Solar camp hot water ideas.

Submitted: Thursday, Jun 15, 2017 at 16:19
ThreadID: 135087 Views:4090 Replies:7 FollowUps:2
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Has anyone built one of these?
I plan to build one in the next month however would like to hear others opinions.

Solar Camp Hot Water Tank (16 litres)
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Reply By: Member - shane r1 - Thursday, Jun 15, 2017 at 19:37

Thursday, Jun 15, 2017 at 19:37
Ok idea , but you definitely need to use a the water early, before it cools down. Which it will soon as it hasn't got got sun on it!
AnswerID: 611925

Reply By: garrycol - Thursday, Jun 15, 2017 at 20:45

Thursday, Jun 15, 2017 at 20:45
A large Hills pressurised garden sprayer painted black works fine - it is pressurised and has a tap and spray nozzle inbuilt all for $20 to $50 depending on size..
AnswerID: 611929

Reply By: just - Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 10:31

Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 10:31
Yep... Mounted on my roof rack but never got warm! Use it for drinking water storage. I now use a 10l stainless steel pump up shower that I warm next to the camp fire. Looks like a silver fire extinguisher and works great.
AnswerID: 611943

Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 11:02

Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 11:02
Yep, best you could hope for was turning very cold water to tepid . . .

I too have one of the fire extinguisher type showers, work great, most people can shower easily on a half fill, so 2 people can usually get clean with a quick wet, soap, rinse, EXCEPT for wives and daughters with long hair, and the need to wash thoroughly daily . . . these family members need approx 2 goes to complete a wash :/ :D

I bought one from Anaconda, but they seem not to have them any longer . . . SNOWYS have them < Link

I use a gas bottle and simple burner ring to heat, but you can sit them on coals.
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FollowupID: 881982

Reply By: duck - Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 13:08

Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 13:08
A true solar hot water
I guy I travelled with, made one that worked really well but was a bit of mucking about, but not hard, he had a black PVC tarp that was about 2 x1mtr in area, he sewed elastic eyes to it & then fed clear 6mm? plastic tubing thru the eyes up & down about 25mm apart & connected it to a wiper washer motor & timer & to a 20ltr insulated container by the end of the day the water was hot, it worked well I don't know how much power it used but was never a problem, I think the motor went on every 15mins for about 30 seconds. At the end of he day the container was just hoisted up & drained down thru a shower rose, often you would have to wait for it to cool down before showering
AnswerID: 611945

Reply By: Don H7 - Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 13:19

Friday, Jun 16, 2017 at 13:19
Excellent feed back, folks. I think I might go for the pressurised one from Snowy's. I can use heat beads as fuel.
AnswerID: 611946

Reply By: Ron N - Saturday, Jun 17, 2017 at 23:03

Saturday, Jun 17, 2017 at 23:03
Can't go past a Glind for mine. You've always got a hot engine, why not utilise that engine heat?
Admittedly, the solar versions are cheaper, but I was happy to fork out the extra for the Glind.

The problem with simple solar setups is that when you really want hot water - on cold days - they are struggling. To get the maximum benefit from a solar setup, they need an arrangement that concentrates the sun's rays.
Maybe a silver-coated reflector surrounding the PVC, at a small distance from it, would help?

I can remember the brother and SIL leaving a stainless steel bowl on the back seat of the Holden during Summer sometime in the early 70's - with some paperwork placed inside the bowl.

When they came back to the parked car after 45 mins, the paperwork was smouldering!
It didn't take long to figure out that the rounded bowl had concentrated the suns rays on the paper, like a magnifying glass.

The locked car helped too, closing up something prevents the heat getting away.

The latest solar HWS's for houses use evacuated (vacuum) tubes that essentially long thermos flasks.
These are very effective at collecting heat from the sun, and a couple of these would probably work better than the black-painted PVC.

I see where sellers on eBay are now selling solar stoves based on the same principle.
Not sure how effective they would be at getting you a cooked meal on a cold, cloudy, sunless day - but on an average sunny day, I'd expect they'd be quite effective.

Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID: 611968

Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Sunday, Jun 18, 2017 at 09:03

Sunday, Jun 18, 2017 at 09:03
Parabolic shape concentrating the energy Ron.
We make curved glass, convex glass in kilns for various industries.
Over the years I have made many a bend or convex glass for things like bush stills, cookers etc.

I have made numerous concave mirrors for people, take them in the sun they can damage eyes if there is a bad flash, so great care is needed . . . can start wood smoldering in seconds, and not much effort to get a fire going.

The bent glass really works great with concentrating heat on pyro tubing carrying water, heats to steam very fast, they use this sort of thing commercially for electricity generation in some solar plants.
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FollowupID: 882013

Reply By: Batt's - Tuesday, Jun 20, 2017 at 09:55

Tuesday, Jun 20, 2017 at 09:55
It should work well and absorb the heat. I put some 150mm pvc pipe on the draw bar of my last van held just over 30lts painted it matt black and it warmed up while traveling around. I also cut out a piece of thin metal and bolted it inside with stainless screws to act as a baffle to reduce the sloshing sideways effect as I didn't know if it would be a problem or not when travelling.

I didn't leave it sealed so the pressure built up I fitted a diff breather so it gradually released 1 - 2 litres of water while heating up during the day. I didn't want it pressured because my daughter was 3yrs old and didn't want her or any other kid getting sprayed with potentially hot water if they started playing with the tap. I used a cheapo 12v shower which I put a stainless screw in the van so I could use it while hanging up or just hold it by hand. I made an anderson plug to 12v lighter socket adaptor and plugged it into the anderson plug on front of the van to use power from the van dual batteries.

All up it was a cheap an effective way of having a shower plus it was an extra supply of drinking when the main tank ran empty on a trip from Perth to Broome we found it developed a hole but it was nearly 20yrs old.
AnswerID: 612002

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