Because your cleaning with hot water you can replace the bleach with regular white vinegar. The vinegar also well not only kill the bacteria, but will also remove any calcium deposits on the water heater elements. The third benefit to using hoy7 vinegar solution is when dump the cleaning solution is you dumping something substantially less cosmic.
ran through the whole series in a sitting! thanks for the time and effort! I'm looking to start a van build myself, so this is much appreciated. on to your other series I go.
I am glad I watched this. I will be by myself and the maintenance for one person seems to out weight just using one of those shower heads you can turn on and off as needed. I probably could get by with a couple gallons at a time and don't have to worry about the maintenance headache. And the linear drain and filter is a great idea. Thank you.
I dont know if the recirculating shower was your idea, but at least your build was the first time I ever heard of the concept. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all this great, detailed information you are giving us for free! This shower is such a game changer. If or when we do a van tour in the future I will definetely credit you guys for this! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Safe travels 🚐👫🐈🐱😘
Becky.... That is awesome!! The idea came from a brainstorming session with another couple that were building their van at the same time... Then we dove I to some google research, found some design from Europe for house systems...then took that I do and Curt's brain power and started figuring it out! We agree it's a vanlife game changer!! Be sure to keep us posted on how yours turns out!
Great information, Curt! Thanks for posting. Recirculating showers will be the next big thing in vanlife for sure. I have two follow-up questions: (1) I understand that it makes sense for you to change your shower water at the same time you top off on fresh water. But if you had a larger fresh water tank and you could boondock longer, how long would you feel comfortable reusing the same filtered water in your shower? Could you go two weeks? A month? (2) What's the cost to replace the filters, roughly?
You can go longer, and I have. How long, I think depends on how many showers, how much dirt soap and water. I do know there is a limit, I just don’t have enough data to know for sure. I am hoping my experiment with all carbon filter will give more time as well. On the prices, there is a link to the filters in the description. Cheers.
Could you do a full video about how you do maintenance/changing tanks/etc on the road and at RV stops? This one has some really good information about the shower part of it but I'm interested in the steps of how you deal with the composting toilet, batteries, etc. Love your channel!
So much to think about when it comes to showers! Thank you so much for this. It’s easy get lost looking for information and this answers most of our questions!
Someone once recommended to me using food grade tablets used in the restaurant industry (for sanatizing eating utensils) as an alternative to bleach for flushing water tanks. I used to find them at a pro chef supply store near me. Thanks for the info.
If you do look at them, check out the test strips for proper concentration of the cleaning solution. Be sure to check the water temperature. Commercial sanitizers for kitchens work best at cool temperatures, and are designed to air dry. I wouldn't expose your filters to that - I have no idea what would happen. I'm really not sure if the cleaning solutions for utensils are what you want. Food safety training also has specific concentrations of bleach for other cleaning purposes. I'd hit the books to be sure. But you might want to use that sanitizing stuff in a spray bottle for your dishes, anyway....
Can you do a video talking about what you would change about your van in terms of any functionality of day to day use. Please share! I love your van build and I especially love that hallway shower and toilet as well as that entryway glass frame - - both are multifunctional, but also act as a nice privacy wall if needed. If I ever do a van build, I would definitely want to incorporate those two things in.
I was gob smacked when I heard about recirculating showers. I’m measuring to see if I have enough room in a 93 Ford E250. It has less than 90k miles and a new Jasper transmission. Snow do you wash your hair in the kitchen sink or in the shower? I have lots of long hair and even at the house I wash it in the sink to save water. Keep up the good work, I look forward to learning more from the 2 of you.
The sink isn’t on the recirculating system, so we have to limit the use of that water do it lasts longer between fill ups! I use the shower in the van to wash my hair... works great!
You can get resin filters for “spotless” water. The ionic exchange between the resin pellets and the water help remove contaminates. But the resin pellets are a consumable. I’m just curious if it’s worth it...
Thank you for all the beautiful videos you post. Snow, you go girl!! You both look wonderful and I hope you are feeling as well as you look. We are avid followers and are in the process of converting a van for our travel filled retirement. We are seriously considering building the recirculating shower, but would like your candid opinion. After your year long experience, is it worth all the labor and expense? Have you found it a boon or a bane? And in that regard, how often should we clean the system? We each shower twice a day so how often do you think would be reasonable for us to clean it? Grateful for any input you might give.
Hi Curt - Learning a lot watching your videos. I am stealing a lot of your ideas. 😊 Can you describe how you installed the back flush system. It is just a diverter value and you run water with hose pressure back through the system into the grey tank? I see below the comment on vinegar instead of bleach, highly recommend this approach the acetic acid in vinegar is a great cleaner.
Hey Neal... sorry for late reply, you somehow ended up in our spam comments! Anyway... we are putting together a shower follow up video that will break down everything we have learned after living in the van for 10 months! Hoping to get the video out in about 10 days!
I would tend to change out the sanitizing chemical on a rotating basis. Bleach one time, Quat the next, then maybe iodine. The concentration and combination of heat is important. But is easy to look up. There are test strips you can use to determine if you need more chemical or more water to flush around with... This is to clean to almost food grade...Except of course particles stuck in odd places...
Here's the total system that I'm using for the water recycling: Sink and Shower have drain strainers with 1/8" (3 mm holes) . Then shower uses a marine shower bilge pump to run water across the two drawer strainers under the kitchen sink that just get dumped as needed. First drawer is stainless with 1/16" (2mm) holes, second is No-See-Um 20 mesh (841 micron) , then to the 40 gallon grey water tank. From grey water tank water pumped (through 50 mesh pre filter) at 1 gpm thru the following filters back to fresh water tanks. Rusco "Spin-Down" 100 mesh (152 micron) strainer, 500 mesh (30 micron), 1000 mesh (15 micron), 2 gallons VITROclean crushed glass inside 3' length of 4" diameter stainless tubing (5-10 micron), 0.2 micron ceramic, Granulated activated carbon, powdered activated carbon, finally passes UV water purifier. The washer/dryer comb has a Filtrol 160 lint filter before running through the rest of the filters. It has a sock filter that gets turned inside out and cleaned about every 4 loads. It's probably overkill but full time use would have us changing the crushed glass, and carbon once a year for about $50. We have 220 gallons of total capacity and we usually fill that before parking at a festival or race for a few days because our inflatable jacuzzi needs 135 gallons. Sometimes to get rid of it we run the water cooling misters under the awning that uses about 5gph.
Great video Curt, thank heaps. I see self contained (enclosed) versions coming out for this type of shower. My question is can this be built by a semi capable guy with good tools and off the shelf items or would you recommend getting a van life type plumber involved? Maintenance I am happy with.. building it myself though.. would this save money or just pile on the stress!
Kia, you just described me! If you take your time you should be able to pull it off! All parts can be bought through the Amazon or Home Depot or similar...you can dooo it!💪🏼
I'm considering adding the shower to my Sprinter and one question. Is it feasible to contain all the filtering mechanisms and pump in say a 6 or 7 inch wide wall? In fact one side of my shower stall. Of course a removable type for easy maintenance? I can't get down to service under the chassis. Ty much and love all your vids. Great narration. Harold
It might could work, but you need to make sure inside of the wall is water proofed... maybe with a drain at the bottom. It is hard to remove and replace the filters for cleaning without spilling a good amount of water. Sounds like an awesome idea... kepp us posted on how it turns out if you go for it!
Curt, thanks so much for posting all this great info regarding a recirculating shower. I know you guys are in warmer weather right now and have been for a while, but when you traveled the US were you ever in cold weather and if so what happens with the water tanks and freezing? Thanks
Curt designed a way to 'close' the system... when the temps get too cold, we can flip a switch and the water will continuously run thru the pipes, pumps, and back to the tank. We can put this system on a timer, run it with or without heat. He talks about it in one of his plumbing videos from 5-7 weeks ago!
Thanks I'm living in the UK on a narrow boat with this lock down iv been looking at a way to stretch the water I have to carry to the boat and I came across your channel can you run all the jets on your shower I notices you have body jets as well on your system,
Honestly, I have not tried to run them all at one time... But, I doubt our pump could pull it off! We can tell that the quarentine has lots of folks building or planning van builds because we are getting tons of questions! So, Curt is going to do a few van build q&a vids... And a follow up on some of our previous videos, including the shower! Look for the videos to start next week! Thanks for tuning in! 🚐🎥
Hey Curt! Awesome build and thank you for sharing the knowledge! I've been searching all over the internet for more info in the recirc shower. For my build, I'm hoping to have an option to dump the recirculated shower water into the gray tank and have fresh water pump back into the shower tank once the shower water gets cycled over too much. Then, I wont have to change out the water in that tank manually and will just have to deal with dumping the grey water. What do you think about this?
We always love when we here folks thinking outside the box! You have to build what suits you and your van life the best. Sounds like a plan that will work! Keep us posted on how it turns out! Good Luck!
Also consider using dr. Bronners unscented castile soap. It can be used as shampoo and soap. Use leave in conditioner and add scents via lotions, cologne, deodorants etc. later. Another youtuber "gone boondocking" did something similar. He rexommends using a little epsom salt in the fresh water for the maitenance. I don't remember why though. He also says biodegradable soap is all that should be used.
The salt is cheap. I'm building my own recirculating shower. Any idea why I've not seen anyone use an on demand propane tankless water heater with this recirculating shower yet? Also, I'm looking to use smaller more powerful pumps (800 gph+) and it keeps confusing me that you and gone boondocking aren't using them in your set ups, especially since they're cheaper.
Hi from the UK. Thanks for sharing. Personally I think there's enough potential for health issues (bacteria etc) in a normal single use system. I prefer to reduce the water volume used by utilising a stop/start button on the shower head. My next van will also have a super size collapsible shower water tank like those available for boats. This way I can "load up" on shower water when staying put for a few days. Then when I'm on the move (where weight is an issue) I can discharge the left over water. The collapsed tank then becomes storage space for gear I've stored outside while parked up. It's not that I think recirculating showers are a bad idea but without any form of test kit to discover exactly how bacteria free they are following maintainance, seems to me it's a gamble. Happy travels. John
As i said in another video regarding your recirculating shower i gonna give your architecture a try. But i wonder if you may already have thought about some improvements in between? I thought about a dual mode system where you can switch between the recirculating mode and a regular shower mode. The regular shower mode is for the first soap and rinsing. So that the most part of the dirt don't go through your cleaning system directly in the black water tank (or grey water?). I hop you understand what i mean. The recirculating mode would be for just enjoyment. What you think about that? Did you think about other improvements that would have been a better implementation?
Have you thought about using vinegar instead of bleach? It is a natural disinfectant as well as a hot water and vinegar solution will remove calcium and lime build up. It is recommended for coffee makers, dishwashers, etc. It may also help remove such things as a build up body oil in the soap scum.
What a fantastic system, I am impressed! Shame I don't have the space for it in my VW vanagon. But..... why do you not rinse the filters in bleachwater? I think that's the most obvious place where bacteria would be?..... Greetings from the Netherlands.
@@helenholt1161 . No, he takes out the filters, put the housings back on and while the system is being flushed, he rinses the filters outside with clean water...... So, no bleach in the filters, is my conclusion.....
@@hanslaro917 ok. This whole system is something I am really paying attention to. We are building a van in 2021 (early retirement) and this type of shower, and maybe an incinerator toilet, are on my radar. Both are total game changers.
@@helenholt1161 . Ik have a VW vanagon, so unfortunatly there is not enough space, but if there was, I would put it in my van too. Succes with the build of your van. Life is short Helen, if you have the chance, built it as soon as posibile, don't wait.....
I did run bleach though the filter initially and it looked like it damaged the rubber on the top and bottom of the filters. I do soak the filters in a lighter mix of bleach water before I spray them.
How do you remove the soap from the system? I have a recirculating shower in my travel trailer. I can shower 5 times the dopa starts to come out. I have a spin down filter, 20 micron, 5 micron, and a Corbin filter.
We do for the most part...a d it helps for sure! But I (snow) have to have at least a little bit of conditioner for my hair! We've got the maintenance all figured out... In fact, a follow up video on our shower after using it for ten months is coming within the next two weeks! Thanks for the tip!
@@SnowAndCurt I'm still in the layout and design stage for the van I want to get. I've enjoyed watching your tech talk videos, and find the recirculating shower fascinating. I have been considering recycling the kitchen grey water as well. I've been watching videos on homemade grease traps to help with the recycling process. Have you two considered recycling your kitchen grey water?
If it weren't for the need to empty the gray tank and refill fresh, how many showers could you realistically get before you need to replace the shower tank water replaced?
We can tell that the quarentine has lots of folks building or planning van builds because we are getting tons of questions! So, Curt is going to do a few van build q&a vids... And a follow up on some of our previous vids. He will answer this exact question. Look for the videos to start next week! Thanks for tuning in! 🚐🎥
We have done that some back in the US, but it has been hard to find large bottles of vinegar since we entered Mexico. We look when we head into new Super Mercados, but not easy to find. So, bleach is our back up... and I think as our journey heads across the globe, it will vary from country to country. Thanks for the tip!! and thanks for watching!
Snow & Curt in Mexico any big sig supermarkets has 70% small bottles of white vinegar just ask locals they use it for cleaning and cooking I’ve learned soooo many tricks from them with vinegar cleaning. Since I came back from Mexico I haven’t been using any chemicals... it cleans way better than any bottle of special detergent. I wash my cloths with vinegar, I clean I use it as soap for dish wear.... blending it as 1part dishsoap 0,5-1 part vinegar it makes soap more powerful saves money and health
Hey Curt and Snow, what is the volume of your recirculating shower water tank? Also where did you get the info on building your recirculating show? I'm just about to build mine. Have you seen Davids 1 hour shower? He only has 1 small filter. Is this enough do you think?
10 Gallons. We got the idea from a friend (Charles)... Then started researching.we found systems for houses in Europe somewhere, very new... Not a ton of info. But, used that info to design the system.
@@SnowAndCurt Interesting, so the recirculating shower idea didn't start in the RV industry. Look at Gone Boondocking, hour shower. its a pretty neat design. Epson salts is added to the water to dissolve all the soap for each shower..
How have things gone since u changed to carbon filters??also agree with the comments below about the vinegar and the Epson salts help for breaking down the soap and it's also great for ur skin....teaspoon per 2 gallons
We are putting together a video now that will give a detailed update on our shower system after 10 months of use. We have it running smooth, so we are going to share!! Hang tight for 10 days or so... video is coming!
@@SnowAndCurt thank you! So between 3-5 days per person would mean an average of 8 showers per 10 gallons, or about 1.25 gallons per shower. This is in-line with Van Life Tech's goal of 1.5 gallons per shower (they use a reverse-pump at the end to clean the filters, too). Very informative. Thank you!
