Showering in the caravan
Our new (to us) caravan has a spacious end washroom and we are thinking about using the shower, the van is fitted with the alde water heater, any tips regarding the length of time before the hot water runs out Etc.
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I like my shower fairly warm. If you boost the water temperature before using, I find you get approximately 4 minutes in winter and up to 6 minutes in summer, due to the variation in temperature of the cold mixing water.
Only have a nice long shower on a service pitch though. Otherwise there is too much humping of water / waste.☹️
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Don't know how long it will last time or hot water wise, but most of us shower the navy way. Wet, turn off, soap up, rinse. It's amazing how little water it uses. Our tank holds 10 litres and that's not enough to have a 'normal' continual water running shower. A warm bathroom makes up for on and off water 😉
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Just got back from being away off grid (gas / 12v) Alde heater, for 3 nights and after a long bike ride both days showering was no problem. as above wet, soap then rinse, wife had a shower first then give the water 20mins to heat up, then had my shower; no problems.
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We have used shower in our van almost daily when away for at least twenty years, you soon get used to soaping up, rinsing off, using less water than at home. I have long hair, so this is a trial need more water to wash rinse condition rinse, but I can do it in van at a push. With a modern spacious bathroom and heater system it ought to be a doddle.
Just think of the fetching of water as part of a daily bit of exercise, unless you are physically unable or just cannot be bothered, then it isn't really an onerous task. At least not for the first 20 years, anyway! Using your van shower could save you lots of money on site fees, as you won't be so tied to those with more facilities that usually cost more.
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agreed, the water fetching and carrying would make it more hard work in a caravan unless on a serviced pitch.
we carry siffiecient water for around five days 'off grid' and would use our shower (for example) when using a THS (temp holiday site) with no facilities.
with regard to the actual showering process, our Truma boiler carries 10 ltr of hot water, and mixed with around 4 of cold, will give 14 ltr of hot showering water, more than enough for two quickish showers.
IIRC, the Alde boiler contans 8 ltr of hot water, which needs (say) 3 ltr of cold to get the right temp....this gives 11 ltrs for showering so around 3/4 of the capacity, so far more marginal than the Truma.
obviously, it can still be done, as posters have managed it, but requires discipline.....or both together
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We, like Another David, are also away 120 nights in the caravan, but within the UK. We mainly use CC sites and AS sites. Probably 4 times a year we are on non facility sites for 5 night stays. We happily use caravan facilities and with two of us and a 40 litre Aquaroll no problem. Two showers we could do using 20 litres but probably use about 25+ litres
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I am currently in France and have been trying to do it their way - use the onsite showers - and I am really not enjoying it much. I have nearly always used my caravan shower but this time I decided not to bother with the real chore of filling the aquaroll. They have automatic taps here and it takes 3 presses to fill a 3lt container so the aquaroll is quite a job to fill. Today I dropped some rubbish on the way to the shower and didn't notice how much earth I had picked up on my shoes the mat made little difference so clearing up after the shower was lengthy.(for anyone who might be tempted to leave it not a good idea on a site that has about three of us in residence! The showers are also on auto taps which I don't care for. There is no grey water point here either so any waste goes in the hedge! I may well give in and use my own shower again soon!
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I'm only three score years and grew up in the country and whilst I can't really remember it we didn't have piped water or main drainage - and that was to a cesspool, until I was 5 years old. But I can clearly remember the outside Elsan toilet. I can clearly remember our bathroom being built with an outside toilet and shed underneath. The garden being dug up for the drains. We were always economical with water as the cesspool had to be emptied and it was costly! Dad planted a willow closeby, it was clay lined I believe, to take up the fluid - it flourished 😉. I was nearer 20 possibly more before the village went onto mains drainage. So whilst I haven't carried water I have always been very conscious of its value. The house well was very close to the backdoor and we continued to use it for garden watering as it was collected rainfall. There was a pump in the kitchen apparently. My mum who is 86 clearly remembers her and her sister walking to the village pump to get water everyday, my grandfather made them a yoke to aid carrying it. That village was much later than our village getting 'the mains'. Dad's childhood home, like mine, had its own well and pump. All the houses had a 'bundy hole'.
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We use our shower most of the time. With the Alde on boost, and if you let it have gas as well as electricity, by the time the first person is finished and dried off, it will only be about 10 minutes before the water is hot enough again.
I always go first as I use less water, then when OH showers she can use the hot till it runs out, should she wish.
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We lived in rural Herefordshire and had mains water piped in 1959 and electricity in 1963.
PS we lived on a hill and our pump was at the bottom of the hill, every drop carried by us boys, summer/winter, sunshine/rain. We had a Rayburn with a side tank, you soon learn to economise.
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The wife and I can shower one after the other before the hot water runs out. We have the Alde system running on gas (as if we are using our own facilities we won't be on a site with ehu) and the boost set to on. I make sure the van is well ventilated and wipe down the shower after use.
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I had a friend in Yorkshire in the mid 90s with earth closet and no running water! In fact no electricity or phone either. He had a wonderful veg garden well fertilized!! He didn't allow me to visit until May because it was so bleak! Lovely place tucked away it sold within 3 days of going to market now fully modernized I am sure but hopefully still using the spring water.
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i changed our shower head for an Ecocamel one, this seems to still give a pretty powerful spray, yet is still frugal (to a degree) with the water.
yes, when on a site with good facs (and its not cold getting to it) we might take much longer showers 'in the block' but on aires, THS sites etc, or if its too darn chilly to go outside, we'll be happy in the van.
the other thing of course is that, in the van, i can fall straight out of bed and into the shower without the involvement of any clothes.....so, after the shower, i put on what i will be wearing that day.
if going to the block, ill have to dress (in shorts, todays clothes or a onsie, god forbid) then undress at the block, shower, then get dressed again.....if in shorts or onesie (i dont have one but others seem to have an array of special outfits for the trek.....) its back on with the shorts, back to the van and change again into 'todays clothes'...definitely more of a hassle.....certainly in the UK where its more likely i wont be wearing shorts.
over there.....not too bad as i can pop to the shower in shorts and they will also be the order of the day....
so, away from water supplies, there are other factors which influence where we shower.....location, time of year, weather etc....
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We always stay on Club Sites, never used our shower it is used for hanging clothes. Why use your own for 4-6 mins when you can shower in the on site facilities and have a lot longer shower and they are bigger than the shower in the caravan. Always use site facilities.
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I don't think, in fact I am certain I've never used the caravan shower. Whatever the weather I go down in a tee shirt and shorts to the shower block. We use the van's shower cubical as storage. Each to their own
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none - for us anyway, it's the stuff we have with us anyway. It's just stored in a different and more accessible place.
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