Overview of Our Recirculating Shower | RV Renovation

[@John5ive]

been doing research on this type of shower. easily the best setup that i have seen in about 30 videos

[@rodneyfaulkner7453]

Great Idea and love the simple press button and the 2 drain options

[@lrsmith6037]

One of the most useful videos on KZbin

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks!

[@queeningod]

I would want the option to dump the water coming from the faucet to the grey tank while and after showering. So, get in and rinse (water to grey tank). Shut off water. Lather up. Rinse (water to grey tank). Then switch to recirculating for continuous water (essentially clean water now). When done empty to grey tank. So next shower im not using same shower water but i was still able to take a long shower w/o using as much water.

[@UloPe]

This ist exactly what I was thinking. If I ever were to build a van I'd want a system with that kind of feature...

[@thomasdrake8630]

Way easier in a new build space. The hunt for water in a permanent bugout situation is endless if you are dumping greywater...Going for it...

[@BradMorrisKA3YAN]

I love everything about this except loss of your wetbays. In our Class C, we just couldn't sacrifice this amount of space. Very cool setup and you did a bangup job.

[@christianarias4850]

One of the best explanation ever, thank you for getting straight to the point.

[@PolarSkyDesign]

Amazing build... You said you used an Arduino...could a RaspPi . Take it's place . Have entertained the idea of an upgrade to my Jayco TT. .and this would be a perfect addition to that end.

[@1wtrahan]

Awesome idea you are a genuine genius my man that should be in all RV no doubt about it .loved the vid Thanks

[@thomasjehnkins1986]

I've now decided I do NOT want a complicated shower system but will now just use a basin or bowl to wash up like they did in the old days lol

[@thomasjehnkins1986]

because NOW you need to use/purchase wasteful FILTERS/plumbing, etc VS. a washcloth

[@gonzzo5597]

You need to sell this to RV manufacturers!..... I wish I had the determination and creativity you guys have!.... Keep up the great work and keep posting more great videos!... Than you!

[@NKBobcat]

A little bit of genious going on there.

[@lukes6819]

Awesome job mate. I've been racking my brain trying to get a sensible line diagram. Thank you for posting

[@rewardsoverwater7821]

It was nice to see someone do it. I'm still waiting for someone to do a free standing shower with solar panels to run the pumps and water solar tubes for hot water and off the shelves parts no manufacturing parts. Thank you.

[@berjaoui92]

Thank you for sharing the necessary furniture list

[@bigdanc.8429]

Great setup. That would be awesome for boondocking.

[@jimfraser8691]

Well done Ryan great workmanship awesome idea

[@MarkWarren-com]

How has the maintenance turned out? The Humble Road channel has a video saying that filter cleaning is a messy nasty process. It’s be great to see a followup video about maintenance.

[@Spacer7777]

Orbital systems is the founder of water recikling

[@ZillaYT]

Well done! I’m gonna do this on a new build.

[@dawnsnyder216]

Fantastic, you are a genius to create this. Thank you for sharing.

[@zorroinhell5549]

This is a great idea. Well done young man.

[@DormantIdeasNIQ]

SUBSCRIBED & LIKED: I'd have to watch this video many times to get it all... I did not see how you actually keep the fresh water and the shower water separate. If not then you need to add a back-flow-preventer unit. Yes there are tons of information online, but no one video covers it all. ...some people are saying it worth having it, but expect intensive/daily/weekly/replacing of filters cycle maintenance. Some use 1 gal, 3.5 gal, you seem to use 5 gals(not really clear per your video since you keep fresh water coming into your shower water tank). I suppose your push button sets all the check-valves as needed to create a loop or not! Anyhow, t.y. for the post, the graph is a good base to visualize this system. If your ARDUINO side of the equation fails, you go shower-less... LOL Are these electronic valves manual as well !?

[@ryanandsu]

Yeah. If it fails, we are sunk. But, we could just connect 12v to the valves to open/close them. We haven’t had to use it much. But the times we have, it was nice. If I knew how we would travel back when we built this, we probably wouldn’t have built it. It was more of an experiment for me. :)

[@CaliforniaBushman]

Came across recirculating shower idea yesterday. Love it!

[@ryanandsu]

Check out showerloop.org. It’s an older site, but from what I can tell, the origins of the idea.

[@markatkinson4043]

Wished I could do that type of controller you used.

[@alexzbarazky3038]

Awesome work, man! Also, I have that same shirt, lol

[@sethwengermusic]

That's awesome! It's probably only a matter of time until someone builds an all-in-one system with power in, freshwater in, grey tank out, shower in and out, with a waterproof remote control

[@behanner]

Can yall do an update on how well this has worked. Was fascinated by the idea when yall did it.

[@oilspeculatorhater]

Real impressive.

[@johnstuckey7197]

Fabulous build! Kudos!

[@kkz2dgz]

Thank You !!

[@mwatercress]

I would love to see your review of the system after a couple of years. How often do you change the water?

[@axlem.6977]

Hi, I love this build. I wanted to get into ardwinos as well. Could you point me to some resources so I can do something similar for my bus? Thank you

[@ryanjones7681]

Do you have to buy new filters? Can you clean them out? How often do you go through em? What ones need changed more? What kind of soap do you use?

[@coryarnett362]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[@johnearle8156]

Good video Is there a difference to the life of the filters between using soap + a non soap like Dove body wash?

[@brittjansen9737]

Realy cool!

[@hosstylexpedition7900]

Dude! That is awesome! Got me scratching my head trying to think how I'd rig that in my class A. I'd probably have to clean out the basement a fair bit, we're full time and packrats. I agree it would be a lot easier to do as a new build than a retrofit to an existing system, but it might just be worth it. Seriously, that is really cool!

[@redchannel6346]

🤪🤪🤪 too difficult... try to learn 🤒🤒🤒

[@DallasFP]

It’s been a year. Any insight on your use/ leaks/ happy accident with the system? Thanks for the videos! Glad you have time again for videos.

[@ourvanlives4736]

I see your list of products used in the project. Can you explain to me how to set up the relay board and micro processor?

[@spwim]

Pretty awesome, but do you block off the grey water drain when circulating too? S

[@MrAndrestal]

Hi tx for sharing, it is so clear. Thanks. I have a question about the waterheater you use. Which one is it, brand, type etc? I try to find it all as well but so far not succeeded in finding the right waterheater to do this job. Hope to hear from you about this. 😊

[@Deltro61]

I've been looking at the systems and the one main question I have is what you are using for a hot water source? People talk about these 20 minute long showers, and if you're hooked up to a standard say 6 gallon or 10 gallon RV hot water tank, it would seem to me it would be impossible to keep up using a heat exchanger. Perhaps because the water is circulated the heat loss is not significant enough and you can go 20 minutes or an indefinite amount of time, but I would like to know what the minimum requirement is for a hot water tank size for say a 15 minute long shower? I've considered going with the on-demand type units, but to provide a sufficient buffer I would think you would have to use a much larger reserve tank (5 to 7 gallons). I think I'd prefer just to use one and a half to two gallons, and just dump it after use. I could even see shampooing using a military style shower, and doing a quick rinse to get rid of most of the dirt off your body during that same period. Then put things into a recirculating mode, and just enjoy the hot water without putting a lot of demands on the filtration system. Seems like the petroleum based soaps are the biggest killer, so again, I'd like to avoid putting them through the filtration system at all if possible. Let me know your thoughts for tank size. I have no idea of the heat loss and what is needed.

[@katieh3236]

Amazing dude!

[@chrisgentry4427]

Arduino ftw!

[@simonescaini]

Very nice system!!!!! i was trying to figuring out how you close the grey tank drainage during loop mode.

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks! We considered a bunch of different ways to do it with valves or something similar. But in the end, we went simple. We installed two drains in the floor of the shower and just use a rubber plug to plug whichever drain we don’t want to use.

[@celsoemerich3568]

One of the best shower water recycling schemes. I have difficulties with electronics ( the physics part is ok and very well explained and enlightening video . < Could you post video of how to use the electronics components and how to connect? congratulations

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks! I am trying to get my act together to do that. We have finally arrived at our spot for the holidays. So I’m hoping to get that put up.

[@gideonporter537]

Can you do an update of how the recirculating shower has worked out? Was it worth it? Issues?

[@JohnBraman413]

you have a video on how you setup that arduino and relay board?

[@briandavis9975]

I've seen a couple of these set ups yours is the coolest yet. I've been thinking of doing this but no one goes in to detail on it okay a little bit of where I'm at in my build now I have a forty foot MCI MC9 bus I'm converting I have 250 gallons fresh water tank, propane on demand hot water 250 black and gray combo tank and the water pump I'm Thinking I'm going to use a small well pump that has the expansion tank built on it I have 3/4 and 1/2 pex the pump the water heater are 3/4 main lines from the tank are 3/4. None of this is installed yet because I'm just not there in the build yet I'm at the spray foam stage But it won't be long. like you I want to be off grid for extended amounts of time and not worry about the water.i have three storage bays but the front bay will be used for my inverters and battery storage one of the other bays will be used for the black tank and utilities in and out components so I have room for this in the last bay or in this case the middle bay the black tank takes up the last bay closest to the rear wheels I do believe my propane water heat can do recirculating for like radiant floor heat so I would need to figure that part out oh I have about 40 gallons of usable propane on board also. Any direction you might have would be great thank you for any help.

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks! We do not profess to be DIY people at all. If the details are a little shaky, it's because we are trying to just document what we are doing (good or bad) and not trying to show how to do something. haha. All of our piping is 1/2" and it works fantastic for recirculating the water. There is a ton of pressure and flow. We also have a 6.5GPM pump dedicated to the recirculating system. That also has been fantastic. No complaints about pressure or flow. The pump we bought is a marine pump (Seaflo) that runs on 12v. It came with a pre filter. It's a little strainer basket that keeps particulate matter from going through the pump. I definitely recommend using a strainer before the pump. But do not use the little one a lot of pumps come with. Get a bigger one. The small one clogged up after about 4 uses. It did strain really well, but for a recirculating system, you are introducing a lot of clothing fuzz, hair, etc. The larger the prefilter, the more use you will get before having to empty it. Also, something I didn't do but wish I did was put a manual valve in place between the tank output and the strainer filter. That way you can shut off the output and clean the filter without having to Drain the recirculating system. The heat exchanger has been working well unless it is really cold outside. If the water is cold to start with, the heat exchanger takes some time to add heat to the water. Sometimes, we will leave the shower running for a while on a loop before using it just to let the water heat up. If you are adding new fresh water every time you use the shower, then it's not a big deal because the new water is most likely already warm. But we've tried to really go light on water usage and reused the water multiple days in a row.

[@eher_meh]

Exactly how I would have designed it. But with using one idea from the original system: no holding tank, just the shower you are standing in - maybe easier to keep clean...

[@andreayarrington5210]

Can you write that system in steps? You did a great job!

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks! I have been working on documenting it and posting it to our website. But it's been a slow process. I will definitely update everyone when I have it put together. I am not a DIY how to type person usually because even I go into these not knowing what I am doing. But on the other side of it, I might be able to give some advice. :)

[@WanderlustEstate]

I'm preparing to do a van build and the thing I missed more than anything while living on the road for 8 years was a long hot shower. I would love to do a recirculating shower for a million different reasons. I haven't been huge on building my KZbin channel, but I'm one of the first 5 channels in RV and van life. I'd really like to do a call with you and pick your brain on how you did this. I'd be happy to promote your channel.

[@CharlieKrivda]

Awesome info. Trying to figure out how you heat the water? I was going to do an inline on-demand heating solution, but I figured it would get hotter and hotter the longer you ran your shower, and I dont want to pull fresh/cold water into the system to keep balance if i dont have to.

[@ryanandsu]

We explained it a little more in a follow up video. Hopefully that helps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpnTc4eolp6VjtU

[@alejandrogarcia1482]

@@ryanandsu hi great video i have the same question i can't find your video explaining that great exchanger. Please let me know how to search it. Thanks

[@kimwilliams5165]

This is great info. I also have questions and would like more details, but the link wouldn't work. At 6:02 he explains he has a T in pipe before exchange that diverts recycled water back to cold line, so it doesn't waste fresh to cool hot water. I see with a tank style & exchange you don't have to worry about mixing recycled hot water with sink hot water, if it's used at same time. I was also thinking about a on demand heater. Btw my understanding of them is they are set to a temp an only heat enough to bring incoming water to that temp. So if water flowing in is 98° and it's set to say 130° then it will heat the 32° difference. With a tankless you could tie in between a no backflow to protect freshwater tank and the heater, but how to segregate the water demand between the shower and sinks if needed at the same time? They make a camp style on demand heater for about $150 that might be able to tie into propane lines. I need to look into reviews to see if it's cheaper/efficient to just separate hot water for the shower.

[@loganmorris8624]

I love you guys ❤️

[@tactrix1h]

RVs should be designed in a way in which you can easily access everything from either the inside, or by just walking outside and opening up a hatch. If they were built that way none of this would be an issue, it would make life a lot easier all around, more importantly it would make things that break or are not working properly a breeze to replace.

[@mrmister3020]

Love the idea. Would all natural soaps made with Shea butter "work" better? Filter better? Homemade ingredients? Salts, baking powder/soda, bath butters?

[@Eec2023]

Did you need to replace the water pump to get more pressure to get through all those filters?

[@Falsetto2002]

Aloha Ryan, Do you have a book or ebook that provides instructions to build a system like yours?

[@Tesla-Cannon]

I was curious about a two-drain system so you could also use it as a regular shower! I think you're the only build where I've seen that. So using soap hasn't been a problem?

[@allywilkeforsenate]

What about filtering out the soap?

[@danielavenson6964]

Love the system. Just a little confused on the hot water side of things. Are you basically heating up your entire freshwater supply to run through the heat exchanger?

[@ryanandsu]

Yes. We heat the hot water tank for our fresh water system. It's 120v and Propane powered. It didn't make sense to install another heating element when we already had one installed. So we heat the water tank (which is usually heated already anyway) and pass that water through the heat exchanger and then back into the cold inlet for the water heater tank. So it's setup like a household hot water loop to get hot water to the back of the house. Also, having it powered by our 120v hot water heater means that we can heat it off of our solar system (pulls about 1400watts) and then we also have hot water for things like dishes, etc.

[@cj2467]

Any problems with outside lines freezing up in cold weather?

[@NicInLvNv]

Thank You for the description and details of the shower renovation. Do you have a wiring drawing of the use of the relay boards used? Thank You again!

[@ryanandsu]

I think I drew one up. I will take a look at what I have. I am planning on mapping it all out and making a post about it over on our website: Wildlanterns.com. We are just on the road right now and I won't be able to get to it until we are back in a more stationary place, probably for the holidays.

[@NicInLvNv]

@@ryanandsu thank You for your reply! Looking forward to seeing more from your work!

[@vicenteespinoza1997]

Does your filters filter out soap??? I use dove soap bars and it really don’t filter out the soap.

[@earthpeace3323]

Very nice and informative. How clean is the water? How many times do you shower with the recirculating water before replacing it with clean fresh water?

[@ryanandsu]

We used it for a week when we camped in Zion. It worked really well. It comes out like cleaned bath water. It wasn’t crystal clean as the soap doesn’t come fully out. But it works great as a camp shower. I built it so we can flush the tanks and fill with clean water whenever we want. Check out the KZbin channel Snow & Curt. Their system is very similar. They say they use it for about a week at a time.

[@uramalakia]

So you opted for a heat exchanger (only)? Would having a heating element within the loop be more energy efficient? Since you don't have to heat the water from sratch once it's up to temp. but just cover the heat lost during recirculation... Clever system. I like the use of that heat exchanger and the seperate 5 gallon tank. And the accessibility for maintenance. Is the 5 gallon tank easily accessible for cleaning? Does it need cleaning often? Have you tried taking the recirculated water for analysis to see where you're at? How often do you need to swap out the filters? How do you cope with soapy water? Have you tried adding magnesium salt (i think that's what is used...) to cope with soapy water creating deposits in the system? Would insulating the pipes reduce heat loss and improve energy efficiency? I'm rambling... I have tons of questions. I'll try to see if uncle google can cough up any answers. Thank you for sharing.

[@ryanandsu]

Yes. We went with a heat exchanger only. Mainly because we didn’t want to introduce another heating element that would draw off our batteries. Using the heat exchanger with our water heater let’s us use either electric or propane. And the thought was that we could dump the holding tank and refresh the water in the loop with warm or hot water whenever we wanted to shower. It’s not as efficient as reusing the water for several days, but with this method, we don’t have to heat the water from cold with the heat exchanger. I haven’t had to clean the tank yet. But I would do it like I do our other holding tanks. We haven’t had the water analyzed. I’m pretty confident it has soap still in the water. It doesn’t come out sudsy. But it’s really difficult to remove soap without a big filter system. This loop that we designed was an attempt to be a little better than the ones that simply recirculate your shower water without filtering. It works great for our needs. But if you want it to some out more like potable water, you would need a much bigger sediment filter. I haven’t tried magnesium salt. There are a few things on my list to test out. I just haven’t gotten the chance yet. We did use the system a lot when we were in Utah hiking everyday. It worked great. Check out showerloop.org. From what I understand, that’s the origin of the filtered loop idea.

[@RedBatteryHead]

Nice setup. Why do a 20 micron in front a 5 micron? Dirt holding capacity? Price wise it won't make a difference in changing them. The time span just differs.

[@graemelewis3764]

Filter systems always work in particle size sequence, otherwise the first filter stage gets ‘blinded’ with fine stuff, and blocks. Three or four stage systems run longer before cleaning or replacing. Ryan is smart guy. I will build in his good work, make a casset system for under the van, can be removed in cold weather to protect from frost, use shower base as tank, prevent scum build up in tank, use a full shower base ‘soap catcher’ which can be rinsed out after each showers session, saves ‘some soap blocking’ of filters. I am also looking at having post shower holding tank with pump to wash dogs off outside. Also check out ‘solar dump’ which heats water in tank from your solar pannels once batteries are full. Smart. Nice work Ryan. Brilliant to see you guys and gals with some brains and ingenuity using those brains and new social media to share. Nice one. Graeme Wales U.K.

[@RedBatteryHead]

@@graemelewis3764 oh, oké. Thanks for the explanation.

[@BorealWilderness]

Nice set-up. How does your system handle soap? Does it clog the filters?

[@ddimondd]

Great design... are you still using it? What source of heat do you use to run through the heat exchanger? I found that by putting the dirty soapy water in the holding tank first left the tank kind of scummy after a while. I changed things around a little....from shower drain through filters and uv then into holding and from holding tank to shower. Only draw back is its a 2 pump system

[@zalleywaalley8227]

if you’re open to it I will pay you to build and install one in my Skoolie

[@ryanandsu]

Haha. I don't think I would have the confidence to do it on someone else's build. I'm sort of making it up as I go along. lol

[@simondabbs6053]

Great video with lots of good info. Thanks for posting. I'm still trying to understand how the shower water is heated. Am In correct that hot water goes from your water heater through the heat exchanger and then flows back to your hot water heater in a closed loop? And that the water used for the shower is heated only by the heat exchanger so that none of that water actually goes through the actual water heater? I'm trying to figure out a similar system where I can retain the integrity / cleanliness of my hot water heater, but still use it to heat the shower water. I like your idea of two drains, allowing you to use soap / shampoo which can be drained into the grey tank, and then switch over and use the recirculating function with minimal soap / debris going through the filters. Good job.

[@ryanandsu]

Yes. That is correct on the heat exchanger. It keeps the two loops separate. They do not cross contaminate. I built in a hot water loop for the water heater that pulls hot water through the exchanger and then send it back to the cold water input to be reheated. Just like you would for a house hold system to get instant hot water on the far side of the house from the water heater. That loop heats the heat exchanger. Then the recirculating water goes through the other side of the exchanger and pulls heat out with the water never touching the fresh water. It’s basically a big heat sink transferring heat from hot to cold.

[@simondabbs6053]

@@ryanandsu Thanks so much for the speedy reply. Much appreciated. This sounds great. I don't want to contaminate my water heater with recirculated water as I also want to be able to have hot water in the sink. This sounds like it may solve both of these issues. Thanks again.

[@Lilwolf2000]

I think the link for the active carbon filter is a duplicate of the 5 micron filter. Curious which filter you used. And I'm assuming you bought 3 of the big blue filters... and then found different filters for each. (also the 20 mil filter and prefilter? assuming the pre is just one of the small screen filters). Thanks!

[@ryanandsu]

Yes. I bought three of the blue ones and just use different filters in each. The companies that sell the filters keep changing their products around. We use a 20 micron pleated filter, then a 5 or 10 micro pleated filter (depending on what we can find), then a 5 micron charcoal filter. But it’s been hard to find on Amazon lately. The pre filter is a pre sediment filter like this. amzn.to/3k24YeX The one we bought is not on Amazon anymore. I’ll have to go through and update the links. I didn’t realize how many products have vanished in such a short amount of time.

[@vincentwade1]

So, this system only lets you use the "two gallons of water" for a long water saving shower, but it cannot actually recycle the water for a long term, such as for a several showers a week. The filters will eventually mold and the water starts to stink due to the soap that is dissolved in the grey water. Because of the bio-waste and the stuff in soap that feed bacteria, you'd have to replace those filters quite often, would you not?

[@Paul-l4t2k]

I need help creating the same thing in my fifth wheel, recirculating my grey water and then rerouting it to existing fresh water tank. Is that possible. Please let me know thank you so much

[@Rain.Mippet]

what pump did you use I cant find it in the description and there is a lot of various SEA pumps that look alike?

[@Rain.Mippet]

also the two pre-filters I believe are missing from the description unless I'm reading it wrong

[@MeironEgger]

Hi there tnx for this video! Is the Arduino needed incase I build a closed system with no option to use the "normal" fresh water, and the "normal" drain?

[@ryanandsu]

Probably not. I’m mainly using it to control our valves to switch from one system to another. So if it’s all a closed system, you should just need to control power to the pump.

[@MeironEgger]

@@ryanandsu Tnx!

[@psychedelicponcho9090]

do you have any issues with soap still being in the water as its coming out???i installed a recirc shower and it doesnt seem to be removing the soap

[@ryanandsu]

Not that I’ve noticed. It’s been doing a good job scrubbing the water. From what I understand, the activated charcoal filter is a good water scrubber. It’s also why it’s near the end of the chain to finish clarifying the water.

[@inchvans8296]

Donnie!!!!! What up dude!! I was wondering if I would see you in one of these comment sections.

[@YorumcuKorumcu]

I think uv light can’t kill bacteria in that system . Because uv light needs time its about 30sec up to 30 minutes to do sterilisation , it’s dependent on power of bulb. I can offer you maybe you can search ozone generator or Sodium Hypochlorous Acid Generator for water sterilisation but first you need a collect water in a tank for sterilisation before use it.

[@YorumcuKorumcu]

If bacteria staying and hiding back side of the dirty particulars UV light never reach that area. That is the reason UV light useless for water sterilisation

[@jimligon1460]

This could be greatly simplified by adding a second dedicated shower head for the recirculated water

[@ryanandsu]

That is true.

[@mrjjman2010]

That’s awesome. Question if you don’t mind. Where do you tie the drain from the 5 gallon tank into the grey water tank?

[@ryanandsu]

We used another valve that sends the 5 gallon water through some pex into the shower drain that drains into the grey tank. It feed into the drain above the p-trap.

[@sjf67gto]

If you could make a schematic and an updated line diagram so people can follow what you did that would be nice even better if you videotape the build just make a video with the how you put things together

[@ryanandsu]

I’m trying to get my act together and get that done. We have kind of settled for a bit and aren’t traveling during the holidays. So it’s one of my projects to do.

[@tucktucker7439]

I'm wondering about the extra tank, why did you decide not to pull from the grey water tank directly? Was it because the water was at least warm in your 5 gallon tank? I have considered filtering the grey water for use in the toilet and shower, and forcing the fresh water to the sinks only, unless there was no grey water.

[@benediktmaximilianschuren5541]

It's amazing, I'm currently building a Camper myself and this helped so much, thank you :)

[@RustyCas999]

Very slick. I had not even considered having an “RV park” mode and I haven’t heard/seen anyone else mention it, so kudos on that. I am not a programmer so I doubt I could make a control system like yours, but I wonder if it could be duplicated using 3-way valves that could all be powered/switched with a single “mode switch.” Also, how well does the heat exchanger work? Do you have parameters for the inlet/outlet temps and flow rates for both sides? Do you have valves to throttle flows to get optimum heat exchange?

[@cocobonow]

Is there anyway I can hire you to build something like this in my rv , I have been wanting this for 5 years and I have watched a tone of stuff but it's so far from my knowledge and understanding that i end up braking more things then building.

[@ryanandsu]

I brake a lot of things too. Haha.

[@macoydacoycoy2853]

It's probably less complicated if you recirculate the water from gray water tank back to fresh water tank. Some RV have 2 fresh water tanks already installed. Separate their lines and use one for recirculation and the other for drinking and cooking. When you're hooked up, just disable the recycling mechanism since you don't need it.

[@OUTDOORDUDE]

Question: How is your heat exchanger powered? In other words, do you get the energy created from propane or electricity? I love that you succeeded , congratulation.

[@ryanandsu]

The heat exchanger itself is passive. It is not powered. It’s heated by our water heater. It’s a 6 gallon RV water heater that can be heated by both propane or electric.

[@annej5699]

How do you clean the 5-gallon tank? And the rest of the system? I assume it needs maintenance cleaning once in a while?

[@ryanandsu]

So far, I have flushed it and run water and a bleach mixture through it. It's worked pretty well. I don't let gross water sit in the tank. When we aren't going to use the system for a bit, we flush it and leave it empty.

[@hotjavalava]

how is your system handling soap and shampoo?

[@MJ-ge6jz]

Just subscribed to your channel. Making a recirculating shower is not easy. I've seen some companies still working on the system for over a year! It would be great if you setup a " How to PDF" document... an income source? How do you clean the system? Some builders will reverse the water flow a few times before the replace / cleaning the filters manually.

[@ryanandsu]

Thanks! We were going to try to get a back flush system working, but simplified it down. So we manually clean the filters. The worst is for them to sit for a while. If it’s used pretty regularly, they aren’t too bad. It’s also good to note that this system doesn’t filter out all the soap. You would need a pretty large sand filter to do that from what I’ve researched. This one does a great job for how compact it is. We wanted something that was better than the ones that just push unfiltered water back through. The unfiltered ones do exist as retail systems. But I think the filtered ones have taken so long because they are working hard on water purity.

[@tmaclax013]

Hi there, awesome video! I actually purchased one of those electric ball valves a while ago when I first started thinking about setting up a recirculating shower. My one question is the hot-fresh water that flows through the heat exchanger, how does that flow back to the fresh water holding tank? In my camper all the water flows through the pump so I don't know how the hot water could flow from the hot side shower supply lines, through the cold water lines, through the pump and back into the fresh water tank.

[@ryanandsu]

It’s a closed loop on the fresh water. So the recirculating never crosses into the clean loop. We used a check valve after the water goes through the heat exchanger on the hot water fresh line and connected it to the cold line. So the recirculating pump causes the a pressure drop on the cold intake and pulls the water from the heat exchanger back into the cold input of the water heater. Hopefully that makes sense. It’s essentially a hot water loop like you’d install in a house.

[@hermanfrederick793]

@@ryanandsu is there a parts source list?

[@ryanandsu]

@@hermanfrederick793 We didn't put together a parts list to post. But we did post a bunch of the parts with links to where we bought them in the description of the video. The problem is that they were sourced off of Amazon and we bought them back a while ago. So the vendors may or may not still exist online. There is another KZbin Channel that has a lot of good information about how to build a system like this. It's where we got most of our info for parts. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmGkg2d5hKt9pMk kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZeUaJmVd958fq8 They have parts listed in their descriptions as well. Hopefully that helps.

[@emanuelunglaube7585]

Awesome job. I've been planning on building something like that for years. How did you realise the switching between regular use with fresh water and the circle? So how do you switch between the two sinks? Do you have some sort of valve for that too?

[@ryanandsu]

We are using electronic ball valves. The ones we have will take a 12v current and open. Then you reverse the polarity and it closes. So we can close the fresh and open the recirculating and vice versa. In the floor we put in two drains. One goes to the grey tank and one to the recirculating holding tank. We then just use a tub drain stopper to close off whichever we aren’t using. We didn’t want to use a three way valve or anything like that because of the possibility of failure under the shower floor. Trying to get to it to fix it just seemed like a nightmare.

[@emanuelunglaube7585]

Thanks for the quick response, you guys are awesome.

[@rpersinger11]

Hello, we have been running a similar set up for a few months. Have you found a sulfate free shampoo? Even with all the filters(similar to yours) we are having a suds problem after the first few showers. We also hooked ours up to the washer with a separate filter and drain.

[@ryanandsu]

We tend to use ours for a shower once or twice and dump the water for fresh water.

[@graemelewis3764]

Sulphate is in near chemical suspension in grey water. It’s bound to water molecules. It takes energy to break bonds, can’t filter it. So Reverse Osmosis is most practical, but needs energy and is slow, so loose benefits you were looking for in off grid shower system. As Ryan says. Change water after few uses. Take a look at this, quick search turns up info…. How to remove the sulfate from your water There are three types of treatment systems that will remove sulfate from your drinking water: reverse osmosis, distillation, or ion exchange. Carbon filters, water softeners and sediment filters will not remove sulfate. Water softeners exclusively change magnesium or calcium sulfate into sodium sulfate, which is more laxative. Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water treatment system that eliminates most dissolved elements and chemicals, such as sulfate, from water by pushing the water through a plastic surface similar to cellophane known as a "semipermeable membrane." Generally, it can eliminate between 93 and 99 % of the sulfate in drinking water. This depends on the type of unit. A small RO unit will produce about 12 liters of water per day. A little larger units, normally installed under the sink, will produce 19 to 75.6 liters of water per day. RO units generally produce only 3.8 liters of water for every 15 to 38 liters of water treated. The remaining water is rejected. Click here for more information on reverse osmosis treatments. Read more: www.lenntech.com/sulfates.htm##ixzz86rU6yIvx

[@theperpetualadventuremachi4571]

Awesome info! We have a similar setup and just cannot get rid of the soap. We have since purged it and are considering using it just as a rinse in between "real" showers. We are so frustrated with the soap. If you (or anyone else out there) know a way, please share.

[@ryanandsu]

Check out showerloop.org. His design uses a sand and charcoal filter and does a better job with the soap.

[@billnalen]

I ditched my recirculating shower for the same reason. Tried all different filter combinations and water additives (like the original Hour Shower guys used). Either water still has soap, or the filters clog after 2 showers. Ended up not being worth the hassle so I took everything out.

[@carlosvaquerofoto]

That is awesome guys, good job!! I'm researching about this topic right now for my sprinter van conversion and I wanted to ask you why not buying one of those 5 stages under sink kits? What is the difference? Maybe is the amount of water you can obtain from each one of them? If you could help me with this, that would be awesome!!!

[@ryanandsu]

It’s the longevity of the filters. These are 4.5”x10” canisters that are for whole house water filtration. You can’t get the same flow and life out of the smaller drinking water filters they sell for under sink filtration. With this, we easily can get 5.5 gpm. The main restriction is the pump volume and shower head flow rate. Having the filters also lowers the amount of pressure required pre filter in order to force the water through. So it’s easier on the pump.

[@chrispeterson]

Looks great. I am about to tackle this same project in my van. I am struggling with the heat exchanger piece. I saw you had another small pump right before it on the fresh water side. How are you circulating the hot water on the other side of the exchange? Are you turning off other valves and creating a temporary closed loop system that cycles the "hot" water on the fresh side with the small pump? I don't quite see that detailed in your diagram. Any details would be appreciated.

[@ryanandsu]

Yes. Exactly. I closed off both fresh water valves. So the hot water is pushed through the heat exchanger and then a check valve before being pushed into the cold water line.

[@pvesely299]

How long before you have to clean or exchange filters?

[@ryanandsu]

We haven’t had to change out the filters yet. I clean the pre filter about once a week. From what I could find online, we should get about 6 months out of them.

[@philconway9881]

Thats awsome!! How long did it take?

[@ryanandsu]

It took us a few days to run the plumbing. A couple of months total to finish our full bathroom remodel.

[@majulenparah]

Based on average use how many gallons would you assume you can circulate before the full set of filters need to be replaced? Whats the approximate cost to replace all the filters?