Date:         Mon, 11 Oct 1999 07:38:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bulley <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Subject:      LONG, Hot shower (in a vanagon) was: Hygene alternative,
              was: Showers Redux

Since the shower thread comes up every year or so, here is a replay of a
post Blue Eye made last November that seemed to be the best idea yet...

G. Matthew Bulley
Director
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree


-----Original Message-----
From:   Blue Eyes [SMTP:lvlearn@MCI2000.com]
Sent:   Thursday, November 12, 1998 4:00 PM
To:     Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
Subject:        Re: Hygene alternative, was: Showers Redux

It's been a couple years since I posted about my LHS (Long Hot Shower)
design.  Only one exists, and that's my working prototype.  I used a lot of
off-the-shelf parts in creating it, and modified them.  The base is the
bottom 4 inches of a square cast plastic laundry tub which I recall to be
32 inches square.  It tapers out slightly as it goes up, so the cut base
fits inside the top which allowed me to epoxy join them perfectly to raise
the base for plumbing and pump installation.  The four corner verticals are
aluminum tubes that allow one end to slide into the next, so they store in
the Westy closet nicely.  At the top, 4 3-way tees join the verticals with
4 horizontal top tubes, which creates the shower curtain support.  Opaque
shower curtains are preferred.  All the 2-piece verticals are secured by
holes cut into the base.  Inside the base is velcro which secures to velcro
on the outside of the shower curtain, so there is no leaking nor chance for
blowing.  Water from the bottom center drain is captured into my plumbing
night mare sump, which got to be a messy design.  At the rear is a 12 volt,
high volume, vertical shaft, bottom scavenging water pump (fishing supplies
department) which drives the captured water through tubing to a "cold
plate" heat exchanger which is secured above one of the 5,200 btu Westy
stove burners.  From there, the water flows to the shower head.
You can shower with one gallon of recirculating hot water for half an hour
if you like!  It was necessary to find a low sudsing cleanser, which one of
the other List subscribers suggested.  It occurs to me that you may not
recognize the "cold plate" term.  They are ordinarily covered with ice to
cool pop in point of sale operations.  Most bars with ice bins have them,
and they are very efficient heat exchangers.  I paralled several "circuits"
in one cold plate to reduce flow restriction and it works fine.
I'm in Iowa right now, and it's at my place in Florida, so I'm just going
by memory, but with the normal ego of a creator, I believe my design is
leagues better than any other I've heard described.  The reason for the
bottom being a plumbing nightmare is that it preheats about a quart of
uncirculated water for use as the final clear rinse.  That final
innovation, with valving requirements was the most difficult design
objective.
I've thought of trying to get this base design duplicated by an injection
molding producer and sell them through Camping World or vendors like that.
 To me, any RV shower for light vehicles which fails to recirculate and
heat the water is a bad joke.  To the best of my knowledge, mine is the
only design that does it, and it does it well.  To control water temp, just
reach out and adjust the burner control.
Do you think there's a market for this kind of shower?  When not in use,
the base can stand on edge behind the Westy rear seat.  Everything else
stores in the Westy closet.  I'd say assembly for family use takes about 5
minutes, and you feel wonderful when you're done.  Just like at a motel.
 No more sponge baths for me.  I generally take at least 20 minute long
showers because I was given incredibly oily skin which responds best to,  ,
 ,  ,  you guessed it, Long Hot Showers.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
John