Date:         Mon, 11 Oct 1999 01:29:05 EDT
Reply-To:     Vanadiesel@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Avrea <Vanadiesel@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Shower for vanagon westfalia ???
Comments: To: sylvain1960@hotmail.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

No No No,
    He wants a real shower, not a trickle of luke warm weather permitting. I
like to go surfing in the winter and live in central California where the
water gets quite cold. No solar type device will deliver the pressure or
warmth needed to get the blood flowing again after a winter surf session.
Several years ago I found a small company that makes the perfect device to
work with the existing Westy water system. It uses a heat exchanger and its
own pump to tap into the coolant line to heat the water for a nice warm
shower. It delivers consistence hot water all the way thru the entire tankful
of water if you like. I am always the envy of the other surfers when they see
me showering outside of my van with the steam coming up on a crisp winter
morning.
    Don't have time to explain the whole system right now but basically I
tapped into the water tank to a switch controlled pump. Then under the van to
the exchanger which taps into the coolant line that is on its way to the
radiator. Then out of the exchanger to a fitting just under the sliding door
where I attach a hose, when I'm ready for a hot shower, with a low flow
shower head and that's about it. I did it pretty much with the hardware
that's included in the kit. You could get fancier if you want. At the time
the kit was about $200 dollars I believe.
    I think I've had it 3 or 4 years and it works as good as the day I got
it. The only drawback would be that if you turn it off and on you need to be
careful not to scald yourself as if you let water sit in the exchanger it can
get quite hot and you'll need to let it run for a moment (5 or 10 seconds)
when you turn it back on to let the hot spot pass.
    The name of the company is R & M Specialty Products. I don't know if
their still in business. Their phone number is 707 838 3869 and address is PO
Box 1683 Windsor, Calif. 95492.
    If anyone needs anymore info drop me a line.
Michael
82 Diesel Westy