Community Forums

Cubey · 10-04-2012, 11:40 PM

In the next month or two I will be full timing in my Class B van and I am thinking about issues related to being self contained.. such as water usage.

My van currently has a 6 gallon hot water heater and will have a holding tank of about 15-25 gallons depending on what the RV shop can get that will fit in the space under the van where the original tank was located.

I ran across this expensive ($75) little sucker that uses a mere 0.55gpm. You can even order it to the pressure you intend to use it with which is awesome. They'll custom make it to work best suited to the pressure you tell them.

Bricor B100 Ultra Max 2" Shower Head

I am sure considering buying one of those later on. After all, 0.55gpm is pretty awesome considering most low flow shower heads are about 1.5gpm. When you have 6 gallons of hot water available (and I like hot showers!), every drop counts. A 0.55gpm shower head will provide almost 3 times long of showering time vs a 1.5gpm shower head.

I just wonder if I can adapt it to my van's shower. I'm good with plumbing so I'm sure I could make it work somehow though. Perhaps have a splittter with valves so i choose between the hand wand shower head or the 0.55gpm shower head.

Mr_D · 10-04-2012, 11:58 PM

I bought "Oxygenics Body Spa RV Showerheads" for both the MH and home. Wife was surprised at how strong it was in the house. Don't even have to turn the pressure up all the way.

Cubey · 10-05-2012, 12:07 AM

It doesn't seem to specify it's max flow rate, however. Not sure I like how it pushes out the water in almost a garden hose fashion.

davidahn · 10-08-2014, 11:07 AM

Cubey,

Did you ever buy this shower head? I'm looking at probably the same shower head but there's no model number, just "UltraMax" and also their flow rate lists 0.625 gpm rather than 0.55 gpm: UltraMax - Lowest Flow Shower Head - Bricor

I'm probably going to get this head, as my 19' Airstream has a 21 gallon gray tank and it fills up by 20-25% every shower, even with our current shower head being "low flow" (stock AS, probably 2.5 gpm) and taking navy showers (shower head off during soaping).

David

davidahn · 10-08-2014, 11:09 AM

I'm also going to get Bricor's low flow aerators (0.325 gpm) because doing the dishes for a meal took our gray tank up to 44% the first night!

NeilV · 10-08-2014, 10:08 PM

I have the Oxygenics and can go 3 to 4 days on a 60 gallon grey tank with 3 women in the coach (wife and 2 grown daughters) showering daily along with dish washing etc.

A 6 gallon gas water heater should have plenty of recovery to not run out. That is what I had in my last coach and even with 4 consecutive showers we did not run out of hot water. I think they would have emptied the fresh water tank before that happened.

JFXG · 10-08-2014, 11:52 PM

Just my opinion, but I think you'll save more water with shower discipline than you will with a $75 shower head. At .6 gpm what you're getting from that head is little more than a hard mist. You'll spend a lot more time rinsing with that head than you would with an Oxygenics.

With a small water heater the key is recovery time. According to Neilv 6 gal is adequate for 4 with shower discipline, should be more than adequate for 1.

Mr_D · 10-09-2014, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFXG

Just my opinion, but I think you'll save more water with shower discipline than you will with a $75 shower head. At .6 gpm what you're getting from that head is little more than a hard mist. You'll spend a lot more time rinsing with that head than you would with an Oxygenics.

With a small water heater the key is recovery time. According to Neilv 6 gal is adequate for 4 with shower discipline, should be more than adequate for 1.

Actually the Oxygenics has a good shower and even rinses the DW's hair out better than the high flow ones we used to have in the stick house.

hardy1000 · 10-09-2014, 05:10 AM

We have been using the Oxygenics shower head for 6 years and we are very happy with it.

wa8yxm · 10-09-2014, 05:32 AM

I have used an Oxygenics in a federal (Forest service) park, it was... Different.. Not sure if I liked it better than a traditional but.

Just checked a spec sheet for it. Not all that water saving.. Kind of amazed at that. To get to a half gallon per min you wold need like 3 PSI, at 40 PSI you are sucking over a gallon a mintue.

mgscott4 · 10-09-2014, 10:01 AM

I think at only .55gpm you would have to run around just to get wet. 1.5gpm is standard low flow. If you want truly low flow, then use the cut off switch and take "Navy" showers. Use what you need to wash and rinse, but it is off in between.

To further save water and reduce my grey tank usage, I have kept a big Tupperware bowl to catch the cold water until the shower water turns hot. Then use it for dish rinsing later.

davidahn · 10-09-2014, 11:01 PM

Thanks to all who suggested self discipline and navy showers, but we already DO take navy showers. Even at home. I just don't think any of you have a 21 gallon gray tank like we do. So... we may just have to scale back our dreams of boondocking and just stay at RV parks.

davidahn · 10-10-2014, 02:51 AM

Just so you can see my problem: 2.5 GPM x 2 minutes = 5 gallons = 24% of my 21 gallon tank. I'm not sure how to shower in any less time than that.

David

JFXG · 10-10-2014, 10:43 AM

I find that the gray tank is the most common limiting factor. If the gray tank capacity is your primary concern, rather than total water usage, take outdoor showers.