How to Construct a Portable Shower Using a Bilge Pump
Bilge pumps normally spend their entire lives in the bowels of a boat, always pumping out the water, sludge and oil which collect in the bilges. They pumping making them ideal for shower projects and are designed to deal with knocks, intermittent use. Their reduced voltage — they operate on 12 volts –leaves them safe and permits them to run which makes them truly portable. Creating a shower powered by a bilge pump is a straightforward task.
Connect a national shower head to one end of a 15-foot piece of smooth-bore backyard hose by pushing the hose above the end of the shower head until they are firmly connected. Seal the connection by tightening it and wrap a tie around the hose. Reduce the surplus end of this tie.
Connect the other end of the hose to the outside, or”discharge” pipe onto the bilge pump. Push the nozzle above the pipe before a connection that is good is accomplished, then fasten it with a tie.
Attach a length of hose to the”in” pipe onto the bilge pump using the procedure described in the prior steps. The hose needs to be to go from the pump, through the top of the water storage container, and down to the base of the container. Keep the water container as close to the pump as possible to make the most of the pumping efficiency.
Strip the inch of insulation from each of the cables leading from the pump. Attach an insulated alligator clip to the end of every wire by loosening the terminal screw, looping the stripped wire around the screw and tightening it to hold the wire in place. Use a insulated clip for the positive wire and a clip for your negative wire. Gently pull on each wire to check that it is connected and will not come undone.
Fill the water container to the surface. Hold the pipe in the bilge pump into position and the container the end near the base of the container.
Check that the shower head is not near, or pointing at, the pump or battery. Connect the positive (+) alligator clip to the positive battery terminal, and then the black clip to the negative (-) terminal. The pump will begin drawing water, working and pushing on it. Hold on the shower head to steer the water .