Choosing a Solar Shower

Solar showers are great ways to enjoy a warm shower on camping and hiking trips and save money on utility bills at home. Solar showers are especially great choices for pools, greenhouses, and other outbuildings, since they are much cheaper than installing a full plumbing system, yet allow you to wash off on the spot without tracking dirt or chlorinated water into the house.

Solar Camp Showers

The most common type of solar shower is the portable solar camp shower. These typically consist of a black vinyl bag and a hose. Simply fill the bag with water, hang it in the sun for a few hours and use it as necessary. A good quality 5 gallon solar shower hung in a sunny location can heat the water to 100 degrees F in about 3 hours. A light backpacking solar shower will hold less water, but warm it faster as a result.

Some camp showers come with privacy tents or curtains.

Outdoor solar showers are most commonly used near pools, greenhouses, and similar outbuildings, but it is possible to use one as your primary shower. A custom designed solar shower will probably be necessary if you want to be able to use it as the primary shower for a family, but fortunately solar showers are relatively easy and inexpensive to design and build.

Outdoor showers typically attach to an ordinary garden hose and store water for heating either in the base (for smaller poolside showers) or some kind of barrel or water drum (for use as a primary shower.)