Battery-powered showers?

[xpc]

Patsy watsy is a meanine weanie!!!!

In reference to the "Crazy Cat Lady" unlike the endearing term given to a female dog a female cat is called a "Queen" which when being mean to her subjects can then be extrapolated into the previous mentioned inferred name for a dog.

Of course I mean that in a nice way. Pat, myself, and most others tend to think things through in a more pragmatic way and reduce it down to the simplest least costly solution. For $30 I guess you can't go wrong and as a bonus it can also be used to transfer mead into another bucket.

 

[xpc]

Our Coleman Shower bag worked just fine during a plumbing crisis that left us without water for several days. During a power outage you still have water pressure and natural gas.

Most of us country folks loose water in a power outage, also most furnaces and water heaters need power for the exhaust vent fans and won't run without it (not all do).

Wrapping your water heater with an approved insulation blanket ($20) will normally keep water at 100F+ for several days if used sparingly. Remember to get water out of the tank you need pressure going into it first which will also cool it down by the cold street water going into it as you draw out of the hot.

An electric powered well system will not allow you to do this, a quick solution is to use the drain valve on the bottom of every water heater (most older ones are usually seized) open up any hot water faucet to act as a vent and using a bucket you can drain hot water out.

I don't recommend drinking it unless its an emergency and boiled or treated first but will come in handy to flush a toilet or for washing with.

A word of caution if you drain too much water from a heater it may cause the elements to burn out when re-energized, it is best to shut the breaker or power supply off until pressure resumes and the tank is full again. The same goes for gas heaters, shut the gas valve off if you need electricity to run it.

I did not mean to come across sounding crass but most people will not think or react the same way during an outage as they do when all comfy and warm, when you are consumed with trying to find ice for the freezer or heat in the winter a shower will likely never come to mind.

Unless of course you play the ditsy girl in a horror movie who has to take the obligatory shower during a thunder storm in a vacant house they stumbled upon in the woods.

 

[k0xxx]

I did not mean to come across sounding crass but most people will not think or react the same way during an outage as they do when all comfy and warm, when you are consumed with trying to find ice for the freezer or heat in the winter a shower will likely never come to mind.

We've had two major power outages in the last two year, each resulting in over a week without power, and being isolated from the "outside world". Both times involved a lot of chainsaw usage and heavy work. Having back-up power to run the well pump for a shower (and a propane water heater) was a blessing. If not for the generators, another means of showering would have been very welcome.

 

[xpc]

I was in the same infamous winter ice storm of 2009, I had a small generator for the refrigerator / freezer, it also powered my computer and coffee maker along with a few CFL lights. My wood stove heated the house which I also cooked on.

Everything was pretty much life as usual for me except for not having water, my refrigerator is too big for my usage so I always keep a few gallons of water for emergencies in it at all times.
And since power outages is a way of life out here I learned to store water in several 5 gallon buckets with a dollop of bleach in the shed.

We usually don't get cold enough for long enough for them to freeze solid but even so I just bring them in and set in the bathtub and used for toilet flushing and washing.

For the 2 weeks with no power people were in a frenzy scurrying around like unearthed naked mole rats, abandoning their homes for undignified warming shelters as if they never heard of a down blanket or sleeping bag.

That was the end of January into February, the two coldest months here in west ky with night temperatures in the 20s and daytime in the 30-40s, my unheated house has never dropped below 40F which is easily tolerable with longjohns and a few blankets.

One thousand dollars will set you up for any power outage even lasting for months. A $300 generator will only use 1 gallon of gas a day when used sparingly, mine runs for about 6 hours on that. An outdoor propane grill for $90 or unless too cold for the propane a Coleman white gas stove will always work, I think they now run good on unleaded too. A month or 2 of dry or canned food is not costly by any means and I usually have 3 months on hand and don't even hoard like you guys do.

long underwear used by deer hunters and classified as "inactive" wear will keep you more than warm enough cost as little as $20 a set. My 2 sleeping bags when nested will easily go below minus -75F. I put the down bag inside a Hollofil bag, but a few heavy comforters will do the same when in a house that is sun warmed.

I am an exclusive winter camper and would never consider trunk camping in the summer because of the winnebago clowns who hang those goofy pagoda lanterns and watch TV all night. I still have all my equipment that I used while backpacking the Porcupine escarpment on Lake Superior with nighttime wind-chills of minus 70 degrees below zero with the actual temp being -minus 25F.

I know not many are as hearty as me but in having two ex-wives I am well acclimated to the heartless cold. I just shuttered when I typed that but may have been fear as it is 80F in the house.

 

[i_am2bz]

Thank you, to those of you who were SYMPATHETIC to my question...

I did NOT want anything gravity fed (first of all) because my husband is disabled from a stroke & I am a plain-old weakling, so lifting a 30-40 lb bucket of water over my head is not the answer.

I have a private well, 3-60 gallon rain barrels, plus dozens of gallons of spring water, and, well, if I want to "waste" some of my stash taking a quick shower, so be it...! Maybe the ladies out there will understand what I mean...you can only go so many days feeling disgustingly grimy before you will do almost ANYthing to feel clean again! (I've been in days-long power outages before, & the first thing I did when the power came back on was TAKE A SHOWER.)

Neither of us is particularly handy, unfortunately, so that's why I was considering the "store-bought" battery showers. I know, batteries are expensive, but if I take them out of the pump right after use & put them right back into my flashlight...?

 

[Wifezilla]

The Coleman shower bags are only 5 gallons. Still too heavy for someone disabled, but not 30 or 40 gallons.

A solar panel from Harbor Freight might do the trick. And the submersible fountain pumps are on sale on craigslist all the time.

 

[bibliophile birds]

I did NOT want anything gravity fed (first of all) because my husband is disabled from a stroke & I am a plain-old weakling, so lifting a 30-40 lb bucket of water over my head is not the answer.

you won't find me lifting a 30 lb bucket of water over my head either! but i still use a gravity outdoor shower when the mood strikes (my farm's remote, so i can shower outdoors just cause i feel like it!). if it's actively raining, i just unhook the gutter downspout (it's filtered at the top) and let nature do it's thing. if it isn't raining, i just turn the tap for the rain barrel and still rely on gravity- the rain barrel is raised 6 ft off the ground for easy use. you can even screw a basic shower head into it!

i've never used one of the battery-powered ones, so i can't really compare. my issue would be more with how effective it was rather than the the expense/feasibility factor. if it works only moderately better than my set-up, then i'd feel like it was just one more thing to keep in working order- and god knows, i don't need anything else to screw up!

hope you find what works for you! and

 

[patandchickens]

When using a gravity-fed system, you needn't hoist the whole thing up *full*. You place the container where you want it, then fill it in as small-volume increments as you desire

So you may want to keep your options open and consider things more broadly than just pump-powered.

I think peoples' point about batteries was not that they are expensive but that they are LIMITED. And if you get a battery-powered system, and run out of functional batteries, then it is kind of useless. Whereas if you set up something that can be filled by hand or uses a solar-powered pump, then you are pretty much covered no matter WHAT, plus it may well be useable for OTHER purposes as well which is always a plus


Pat

 

[xpc]

Thank you, to those of you who were SYMPATHETIC to my question

Yeah some of the people here just like to start trouble, the same ones who wouldn't think twice about about eating all the rice in China.

I looked up battery powered showers and saw that Coleman made one as you described for $20 but can no longer find it not even on their website, others still do in the $30 range. I read some reviews and most people liked them with the only complaint being that it drained the five gallon bucket very quickly.

Rain barrel water is nice and would hope you have a pre-rinse flush diverter installed if bathing in it.

 

[i_am2bz]

Dang, I'm trying to picture a set-up whereby I could use the tub in the house...a bucket on the floor with a pump just sounded so easy...anything built over my head, strong enough to hold even 5 gallons & not come crashing down on me...hmmm.

Maybe my next rain barrell (still have a vacant downspout at the moment) can be set up higher to take advantage of the gravity...still, not pleasant-sounding if it's cold out!

I like the idea of the fountain pump...could they run on one of those small-battery generators? Well, not really generators, I forget what they're called...almost like a car battery in a fancy package. I think mine is a "Xentrex Power Pack"...they can jump-start your car & inflate your tires, that kind of thing.