Third picture is the way the shower will work at first. I'll be using the 12 volt pump I used on my old solar heat system I built back in Plano. The pump made it down here and the rest didn't. Eventually I'll convert it to gravity flow, but this will just be a quick way to set it up for now. The pump will run off my batteries and I'll have a pull chain switch in the shower to turn on the flow and turn it off. (Conserve water by soaking down, cutting it off and then turning it back on for rinsing as needed.) The pump is a low flow high pressure and only pumps about 1.5 gallons per minute, but it would still go through the 7 gallons pretty quick if it weren't used as mentioned. The flow will be through a normal shower head and should be more or less like a shower in your home when running. 50 PSI is about normal for that.
For now I've suspended working on it because it is VERY windy and sandy now. I've seen Miss Genny go in to about 30% helicopter mode several times now.
UPDATE
I got industries this morning and built a solar water heater out of an old trailer extension I made years ago and never used. Just more of the junk that made it down here with me (mainly for the iron. I found a better use for it for now. It is how I'll heat water for the shower. (For now)
I also piped up the shower temporarily and tested it out by running a couple of gallons of melt water through it. I've already made that up by partially draining one ice chest. Note that the temp shown in the solar water heater box it read a little over 50 degrees about 10:30 this morning. Its now 1:18 and the temp is already up to 78 degrees and I figure by 4:00 it should be more than warm enough to have a hot shower. If it were to get too hot I'd cover the box with a tarp to keep it from getting hotter. Some how I got lucky and exactly 7 jugs of water will fit in the heater. (Exactly the amount the shower needs!)
Boy howdy, them some purty blue bonnets. If'n ya sneak out there at night, ya can dig up a batch and take 'em to the ranch. Just don't get caught like I did transport'n a big ole cactus. I says, "oh no, that come from my Grandpa's ranch right up the road. I would never dig up cactus without permission". Then I wrote up a "permission slip" signed by my grandpa. Bout pee'ed my pants.
ReplyDeleteWhat blue bonnets officer? what you mean ya cant pick a few flowers for yer sweety?
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking those pictures of the bluebonnets, tffnguy.
ReplyDeleteI love them :)
I'v tried transplanting blue bonnets and didn't have much success. All the nurseries around here have them now for a couple of buck for a six pack. I have had better luck going to the feed store and buying the seeds in bulk, a couple bucks worth will seed about half an acre. That is if you plant them at the right time, which is in the fall.
ReplyDeleteSo you now have shelter, a bathroom,a shower, and electricity. So when do you plan on building the modular home? It looks like you have a good 260 days or so of sunshine to get things done.
ReplyDeleteBB & OGT, I'd never dig up blue bonnets! I know you two would turn me in!
ReplyDeleteMC, I have a few for you that BB and OGT dug up for you.
BfA, I think that's what o'l Lady Bird did and made sure they were state wide. She must have liked it down here and sent special seeds because they are huge like the jackrabbits, crows and a few other things down here.
Scavenger, I have a lot of irons in the fire and will get to it as I can. I took steps to get a national for my site members here hopefully this fall and hope to get it setup before long. I'll be going after more lumber and more free pallets after the first and will be starting another phase.
ReplyDeleteAside from lumber what do you need for your place?
ReplyDeleteAs my namesake I do scavenge a great deal of items so if you have a need I would gladly accommodate. For example, I might have access to some older rooms size gas heaters from an apartment building; you might only need to convert it to LP. Let me now how I might be able to help.
My mom wanted me to tell you that she loved the pictures of the blue bonnets (btw so do I).
ReplyDeleteGood thinking on your pump for your solar shower in order to minimize water consumption.
Scavenger, I'll probably just use the heater I bought and perhaps rig a thermostat up on it. It would be 100% efficient since there would be no venting and it would be more than adequate for a much larger area than the dungeon. Thanks for the offer though. The main thing I need to get started is the concrete to start pouring piers and the lag bolts to cement in when I do. Next project will be to get the batteries, inverters and electrical weather proofed before the rainy season. Or any rain as far as that goes. So far I've just been covering all of it with tarps, when it rains, but that's a pain in the rear taking it off when I need to run the gas charger. I plan to build the box (or should I say small hut) where I won't have that problem.
ReplyDeleteMsB, glad you and your mom liked the pictures. I don't know whether other types of flowers were planted down here to or not like they were in other parts of Texas. So far the blue bonnets are the only ones blooming.
I still need to get another pallet, the drain, PVC and a container for the gray water storage. All in good time I guess. I sure have a lot of ice melt stored up and was out of storage for it until I decided to use one of my three 7 gallon containers for it. I've got two ice chests that need to be drained right now so unless I start taking showers here and start mixing concrete pretty soon I'll have to start dumping it. I'd forgotten that I'd used one of the 30 gallon totes to mix concrete in so I won't be able to use that for water storage now. I still need to find a place for all of the junk I have in the other one so I can clean it out and start using it for water storage.
Added a couple of more pictures to this thread. Note one is a solar water heater I made this morning and the other is with the shower running. Too bad its too windy to take a shower today, but at least I'm getting more free electricity!
ReplyDeleteDo you want me to round up all the free pallets I can find for my next trip to see you
ReplyDeleteRN, That would be cool. Wood to burn and some to use for building. When you planning on coming down again?
ReplyDeleteI was tryin to tell BB not to dig them up.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know how BB is. You tell him not to do something and he'll do it for spite.
ReplyDeletehttp://offgridterlingua.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletego there to find out what happend in YUMA
Looks cool. Everything is coming along together nicely.
ReplyDeletepipsqueek, Don't look like I'll be using it until Tuesday because we have wind warnings until then. Of course in a pinch I could put it up in the It'll Du, but that would be a stinky shower. I'll probably eventually build an enclosed one next to the It'll Du though. I don't want to have to wait for favorable conditions just to be able to take a shower. I also plan to coil up a black hose on the It'll Du to use for a water heater. Should work a lot better than the box, but the water was up to 103 by 4:00 so I guess that should be warm enough for a shower.
ReplyDeletecool, 105 is perfect with little wind
ReplyDelete