting out in it watching the genny do her thing. On the other hand its 85 in here. That's much cooler than usual, but like I said its fairly cool out in the open and its also partly cloudy so the dungeon is shaded a lot.

    I put up a snake screen in the door so I won't have to be surprised by finding one in here when I've been out back. Talked to my eX yesterday and she said someone had left the door open at the church she goes to and one made its way in there.

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  11. You do whatever it takes to keep snakes away, tffnguy ... whatever it takes, okay?

    :eek:

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  12. MC, I don't have too much problem with them if I know where they're at. Its the ones I don't know about that worries me. If they come around here and I see them they may wind up on the BBQ. As OGT says on his blog. Hunt for food. ;)

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  13. One of those big jackrabbits you have out there mite make a good meal

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  14. See if you can find a snare before you come back down here. ;)

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  15. LOL....yeah, eat one them jackrabbits. What ya gotta do is let it sit in the sun till the flies are done with it.....then it's ready to eat. The best part of a jackrabbit is it's hair. Not near as tough as the meat.

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