What Shower?

[Tommyclarkey]

Hi everyone.

So I'm converting a bus into a camper. I will use a donor caravan but have heard their showers are rubbish! Is it possible to get an LPG or any other type of instant heat showers without a tank?

All the ones I have found seem to be outside showers as they release gas which is obviously not a good idea in a confined space.
What is the best option?

Cheers
Tom

 

[LaMB]

A shower is only as good as the supply of hot water, so nothing to do with the actual shower itself. If your donor caravan has hot water and a pump, I can't see a problem.

 

[Tommyclarkey]

A shower is only as good as the supply of hot water, so nothing to do with the actual shower itself. If your donor caravan has hot water and a pump, I can't see a problem.

I have heard that the tank doesn't last for long, only a couple of minutes of hot water. I was thinking if I get a tankless one, it will be constant hot water (until the water runs out obviously)

 

[Gellyneck]

Caravans will, generally, have an external "Aquaroll" that has a capacity of 40-50litres. If you're converting a bus you could install an internal tank like a motorhome \ rv.

 

[LaMB]

Well I don't think any caravan/motorhome shower is designed to stand under for a long time. We just wet down, turn shower off, soap up, then rinse off; so a few minutes is all that is needed. Don't forget that you should be economical with water as well, it's something that is sometimes quite 'precious', and to be used sparingly.

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[hilldweller]

have heard their showers are rubbish!
Tom

Spot on. Just enough to keep clean but not enough to enjoy.

Even your bus will have limitations, water is heavy and takes space. MH/Caravans just do not have the capacity for a lot. Your question is do you want to fit a massive water tank.

Then how do you heat it ? The caravan boiler will have a gallon ( approx ) hot water boiler, that's no good. On hook up you cannot be sure of even 16A so no use for an electric shower. I guess, just a guess you could fit a domestic balanced flue boiler system. Overall you are looking at one huge load to carry.

I bet Yank RVs do it though.

 

[DP+JAY]

A shower is only as good as the supply of hot water, so nothing to do with the actual shower itself. If your donor caravan has hot water and a pump, I can't see a problem.

Correction, any shower is only as good as the shower tray.
Our Truma 6E has a reasonable supply of hot water but it seems to be the shower TRAY that causes most complaints re camper/caravan showers.
I agree the biggest limitation on shower length/volume is the size of your water tank.

 

[Tommyclarkey]

I bet Yank RVs do it though.

Yeah, they do everything big in the states.
The bus is massive so having a big tank is really not a problem, it's the heating side of things that I'm thinking of.

In the caravan I'm assuming it will have a fairly small heating tank and when it runs out it runs out and have to wait until it heard up again. But I have seen these 'outdoor showers' that use gas and heat water instantly. I just want to know if anyone has something like this in their camper?

I think they release carbon monoxide hence it having to be an outdoor shower but there must be a way to vent it, I just want to know if it's safe.

Any ideas?

 

[Gellyneck]

Water heating in a modern caravan is, generally, very similar to a motorhome and will operate off 230v or gas so have to be vented.

 

[Mr B]

Our old! 2010 swift challenger had a brilliant shower, plenty of power and very hot. It only had a 10 litre hot supply, but I always used it with no problems. Newer vans like the swift have a second, internal high pressure pump that gives a good jet of water .

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[DBK]

A Webasto Dual Top, diesel burning heater and water heater with built in hot water tank does two of us for showers. Not cheap though.

 

[vwalan]

all my mates use something like this..Broken Link Removed
i use a morco. but all easy to vent out. mind these days it should be in a locker and sealed from the living area . the newer ones work off water pressure drop and fire up. mine uses a pilot light .
the newer ones are great.

 

[hilldweller]

Any ideas?

Strangely enough yes. You talking out loud.....

We have the bog standard Truma gas heater, small hot tank and blown hot air. Now if you were to fit a hot tank next to it and rig a pump to circulate the hot water through it then it would be forced to heat all the hot water. Not quickly, but left running you could get a decent volume of hot water.

Now 2 more problems.....
A big refillable gas tank.
A huge grey waste tank.

Thinking of a domestic boiler, it would surely fail due to the constant vibration in a MH.

 

[jollyrodger]

Get one of these cold water in-hot water out ,
Broken Link Removed

then you will need a flu kit or heat deflector etc etc

and a sureflow /or similar 14psi (or above) pump

 

[Tommyclarkey]

Get one of these cold water in-hot water out ,
Broken Link Removed

Now that's what I was looking for thanks jollyrodger!

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[jollyrodger]

Or if on mains try one of these (probably need a 30psi pump)but lots available

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-3-kW-23...252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27ed3bb344