Planning to make outdoor shower with 55 gallon barrel

Brettmm92, no, I'll continue to chlorinate it, since it is drinking water. It's interesting, as I applied the coating quite heavily and in multiple coats, how little light it actually blocks. I stuck a camera into the tank to inspect my paint job from the inside, and it's quite bright in there.

GordonThree, that sounds like a nice setup. Would you ever consider just filling the now black tank with water with no chlorine, or is that just asking for trouble? And about the thermosiphoning, do you mean you actually pump the water enough of a trash barrel that way to spray it on cars?

DrewE, facinating. And I might want to expand it in the future but for right now I'm just wanting to make a black water barrel with a decent connection to a shower head. But the point of the decent connection is so I can expand it to be cabable of "thermosiphoning"

Mobeewan, nice username! And you got a point about 55 gallons being a lot.

Rockhill, Those propane heated showers are cool but I'm kind of interested in trying to get a real basic, low cost system going on. I do have a propane water heater on my camper that is more frustrating than dependable. But I am gonna bookmark your link in case the project doesnt work out.

Mexicowanderer, that's very creative and good to know. Makes me want to eventually make a custom shower head.

BFL, thats interesting. Do ya'll buy milk not by gallon?

valhalla360, that's a shame to hear about your friend. And I'm on private property, and only me for the shower. I'm now seeing how 55 gallons is a lot, maybe I'll test the shower on a smaller barrel first.

Ralph, lol at the Haiti shanty town comment. I'm glad I at least have freedom to make stuff in private.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

My experience with that was when my now brother in law had a trailer in a seasonal campground here in PA back in the 1990's, near Youghiogheny Lake actually. In his case it was not the health inspector but the township tax collector. Even though he and all the other seasonals were just renting, they all started getting nice fat property tax bills based on the assumed value of the sheds, decks and porches they had constructed. They should of sent the building inspector as some of that stuff looked like something you would see in a Haiti shanty town.

Given the appearance of most of the seasonal places around here now days I don't see an issue with an outside shower even if you were using it in your birthday suit @ high noon on Memorial day LOL.

Honestly can't say who it was as it was 3rd hand I found out.

The camp we are staying at is a lot nicer than the one in your picture. Nice enough people, basically most use it as a summer cabin.

As I said in a previous post, it's kind of silly to prohibit outdoor showers but per the code...

valhalla360 wrote:


It's a seasonal campground and a lot of people build decks, sheds and other attachments on the lot.

My experience with that was when my now brother in law had a trailer in a seasonal campground here in PA back in the 1990's, near Youghiogheny Lake actually. In his case it was not the health inspector but the township tax collector. Even though he and all the other seasonals were just renting, they all started getting nice fat property tax bills based on the assumed value of the sheds, decks and porches they had constructed. They should of sent the building inspector as some of that stuff looked like something you would see in a Haiti shanty town.

Given the appearance of most of the seasonal places around here now days I don't see an issue with an outside shower even if you were using it in your birthday suit @ high noon on Memorial day LOL.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

I've never seen a health inspector stop by the campground, but I guess stranger things have happened. Now the shower police are a different story, they seem to be everywhere.

It's a seasonal campground and a lot of people build decks, sheds and other attachments on the lot.

You probably didn't know the inspector stopped by the campground (I didn't know either till my friend was complaining about being told to remove it). But they do check them out periodically. The reason given was that there was no gray water containment system and that doesn't pass code.

Since the OP said he was installing it semi-permanent, I assume a similar type of park and therefore potentially could have a similar issue.

valhalla360 wrote:


Also, is this at a campground or other place where the health inspector may stop by? A friend just had to remove the outdoor shower he built because the inspector came by and said it didn't meet code (silly but the campground still had to tell him to remove it)

I've never seen a health inspector stop by the campground, but I guess stranger things have happened. Now the shower police are a different story, they seem to be everywhere.

How many people will be taking a shower? 55gal is a lot of water.

If you are going to fill it daily, you probably need some supplemental heating, particularly outside of the heat of summer. A small pump running it thru a black hose would do the trick.

Also, is this at a campground or other place where the health inspector may stop by? A friend just had to remove the outdoor shower he built because the inspector came by and said it didn't meet code (silly but the campground still had to tell him to remove it)

Off topic trivia---- we always called those "45 gallon drums", Same drum as the Americans called "55 gallon drums". That was back when we had proper gallons, not those tiny US little things. Now since 1975, it is all in litres or kilopascals or something or other.

I'm with the poor confused hardware store owner who in 1975 advertised a special deal on "Metric Yardsticks"! :)

OK, return to regular programming----

For long term camping I used 25' of 6" PVC pipe in a coil. Wanting it to heat faster I used Reynold's extra heavy aluminum foil beneath it. Have to be very careful about too high of heat. Used a standard 3.2 gal/min to push water in the far end. Rather than a flooder I used a pair of water saver nozzles angled 45 against each other and a spring loaded ball lever bronze valve and a chain for release. If the coil gets too hot throw a tarp over it.
All the gear was a PITA to manage so only the piping was loaded up after use. But I stayed in one spot for many months.

For the heavy sunshine shower bag use a DEER DRESSING rope and pulley set that fits in your pocket. Had four of them horse packing

Propane tankless hot water heaters IMHO the way to go. We used them all the time for washing the horses at horse shows. And then took it with me when I went full time. Numerous brands to choose from and different sizes of propane tanks needed.
(If you decide to buy one go to the horse websites the same unit sells for WAAY less than if you buy the same thing off an RV site.:W)

Here's just one. Its' the one I used for years.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ECCOTEMP-5-Liter-Gas-Portable-Camp-Water-Heater-with-Shower-Head-L5-1-5-GPM/382373378473?hash=item59073ab9a9:g:A4wAAOSwg31aeMFS


Girl not included! :B