How to build a functional hot shower with no money and just the stuff lying around?
This question burned within me for months. After a great deal of thinking and learning and preparing, I designed this shower system and built it in the space of a few hours, using only recycled components.
Please be very careful if you are intending to replicate any of this work yourself. While an experienced DIY person may be able to do everything i discuss here pretty easily and safely, it's possible to get electrocuted or burned if things go wrong. Stay Safe!
The most import requirement of the design is for the system to be as effortless as possible to use.
A good shower system has to be pretty easy for the user. In western countries most people are accustomed to being able to just walk into their bathroom and open a tap and bathe. For most of history, a real hot shower would be considered a rare luxury. Even though it is very rudimentary, my design fulfills the basic requirements for it to be considered a success.
For example: It must have water falling from overhead.
I am no stranger to bathing myself with a bucket of hot water. It does the job. However, for a true shower experience falling water is a must.
As you see in the first photo in the article, I had to enlist the help of a few friends to help me raise the washing machine up to a platform on the roof of this small shed.
By positioning the machine on the roof, the water can flow out of the machine into a second tub, which is still high enough that it's possible to stand underneath.
This leads me to the next requirement for my design:
It must have truly hot water.
Because no one likes it when the water isn't hot enough. These are my instructions for anyone that is looking for a way to have heat water using recycled components:
Find a used washing machine. I found one that had been discarded because of a broken motor. I disconnected the electrical power cable from the head of the machine and reconnected it directly to the hot water heater, the wiring for which is located on the side of the tub near the bottom. I have this operation now with both a front loading washing machine and a top loading washing machine and it was a reasonably simple and intuitive process.
Once the wiring has been switched over, the washing machine performs one basic function: to heat water in the tub. The heater turns on when you plug it in.
In this photo I am inserting a hose into the soap loading tray of the washing machine. The hose is delivering water pumped from a well. There is no access to town supplied water here. Water pumped from the well is used for the toilet, for cleaning, and also for bathing. The water from the well is unsuitable for drinking. For drinking water, people fill up bottles at a fountain in a park nearby.
I fill up the tub of the washing machine to about the half way mark. As long as the little hose that water drains out of is raised higher than the level of the water in the tub, the water heater will be able to function and all of the water that you put into the tub through the soap tray will get hot.
Obviously, for people who are used to modern bathrooms, this is already some effort - I haven't figured out yet how to have instant hot water coming at any time from a tap. However, with a little planning, it's quite easy to fit this system into a daily routine. With the hose, filling up the tub doesn't require any strenuous effort. i don't have to carry or lift heavy buckets of water. It takes a couple of minutes to prepare the machine and then i can go and do something else while i wait.
I leave the washing machine to heat for 45 minutes or so. After that time, the water inside is scalding. Make sure to unplug the washing machine before you do anything else - electricity is awesomely powerful but you can get wickedly hurt if you aren't careful. Plus, be careful with the hot water!
It must be possible to regulate the temperature of the water.
I fulfilled this requirement by installing a second plastic tub at a lower level than the washing machine itself. In the photo above it's possible to see the pulley system i crafted from a couple of ropes and a big band of rubber. With the ropes i am able to pull the hose which expels water from the washing machine down to the secondary plastic tub, into which the water is able to flow. by pulling the other rope, i can raise the hose again so that the water stops flowing out of the machine.
Again i am able to manually add cold water into the secondary tub with the hose. By adding just the right amount of water, i can get a good hot temperature that doesn't burn.
The secondary plastic tub has a tap function on the side. by opening it, the water comes out and i can bathe underneath. The pressure isn't high (it's pretty low) but with 20L or so i can shower for a good long time. Two people could easily bathe properly with this quantity.
In the last photo you can see the enclosure that we put together using some pallets and water jugs and rope and other stuff we had laying around. Some of the artists who are staying at the moment have expressed interest in painting a mural on the wall. I'm hoping it happens!
In the days since i finished installing the shower, several people have used it with a lot of joy and enthusiasm.