Living without water pressure

[Lowdown3]

We get accustomed to plenty of water pressure in normal daily living. A couple weeks back we were doing some repairs to our main well. In the meanwhile we were living on backup water supplies. We had some water pressure, but no pulsating burn your back in the shower type water pressure.

One thing we have done previously is use a lot of popcorn bowls. Use them in the bottom of every sink. Small'ish ones that will catch the water your using to rinse off hands, etc. Most of this water can be re-used before going out the drain or being dumped on plants, etc. You can always flush the toilets with it.

"Don't throw out the baby with the bath water." I think the order was the dirtiest down to the least dirty, with the theory being the baby would be the least dirty, and Dad coming in from the factory probably the most dirty.

I think it would be better to reverse it a bit. Probably the least dirty bathe first. That way the water doesn't get THAT nasty till the dirtiest person gets in there. If water temperature is an issue, just move quick.

You can always get the chunks off outside with a combination of brushing with a towel and washing off in 5 gallon buckets of rainwater.

Tell you what, I will be re-visiting plans for a stand alone permanent outside shower again. I've stood on pallets and showered using two draws on a #10 can that had holes knocked in the bottom of it before in the desert. I need to build something a little more permanent than that as a backup, preferably close to one of the hand pumps.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

No Water Pressure:
Did this for a while in a host country where they would randomly turn off our water sometimes for days and divert it to the crops. Sometimes we had trickles and sometimes nothing. The trickles were left on with containers under them. Evrryounce you catch is one you dont have to haul in.
One can get inventive. Them buckets and rubbermaid trash cans filled and left in hot spots made for nice baths and the sponge bath became more common than not. All water was saved for downing the brown.
Food service took a priority on stuff hauled in. Thats one place you dont want to skip for not only meals but also clean hands n such.

[prc-104]

Here's what I put together

Used this thing: Triton 5L Hot water on demand heater.

http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-HWD5-Triton-Heater/dp/B001J4AU2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376347285&sr=8-1&keywords=triton+water+heater

Feed water to it with an RV water pump. Put a tee in line between the pump and heater so I can draw off what cold water I want.
Powers with 12VDC
Dang thing works REALLY well.
Was $99 shipped last december but ~$115 now. look for the sales
:-)
/john

[1Admin]

The wife likes the liquid soap deal. We both observed under lower water pressure that it seemed like it took forever- and a lot of water- to get the liquid soap off our hands during rinse.

[justanothergunnut]

there are a lot of things I can do without but I gotta tell ya,, a cold shower on a cold morning just sucks.. a sponge bath with water heated over the camp fire may not be as nice as a 5 min drenching in the shower but it sure beats a cold bucket of water over the head. I can deal with loading up a gravity feed shower with buckets of warm water, sure its not convenient but given the alternative.. man I just hate cold showers on a cold morning. I did one once when camping in the mountains north east of Boise.. I STANK. and I could feel the itchy crud growing on me. Ambient air temp that morning was not bad at around 35-40 degrees but dangit if that water didnt feel like it was 33.. :eek:

[kappydell]

actually, the order WAS least dirty to the most dirty. Both with people, and with dishes. (I was raised with no dishwasher, and camping trips water was conserved, so this is a thing well-embedded in my habits.
Dishes were washed in the following order...glasses, silverware, bowls, plates, pots & pans. In theory, least dirty to most dirty. Done to conserve water. Then we put them in mesh bags (in camp) and dunked them in the ever present pail of boiling water over the fire to sterilize them, and clothespinned the bags on the ever-present clothes line on the edge of camp to dry. Baths were with a bowl of warm water, soap and a rag, then a (hopefully) warm drenching to rinse off completely. Takes a partner to do the drench, otherwise you have to hang a siphon hose from a nearby tree and that makes a barely tolerable rinse, but it does work...