Solar showers - They really do work well when they are set up

BUT

what can go wrong while your setting everything up....

This is a very realistic and funny look at setting up a solar shower.  It takes longer than you imagine and it has its trouble shooting but it does work really well.  

Watch it and if you have had any experience with this black hose, was we have had, you will have yourself a good laugh and not feel so bad about your attempts.

We ran our own solar bath for 3 years using just garden hose heated up in the sun.  By 8am it was ready to use because the sun was so effective in the southern hemisphere, where we lived then.  We moved on from that to a donkey boiler using a fire underneath a big drum which worked fairy well for timing as its not always convenient to have a bath/shower at 8am.  You really need one before you leave for work in the morning or when you come home.  By that time the water in the hose is too cold.  Otherwise its too hot but mixing in a bath is ok.

So the donkey boiler was a challenge and leaves one very smokey from making the fire and waiting for it to heat the water which took about an hour if we were lucky.  We filled the drum with a hose from our raintank. Then we used to bring it inside to the "bath-room" via buckets.  The water was a bit discoloured from the drum as time passed by but living out in the stix and working the land and raising livestock means your really want a hot bath fairly often!.

Living off the grid has it challenges but I would say in the end that solar is the best.  Wind power is also good for some things but not the way they are doing it with windfarms.  The old way of each person/farm having their own windmill was a good one.

If we had had the resources and people to brainstorm with and the way to store hot water, I still think the days of our midday solar baths were some of the best.  No-one for acres around and a bath out in the sun.  our little kids used to enjoy it a lot too.

You have no idea how hot that water gets in the sun!   And when it runs out you sure need the cool water to cool the bath water enough to be able to get in.