Tips for conserving water when travelling

[Swisslulu]

Following on from another thread, Wendy posed the question of what we do to conserve water when on the road so I thought we could all contribute what we do.

One of the biggest consumers of water would have to be the daily shower. We always wet ourselves down, turn off the water, soap up and clean ourselves and then turn the water back on to rinse off. Our 2005 van did not have a mixer tap in the shower and we found we wasted quite a bit of water getting the temperature right on the "rinse" cycle so we installed a new shower rose that has a button to switch off the water flow without having to touch the taps.

Switching off the water in the middle of a shower is probably just common sense but how many of us do it?

Let's hear some of your tips.

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here----
What I did was place a small ball valve/stop cock on the hose line and I use this to stop the shower flow without having to reset the hot and cold taps.
The set up does not allow for a mixer tap, so I have to adjust 2 taps to have the desired water temp. By having the stop cock in-line I leave the taps set at the prefered position and control the flow that way.

A small ball valve is available from B*******gs or Mitre *** place, for about $3.20 plus Tony's GST, and a few cents for a roll if plumber grade thread sealing tape. The conversion/modification takes around 4 minutes 15 seconds, plus a 3 hour drive to get the parts.

Keith.

[dapope]

"tanks" here----
What I did was place a small ball valve/stop cock on the hose line and I use this to stop the shower flow without having to reset the hot and cold taps.
The set up does not allow for a mixer tap, so I have to adjust 2 taps to have the desired water temp. By having the stop cock in-line I leave the taps set at the prefered position and control the flow that way.

A small ball valve is available from B*******gs or Mitre *** place, for about $3.20 plus Tony's GST, and a few cents for a roll if plumber grade thread sealing tape. The conversion/modification takes around 4 minutes 15 seconds, plus a 3 hour drive to get the parts.

Keith.

I will have to check that out Keith, sounds like a very smart solution

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here----
What I did was place a small ball valve/stop cock on the hose line and I use this to stop the shower flow without having to reset the hot and cold taps.
The set up does not allow for a mixer tap, so I have to adjust 2 taps to have the desired water temp. By having the stop cock in-line I leave the taps set at the prefered position and control the flow that way.

A small ball valve is available from B*******gs or Mitre *** place, for about $3.20 plus Tony's GST, and a few cents for a roll if plumber grade thread sealing tape. The conversion/modification takes around 4 minutes 15 seconds, plus a 3 hour drive to get the parts.

Keith.

I will have to check that out Keith, sounds like a very smart solution

"tanks" here-- I will see if I can get a photo on the thread
Keith.

[generdawg]

Before acquiring the new van complete with inside shower, we set up the outside tent and fired up the choofer. I have a 15 litre stainless soup kettle with handles that sits nicely on said choofer. Why am I saying all this you ask; I think I've come up with a cleaver idea to combine the two and conserve water.

Anytime that suitable water is available (bore/creek/river/lake) that I may not want in the fresh water tanks, I'll collect and heat on the choofer and carry into the shower via plastic bucket. The bowl and bucket method worked in the tent, so I can't see why it should not be doable for the inside shower. Simples.

dawg (once bragged that I could shower in ten litres of water when the ladies in company quipped; "we can do it in one litre". I pulled my head in and let that die.)

[iiCamper]

If your near the beach..

Day night shampoo from your camping store is really good stuff to wash your self in sea water.
When I am near the beach I use sea water and the day night product to wash your self and use a little fresh water for under your arms etc

I camped on a beach for nearly 4 weeks
And all I had was 2 water tanks in the van

Ray

Sent from my Commodore Vic 20

[Dot]

Top & Tail washes between very short showers and we do the wet bod, turn water off, lather up, water back on to rinse off. OR shower with the neighbour .. Wet ones are also a good stand by.

[Swisslulu]

Ray, I've never heard of the day night shampoo. Do you have a brand name and is it only available at camping stores?

[iiCamper]

Ray, I've never heard of the day night shampoo. Do you have a brand name and is it only available at camping stores?

Its actually called night & day shampoo
It works very well in hard water as it will lather up in salt water.. You do feel really refreshed after you use it.
There are other daynight products but found that the shampoo version is good for everything.
You can get it from most camping stores, not cheap.. around $20 per litre but it last for ages





Web
http://www.petergs.com.au/PeterGs/Camping.html

[Ros20549]

Photo0087.jpg

TANKS.... As requested by Dot here is your photo.. Hope this is the one your wanted to post.


Cheers Ros.