Solar Water Heater Survive Lack of Circulation?

wsamon · Jun 2, 2021

Im considering making a DIY outdoor shower for post pool and beach activities. Unfortunately, hiring a plumber to route hot water there will likely be too expensive (concrete walls don't help). So I was thinking of going the route of a black garden hose or one of the really cheap and small solar pool heating enclosures to provide a little warmth.

Does anyone know if those enclosures (or the hose for that matter) will survive long stretches (several weeks) of sitting in hot Florida sun without the water circulating at all?

cowboycasey · Jun 3, 2021

Using a tank and pump you can pump water through the hose into the tank forever and have a fill port that would refill with water once used... cheap and easy

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wsamon · Jun 4, 2021

cowboycasey said:
Using a tank and pump you can pump water through the hose into the tank forever and have a fill port that would refill with water once used... cheap and easy

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I'm not sure I entirely follow?

Also, I don't want to use a pump - too much electricity usage + effort to get electric to the site for something that would be rarely used, and/or too much physical effort if it's a manual pump. My idea was effectively to have the hose on all the time and the water sitting in the black tubes being warmed by our 85-90 degree sun until someone opens the shower valve, letting it out.

cowboycasey · Jun 4, 2021

That way 150 degree water will come out for about 30 seconds then cold water after that... so first your going to burn someone then freeze them out... Probably not something you want to happen.... You can test this buy laying a 100 foot hose across the lawn, after 20 minutes it will do the same thing...

The pump I gave the link for is solar, so you can put it anywhere... It will circulate the water in the solar tubes, it may still get very hot but you can have it mix with cold water in a shower just like in your home...

wsamon · Jun 4, 2021

cowboycasey said:
That way 150 degree water will come out for about 30 seconds then cold water after that... so first your going to burn someone then freeze them out... Probably not something you want to happen.... You can test this buy laying a 100 foot hose across the lawn, after 20 minutes it will do the same thing...

The pump I gave the link for is solar, so you can put it anywhere... It will circulate the water in the solar tubes, it may still get very hot but you can have it mix with cold water in a shower just like in your home...

lol my bad. I totally skipped over the links thinking they were ads. Thank you! I will definitely look into that for making a real outdoor shower later on. Right now I'm looking to make this a quick, one-day build that comes in at around $50 total (I already have black hose and some reusable PVC pipe). The goal for this one is just a quick rinse after using the pool or coming back from the beach before going inside.

I was never planning on making that black tube the only water source. I was thinking of using a hose splitter and running a cold water line directly to the shower piping and the hot water line through the hose first, then providing a separate valve for each so they can mix a bit before coming out. The hot water still won't last very long, but I'm hoping that opening it just a bit buys enough time of luke-warm water to avoid the shocking feel for more sensitive people (like my wife). Honestly it probably won't lol, so I may just do a basic cold-water only build instead.

cowboycasey · Jun 4, 2021

I see, so basically what I was thinking without the pump and tank... got it.. It might work a little while, best way to find out is build it.. I Love DIY