Camping Clean: Water Tank I, II and III – Water conservation:

Water Tank I, II and III – Water conservation:

Camping can be a dirty business, and with tent or “car” camping it can be even more difficult; but it doesn't have to be.  I've beat that issue about as well as it gets, and found ways to conserve my water to boot!

My original running water cleanup station:  AKA “The Water Tank” (On the right)

I've been using this one for above 25 years.  This is simply a water or soda acid fire extinguisher, with a fitting inside, having a heavy hose to the bottom (heavy so it won’t collapse under pressure; a metal tube would work equally well), a valve to control flow, and I put in a tire air valve, and can pump it up.  Once pressurized, you have running water.  The shower head I modified to have an even finer spray, and it works great.  I have a 28” extension pipe to raise the shower head for showers.  This setup makes keeping clean and cleaning hands or dishes real easy!

The Pickup Pipe:

Schrader (Tire) Valves.  All metal, and pipe threaded: 

(A rubber one can work also with the right size hole)

Schrader valve is below the "soap counter"

Schrader valve is on the right:

Washing dishes:

We use a Dobie Pad® for washing dishes (found in many grocery stores), which is a nylon scrubber around a sponge.  Load this with soap, scrub, rinse cold, and have a small pot of hot water for final soap rinse.  Or heat the tank water; either way, no wash basin needed at all if outside.  For the nasty stuff/plate scrapings, first use a std kitchen scrub brush on a handle so the Dobie Pad doesn't load up, and it lasts longer.  I keep/store the Dobie Pad loaded with soap…

Showering:

No one wants a cold shower, but more on heating the water later.  To use as a shower you simply unscrew the “gooseneck” off the valve, (It’s only needs to be barely hand tight, and add the extender pipe in-between.  Now the head is over your head (unless you are abnormally tall).  Showers are Navy style:  Wet down, soap up, rinse off.  Long hair takes more water to rinse, but other than that, generally you can shower in one gallon.  We routinely get two showers out of the small 2-1/2 gallon tank.

Air Supply:

The tank next to the original tank is a very light weight air pressure tank made from the same style fire extinguisher.  I rarely use this now; I simply pump the water tank up with a portable tire inflator/compressor, or a hand pump, mostly the hand pump these days.  (KISS principal)  The air tank has a small regulator, and I can use a hose to pressurize the water tank with an easy 10PSI, which is more than enough to flow water. 

All this makes unimproved camp life so much more civilized, and costs little in setup or hauling (You have to haul water in something anyway, right?). 

Watertank II

The second one I made, Water Tank Version II, is in fact a soft drink syrup can.  $5 at a yard sale and it was brand new, and chrome or nickle plated. It also will hold a full 5 gallons.  This one came plumbed with a feed tube to the bottom, and several top ports; so the one with the feed tube got the valve, and the rest got plugged or in one case, a Schrader valve for filling, as well as a place for the regulated pressure tank.

Watertank II at a Camp site:

For this one I made a “counter top” from fence wood and a few other scraps to set on top.  It gives me a place to set the basic cleaning stuff and a small container of soap.  ( I reuse old Jet Dry® plastic bottles refilled with Joy® or Dawn® dish soap.)  The “counter top” is only about 5-1/2” X 9-1/2”.

Hot water:

Oh yeah; hot showers (and warm water for rinsing off soapy dishes); if you boil about half a tank worth of water and refill, then you have a nice hot shower!  I've even set these tanks inside the camp fire ring to heat the water for general use, not in the coals mind you, just close to the fire. 

Getting hotter, without burning fuel:

Both versions are now painted flat black, and that makes it so it gets at least 10 deg hotter sitting out in the sun than the shiny SS or chrome, and the water can exceed 105 degrees F standing vertically. 

I have a “stand” (two long wood dowels and a big washer, setup in an “X”) to allow me to lean them  over for more direct facing of the sun, and actually have temperature tested one out in the backyard, with and without  using a cardboard and alum foil reflector.  On a mild 77 deg. day, it went to in excess of 110 without the reflector.  At that point, the reflector seemed like more trouble than it was worth, but it would certainly speed the heating process.

Water pressure:

I've run all my tanks to 120 psi (The soda acid SS tanks in their former life tested to 500 psi (Don’t try this with an old copper/brass extinguisher!),  and the pressurized water units run either 100 or 120 psi when charged, but I’m usually happy with 40 psi or so, or when the hand pup get’s difficult to pump.  Once it’s down by a half gallon or so (I tend to fill them to near the top, leaving little air gap for a pressure reservoir – remember air compresses, water does not…), 40 psi should empty it, but as I mentioned, 10 psi is enough to flow water. 

Plumbing:

I use ¼” pipe, and brass needle valves for control; but find one with a decently large knob.  The small brass ones I had before were a pain to use if over tightened and in the cold.  you can probably find one in PVC/Plastic sufficient to the job.  At the shower head you have to adapt up to ½” pipe, and I use a 90 and a 45 deg ell to get a decent angle on the shower head, (in ¼” fittings before the ½” adapter)

Better water conservation and a better basic washing head:

On the shower head, the one I use is supposed to be low flow.  For my purposes, it was not… (The one I use has a “water saver” valve built in and a supposedly fine spray disk with holes in it as a diffuser).   I tossed the original diffuser plate and used a plastic “Screw Cap” (these are available in hardware stores, with a edged washer the cap snaps onto…) , and drilled VERY fine holes in it, in a circular pattern then a few in the middle.  

NOW it sprays with a fine sharp spray, using minimal water and the fine spray tends to hit with more velocity, and rinses dishes off better, with less water.  It’s only draw backs are its less than ideal for rinsing off in the shower, but does the job, and it tends to plug easily.  ( there is really a LOT of crap in any water supply…)  so I have to clean it regularly and I use a needle or a pin with the plastic ball heads on them (easier to find if you drop it;  think red…)

Another “nice to have” is to Tee off to a second valve, and then attach a kitchen sink hand sprayer. This is not very conservative of water compared to my modified shower head, but works rather well for rinsing soap off your body in a shower.  You can barely see the second valve I added on type  I and II.

Water Tank III: (On the left, Below)

My third; Type III tank, is a converted industrial soap sprayer.  You could also fairly easily convert a (new) yard sprayer and have a pump built into it…)  I cleaned out the soap residue, and replaced the hose with the valve you see.  Same riser goes on it.  It holds 3 gallons and is nice for in the trunk of a car, where the taller tanks would have to lie on their sides.  This one, or a one gallon yard sprayer,  is nice for say a picnic, where you just need a gallon or so.

Don't use an old yard sprayer that has had pesticides and the like in it; you simply cannot get all the residue out.

This one is the most basic on plumbing, and you are NOT going to be putting it into a fire ring, or you risk melting the plastic base.  Solar heating would be fine, as would boiling a gallon or so of water and adding that…

Once you use one of these in the field you won’t go without one, and guess what?  It carries either 5 or nearly 3 gallons of water you need to haul anyway.

Right to left: Watertanks I,  II & III. 

Goose neck, the shower extension and the "counter" For II also shown.

A reminder!  The top pipe above the valve is only tightened hand tight, so it’s easier to take off and pack.