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My Van Needs a Recirculating Shower

shower

Ry, my 2022 Thor Rize campervan, (now for sale) came with an enclosed wet bath. That was one of its biggest selling points, a place where I could stand and take a hot shower after a long day of snowboarding or before going out to be in and amongst family, friends, and the public. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.

You know when showering in a campervan without hookups you are going to be making some sacrifices.

Ry has an 18-gallon fresh water tank and a 20-gallon grey water tank. In addition, the hot water tank is only 2.6 gallons. A typical showerhead sprays water at the rate of about 1 gallon per minute.

If you want water for drinking and cooking and want to go several days without dumping the grey water and filling the fresh water, you can’t take showers the same way you probably do in a stationary home.

Navy showers are simple.

  1. Turn on the water.
  2. Get wet.
  3. Turn off the water.
  4. Lather up.
  5. Turn on the water.
  6. Rinse off.
  7. Turn off the water.
  8. Do not repeat.

It’s effective. It uses very little water. But it takes away a luxury that most of us are used to and deeply miss. You can’t linger. You can’t take your time and enjoy the warm water flowing over you.

Recirculating shower

Long lingering showers are simply not possible in a campervan unless you have hookups or you recycle the water.

It turns out that recycling the water in your shower is viable. Several DIYers have built working recirculating showers. One couple tested their water after reusing the same 2 gallons for a week and it came back safe.

Multiple retailers in the US are working on recirculating systems for campervans.

A recirculating shower adds quite a bit of complexity. The filters need to be cleaned every week or so. And petroleum-based soaps and shampoos must be avoided. But this seems well worth it to be able to take hour long showers in your van.

This is one of the reasons I am selling my campervan. It doesn’t meet all of my needs. For example, my van needs to be maintainable.