Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 10:38:02 -0800
Reply-To: bpchristensen1@HOME.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Brent Christensen <bpchristensen1@HOME.COM>
Subject: Re: Hot shower on a Westy Syncro
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Mike:
Funny - I was just thinking about this kind of a set-up the other day as I
was dreaming of the summer trips to (hopefully) come this year. Sounds like
a really neat solution. (I currently use the biggest "solar shower" I could
lay my hands on, and just drive around with it sitting in the luggage bin)
One idea for the external water source - mount a buoy or other little foam
float to the hose so that you can toss it into a creek or pond and it will
draw water from the top rather than from the bottom. (old backpacking
trick)
Just thought I'd throw that in.
Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Conlon <zippledippledoo@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2000 9:15 PM
Subject: Hot shower on a Westy Syncro
> Background: Prior to my wife and I spending the
> summer of 1999 traveling around Alaska in our 1986
> Westy Syncro ("Fritz"), I decided I was going to fit a
> shower to Fritz one way or another. After becoming
> bleary eyed on the computer searching for suitable
> units, I finally decided on "The Original Glind Aussie
> Car & Boat Shower", which is sold only in Australia
> (to the best of my knowledge). You can check it out
> at www.glind.com.au
>
> Cost? The unit sells for $420AUS today (1$US =
> 1.58$AUS as of 1-28-00) and the Economy Air shipping
> from Australia cost me $61AUS for the 5.9 kg package.
> I spent another 50 to 80 bucks or so on various
> fittings, a stiff garden hose, and some wire.
>
> How well does it work? I am very happy with the
> performance of the shower and through careful water
> conservation efforts (save water, shower with a
> friend!) my wife and I could squeeze about 4 or 5
> separate shower sessions out of the stock Westy water
> tank before needing a refill, although I have
> configured the shower to also be able to use an
> external water source, such as a lake or a river.
>
> How does it work? A heat exchanger is installed in
> the coolant line that runs from the engine compartment
> to the heater in the front of the van. An electric
> pump is used to force the water from the Westy's water
> tank (or a stream outside the van, more on this later)
> through the heat exchanger and out a shower wand
> (head), which is installed temporarily on the outside
> of the van between the sliding door and the passenger
> door. The engine must be warm to get hot water and
> the heater lever must be on enough to allow water to
> be circulating through the heater. In most cases I
> had the heater on the "high" setting to have the
> shower comfortably warm. By adjusting the heater
> lever setting you adust the temperature of the water
> coming out of the shower wand.
>
> What comes with the unit? You get a self priming
> Flojet water pump (made in USA), a switch, hoses,
> shower wand, shower wand mount, a cute bumper sticker
> that says "this vehicle is equipped with a GLIND HOT
> SHOWER", a water filter, various electrical connectors
> (and a relay I believe), fittings, adequate
> instructions, and most importantly, an Australian made
> water-to-water heat exchanger. That last item is
> really what got me to buy this system, because I
> couldn't easily make one up on my own.
>
> How did I install it? Heat exchanger: The
> cylindrically shaped heat exchanger is mounted on a
> flat aluminum plate that I made, which is then mounted
> with pop rivets to the right side of the right hand
> beam that protects the Syncro driveshaft. It is about
> in the middle of the vehicle. It is up out of harms
> way, but I do plan to ultimately add a bit more
> coverage to the bottom of that beam so that it covers
> the unit completely. I tie wrapped the hose that goes
> to the shower wand (oh yes, I had to buy a hose
> extension for this at a local hardware store) to the
> undercarriage and stored it in a small compartment I
> made with thin aluminum sheet and some pop rivets.
> Right under the van and beside the forward part of the
> closed sliding door are two frame members about 12
> inches apart, which I enclosed on the bottom with that
> piece of aluminum sheet. I tuck the hose in there and
> then secure it with some duct tape; not the most
> elegant solution, but a most expedient one! Alaska
> was beckoning! Water pump: The floor to the forward
> storage bin located under the stored rear table has a
> false bottom. If you look in there you see there is a
> "dead space" area that contains some electrical stuff
> and not much more. The rear "wall" is easily removed,
> which I did. I mounted the pump there, along with all
> the required fittings (from a local hardware store)
> and a brass two way valve. I used "U" shaped clamps
> to install it all. For the Westy water tank I removed
> the large fill cap and drilled a hole in it. I placed
> a bulkhead fitting in the hole and then made a "dip
> tube" by glueing a common plastic PVC water pipe (cut
> to length) to a pipe/slip tube fitting I mounted to
> the the inside of the water tank bulkhead fitting.
> Common hose goes from there to one of the inlet ports
> of the two way valve. I drilled a hole through the
> floor of the van in this area and put a hose through
> the hole, with the other end going to the other inlet
> of the two way valve. On the end of this hose is a QD,
> which allows me to quickly connect up my garden
> hose/filter/QD arrangement when needed. The outlet
> end of the two way vale goes to the water pump, which
> in turn goes to the heat exchanger (another hole in
> the van!). Power comes from my Optima 750U second
> battery. I spent a lot of time prior to mounting it
> in this fashion and I'm very pleased with the results
> as you don't see anything during use of the van and
> there is no loss of interior room.
>
> How exactly is it used? The van is warmed up (best
> done by driving it) with the heater lever in the full
> hot position. The two position valve, mounted under
> the false bottom in the storage compartment nearest
> the stove under the stored rear table, is positioned
> to either "inside" (on board tank) or "outside"
> (external water source such as a river). If I'm at a
> river or lake (rare), I uncoil the hose/QD/filter
> arrangment and hook up the QD to the van on the
> underside, (just forward of the rear tire), and then I
> drop the other end of the hose into the water source
> such that the end doesn't get plugged up with silt.
> If I am using the on board tank I need do nothing more
> than put the lever in the "inside" position. Next I
> uncoil the hose/shower wand from under the van and
> attach it to the mount on the side of the van. The
> van is sitting there, peacefully idling. We get a
> small pot, soap, fresh clothes and so on and step
> outside the van, flipping the switch mounted by the
> door to "on" before we leave and close the sliding
> door behind us. We strip down and hold the pot under
> the mounted shower head, and position the small
> shut-off valve on the wand to the "on" position, while
> holding the pot so as to catch the water. For the
> first second the water is cold, as the water between
> the heat exchanger and the shower wand is expelled.
> Then the water gets really hot, hot enough to burn you
> as the stagnet water sitting all this time in the heat
> exchanger is expelled. Then the water reaches an
> equilibrium state and we put down the pot and shower
> up. For most efficient water usage we repeat this
> performance in two stages, the soap stage and the
> rinse stage. Water in the pot, being a mixture of hot
> and cold, is good for washing hair, rinsing feet, or
> what-have-you. At this point you shut off the valve
> on the shower wand, shut off the van and flick off the
> pump switch. I then coil up the hose and store it
> under the van and put the two position valve back to
> the "outside" position so that the on board water tank
> can't leak out the closed valve on the shower wand (it
> is lower than the tank, so that could happen).
>
> Safety notes? The water that comes out right after
> the initial shot of cold water is hot enough to burn
> you, so you really must excersize caution. It is gone
> in a second or so, but during that time you really
> don't want it on you! I also worried a bit about the
> possibility of contaminating the on board water supply
> with the residual water left in the line between the
> "outside/inside" selector valve and the shower wand.
> I even considered putting in a check valve so that
> wouldn't be possible, but I finally discarded that
> idea when I couldn't find a suitably sized valve, plus
> I realized I could simply flush the line out with a
> bit of on board water afterwards. In any event, this
> was never a problem for us health-wise. I never like
> the idea that others have used where they put a coil
> in the Westy water tank that contains hot engine
> coolant. If this was to ever leak, well, coolant is a
> poison and I never wanted to take that risk.
>
> Further thoughts? As yet I haven't built a simple and
> quickly removable shower curtin on the side of the van
> to add privacy and to trap a bit more heat in cold
> conditions. So many projects, so little time...
>
> Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to give all the
> information I could in one shot. If any further
> details are needed, let me know.
>
> Mike Conlon
> 1986 Syncro Westy "Fritz"
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