The 5 gallon non pressure shower water tank has a 120 AC 625 watt heating element installed.  The heating element can be powered from shore power, "shore power" from the vehicle powered inverter or from the house battery/inverter.  Using the vehicle powered inverter requires the engine to be running.  The house battery/inverter can be used on a full sun day and still get back to 100% SOC that day.  Using the house battery/inverter uses the excess power available from the 300 watt solar panel.  Using the house 255 amp-hr battery for water heating uses about 10% of the battery capacity to heat the 5 gallons of water from 65 degrees to 95 degrees.

The heating element and thermostat are a kit sold to convert a RV propane water heaters to electric.  The one I used was a 10 gallon "Lightning Rod" kit.  Kit cost $91.62. The thermostat is held against the side of the SS tank and turns off the heating element when water reaches the set point.  A small 120 volt AC pilot light is installed.  When light goes out then water is up to temperature.

Tank is a custom 14 ga. 304SS fabricated tank.  Sized to fit at bottom of shower enclosure and has a sloped top to direct the shower water into the shower pan.  The tank is also a pedestal for the portapotti that bolts on the top of the tank which brings the portapotti up to the correct height.

 

                          

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It takes about 45 minutes to heat the water.  The water is pumped out of the tank using a Rule iL200 submersible 12 volt DC pump.  A 10' garden hose and the Milton # 209 radiator fill valve is used for the shower.  The tank is filled from a house or from the freshwater tank using the 10' garden hose and the Milton valve.  All the water in the tank is at the correct shower temperature so no hot/cold water mixing is required.  No plumbing required. No wasted water.

System works very well and is inexpensive.  Do not think it is usable system to heat very cold water up to shower temperature with the house inverter/battery.  Time and power required depends on the initial water temperature.

The above SS tank and RV conversion kit to heat shower water was replaced with a simpler less expensive portable shower water heater that uses a Sous Vide cooking water heater.  The existing SS tank is used to hold the water used for showering.  The pump in the SS tank is used to pump the water into the new portable water heater.  The Sous Vide machine has a 750 watt heating element, a circulation pump, a thermostat and a easy to program digital display.  A Igloo cooler is used for the container to hold 3 gallons of water.  3 gallons requires half as long to heat up than 6 gallons.  The assembly will heat 3 gallons of water from 61 degrees to 95 degrees in 20 minutes and uses about 15 amp-hrs of battery capacity.  Total cost of the parts is about $200.00.  A set of six drawings that provides all details required to build the system can be purchased for $30.00.  Use contact email for details. The drawings include a complete parts list and where parts were bought and full size patterns for the three parts that need to be fabricated from a Walmart plastic cutting board.

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SHOWER PAN Drawing # ODJ127-66                

                                        
If you want more PDF menu choices the drawing can be saved to your computer and them reopened with Adobe PDF Reader.  The Adobe PDF Reader is a better program to use for viewing