On Board Shower

[Greg]

Here's some pics and a review of the Helton On-Board Shower I got from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters.

The on-board shower consists of a copper heat exchanger which 2 heater hoses feed hot water into, from your heater core lines. There are 2 smaller ports that feed into the exchanger, one coming in from your cold water supply and one warm, going out to the shower head. It will warm up your supply water for warm/hot showers! Also included is a pump that you set into your fresh water supply, which is powered by a by the 12v cigarette lighter plug. The last piece is the shower head with a handy suction cup mount for holding the shower head while you lather up and rinse off.

It puts out a pretty good stream of water, more than enough to rinse of the days trail dirt! The shower kit will heat your supply water by 40 degrees over it's current temperature. If the water is 50*'s and you run it thru the heat exchanger, your shower temperature will be approx. 90*'s. If you need it warmer, set your shower head into your supply water and make a 2nd pass, heating the water even further.

 

[BroncoMama]

Here's some pics and a review of the Helton On-Board Shower I got from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters.


The on-board shower consists of a copper heat exchanger which 2 heater hoses feed hot water into, from your heater core lines. There are 2 smaller ports that feed into the exchanger, one coming in from your cold water supply and one warm, going out to the shower head. It will warm up your supply water for warm/hot showers! Also included is a pump that you set into your fresh water supply, which is powered by a by the 12v cigarette lighter plug. The last piece is the shower head with a handy suction cup mount for holding the shower head while you lather up and rinse off.

It puts out a pretty good stream of water, more than enough to rinse of the days trail dirt! The shower kit will heat your supply water by 40 degrees over it's current temperature. If the water is 50*'s and you run it thru the heat exchanger, your shower temperature will be approx. 90*'s. If you need it warmer, set your shower head into your supply water and make a 2nd pass, heating the water even further.

I'm over the moon about that shower! What a grand thing! :chris:

 

[Greg]

I'm over the moon about that shower! What a grand thing! :chris:

I'm not much for being dirty or going without a shower, so this was a no brainer. Being dirty is my biggest limiting factor to long trips, so I have no excuses now!

Having hot water will also be handy, imagine cleaning up camp with nice hot water!

 

[solidfrontaxle]

Greg,

Thanks for the pics of the shower. I've been thinking about getting one and it looks pretty simple to install.
What was the plumbing process like?

 

[Greg]

Greg,

Thanks for the pics of the shower. I've been thinking about getting one and it looks pretty simple to install.
What was the plumbing process like?

Not a problem, glad to help. The shower is very straight forward to install. You cut into both heater hoses near the firewall and add a 'T' to each one. One 'T' feeds into the heat exchanger and the other 'T' feeds out of the exchanger. From there, you hook up 2 smaller hoses for your fresh water supply, one in (cold) and one out (hot). Honestly it sounds much more complicated than it really is.

The one thing I will say... don't use cheap hose clamps. My local NAPA had some Chinese clamps that would strip out before they tightened. I had a few leaks, found some USA made hose clamps at CarQuest and snagged a few of them.

 

[Skylinerider]

Is yours the "shower" one or the "hot water" one? I'm gonna get one of these soon.

 

[Bart]

Very cool Greg. You just reminded me that I have a heat exchanger for a TJ that I bought just for this purpose. If I ever settle on an excursion rig, it's going on there for sure. Nice work man.

 

[Greg]

Is yours the "shower" one or the "hot water" one? I'm gonna get one of these soon.

This one is the shower kit, not the hot water one. It's great, no complaints here. Just be aware, as Kurt has spelled it out on his site, the water will get very hot when the shower head hasn't been running and the water is sitting in the heat exchanger.

I used this for the first time on a recent Hole in the Rock trip and it was VERY nice. With one pass the water is warm enough for a shower, but that was in 40* weather, rain and a cold wind blowing. It will probably be perfect in warmer weather. If you want to heat the water up even more, you could stick the shower head into your supply tank and warm up your supply water.

Even though I only made one pass thru the heat exchanger, it felt good. After 2 days on the trail I was feeling pretty nasty. I showered wearing shorts, soaped up and rinsed off. I jumped in the tent and changed into fresh clothes... I felt so damn good to be clean out on the trail! The on-board shower is probably the best purchase I've ever made, I love it. After I showered, others in our group were asking it use it to rinse off their heads. It was a hit! I felt like a million bucks after cleaning up. If people realized how much of a difference this on-board shower made after a long, dusty day on the trail, I don't doubt that everyone would own one.

I picked up a 7 gallon water tank from Sportsmans Warehouse for my shower supply water. It's not massively huge, but will hold enough water for several quick showers. Should be plenty for a handful of days on the trail with 2 people.

Very cool Greg. You just reminded me that I have a heat exchanger for a TJ that I bought just for this purpose. If I ever settle on an excursion rig, it's going on there for sure. Nice work man.

You're 1/2 way there Bart!

 

[Skylinerider]

Kurt and I talked about these while we were in death canyon a couple weeks ago. I'm ordering one here in the next couple weeks. It should definately make those dusty days in the desert much more enjoyable.

 

[Greg]

Kurt and I talked about these while we were in death canyon a couple weeks ago. I'm ordering one here in the next couple weeks. It should definately make those dusty days in the desert much more enjoyable.

I'm sure you'll like it.

I also bought a shower/toilet tent from Sportsmans, but haven't used it yet. I didn't have it on the HITR trip and being protected from the elements while showering would have been nice. It does seem like a hassle though, so I don't know how often it will get used. Long as you're not shy about showering where your camp-mates can see and wear a bathing suit or something, it's all good. :greg:

I have changed my hose setup from what I have in the pictures. That hose for the supply water and shower head was too stiff, so I found some thinner black tube from Lowes and it has worked quite well. I'll try get some updated pics next time I use the shower.

I need to build some kind of wood grate to stand on. Last time I used the shower I stood on one of my floor mats while wearing flip-flops. It kept the mud off my feet, but I still got a bit dirty.

 

[Skylinerider]

Check out these
they are a little spendy for what they are, but you could build one for a couple bucks.

 

[Greg]

Check out these
they are a little spendy for what they are, but you could build one for a couple bucks.

I like that, something similar would be perfect. We have a nail gun, it would be easy to build something like that out of some hardwood and stain it.

 

[DAA]

I'm sold on the concept, after being one of the group on the HITR trip to avail myself of a quick hot shower on the trail. One of these is "on my list".

I may need to figure out a way to make it quickly detachable to swap it between my Dodge and my Jeep though. It would really see more use in the Dodge, but then there would be times I'd really wish I had it in the Jeept too.

- DAA

 

[Tacoma]

As a veteran of living out of a truck, and showering behind buildings, I can tell you that I was never happier than when I rigged my pressure washer to heat the supply water. I rigged a 12v pump to an actual showerhead and it was GREAT!!!
This setup is the compact version of that kind of thing and I love the idea. I may just have to add that to my FJ40's wishslist.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Check out...they are a little spendy for what they are, but you could build one for a couple bucks.

LOL, Candace and I were just about to pull the trigger on those on a recent Cabelas trip. We skipped them for the time. I've actually been using something similar, my Bushranger Sand Tracks, they are a rubber traction mat that works pretty good. I've seen others use their plastic and steel traction mats as shower platforms.

I like that, something similar would be perfect. We have a nail gun, it would be easy to build something like that out of some hardwood and stain it.

They would be pretty easy to build, I took a couple pictures of them on my phone as I was thinking the same thing

...I may need to figure out a way to make it quickly detachable to swap it between my Dodge and my Jeep though. It would really see more use in the Dodge, but then there would be times I'd really wish I had it in the Jeept too.

I've got a customer that was working on installing it with "quick disconnects" on the coolant side of the heat exchanger so he could move it from one to the other, basically consisted of a u-shaped piece of tube to bypass the heat exchanger when not installed. With the exception of bleeding the coolant system of air, it wouldn't be too impractical? I considered it for my setups but in the end I just opted to use two separate heat exchangers and then have a shared shower head/pump kit.

 

[DAA]

Greg, if I'm understanding correctly, you are using the Helton pump and shower set, just with different hose? Which would be this one:

Kurt, do you sell the 12v pump and shower set separately from the heat exchanger, by any chance?

I bought a Zodi unit last night. Price was right ($99), and being stand alone, solves my mulitple vehicle problem. I have not used it yet. But, just looking at it, I've got a hunch that I'm not going to be happy with the 6v pump and the shower head on it. Will know for sure after this weekend. But, just thinking ahead, if I am unhappy with the pump, but the propane fired heat exchanger works well enough, maybe I can simply upgrade the pump/shower set and end up with something that works well for me.

- DAA

 

[Greg]

Mine was a complete kit, everything I needed in one package. That looks like the same shower kit I got, minus the heat exchanger, some mounting parts and a coupler & mount for the hoses. With the supplied hose in the kit, I didn't have enough hose to go from the pump to the exchanger and then from the exchanger to the shower head, so I picked up similar tube at Lowes.

I figured you could get 2 heat exchangers for 2 vehicles and just take the shower kit with which ever vehicle you're taking to the outdoors. I don't know what they run individually though. I have seen the Zodi shower heater setup at Sportmans, always wondered how it would work.

 

[DAA]

I'll let you know what I think about the Zodi early next week. Doing a two nighter on The Swell this weekend and I'll use it every day just for the helluvit. Unless it really just sucks...

I found the same 12v pump/shower kit as the Helton online under at least four different brand names. Most of them are being sold in Australia and the UK only though (Primus, Aquafresh, Helton brands). Here in the US, the only brand name for it I've found is Reliance - but it's the same unit and available at all the usual suspects for such. Sold stand alone, it comes with both 12v clips (or cig adapter) and an 8 D cell battery pack.

Who knows, maybe I'll be satsified with the 6v pump and shower head included with the Zodi after all. Just have to try it and see.

Again, just looking at it, not having used it yet, I do think that the propane fired heat exchanger itself is going to be satisfactory. Just looking at the design, I can't imagine that it won't do a good job of instantly heating water. But, again, I need to just use it in the field and see how well it really works. Having used your Helton setup, I have something good to compare to at least.

- DAA

 

[gijohn40]

Hey greg... take the 7 gal tank you bought and paint it black and mount it up on the top of your vehicle... then the sun will warm it up for you and when your ready to use it its there hot and ready!

When I was in Egypt with the military we took black 5 gal water cans and just filled them up and left them out in the sun all day and when we were ready to take a shower we just hoisted them up on a rack and attached them to a shower system we built (a bag with a hose and a shower head at the end)... it worked great and the water was always hot without any help from a heat exchanger...


Now back when I was in JR high my shop teacher was a great outdoorsmen... so this subject kept him always thinking of a way to get clean in the out doors... his solution was to take a 55 gal drum and cut it lengthwise down the middle.. he would fill it up with water and then take a heater core from a truck that was spliced into the cooling system and just drop that into the tank and let the car run... it would heat the water up and he could have a nice bath instead of a shower... I think this would be more what the women would want to see happen... am I right Tara?

 

[SAMI]

his solution was to take a 55 gal drum and cut it lengthwise down the middle.. he would fill it up with water and then take a heater core from a truck that was spliced into the cooling system and just drop that into the tank and let the car run... it would heat the water up and he could have a nice bath instead of a shower... I think this would be more what the women would want to see happen... am I right Tara?

That is so redneck

FWIW ~ I have partaken of the Helton shower goodness, and it was beyond glorious. If it were a church, I would serve 2yrs full time to spread it's joyous warmth and greatness with the world.:greg: