Prototype pressurized keg shower for camping скачать в хорошем качестве

Prototype pressurized keg shower for camping

I built a prototype pressurized shower for camping using an old keg, to test if this concept works. Credit to my friend RM who generally ran with this concept and helped build this ... meaning he did the heavy lifting. Since this is a prototype, I am open to constructive feedback on improvements…. Overview of concept: I used an old soda Cornelius (Corny) keg as the base for this system. The keg holds 5 gallons of water and is made from stainless steel with rubber molded onto the ends. I think home brewers tend to use these for home brewing beer, so they are generally easily available. The keg says it can hold up to 130 psi pressure, but I don't plan on getting anywhere near those pressure loads. The Corny keg lid pops off and I can fit my hand inside if I need to clean the keg. The Corny keg also has some valves that can be re-purposed for shower attachments and a pressure gauge. I was originally going to use a beer sixtel keg (which holds just over 5 gallons), but the sixtel seemed like it would require more work to modify. I also thought about using an old 2.5 gallon water fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher would be pressure rated, it obviously holds water, and the valve at the top would be threaded to just add plumbing from Lowes to it for modification. But I found that getting one of these was more expensive than a Corny keg, and it also holds ½ the volume of the keg. Cleaning would also be difficult. Any sort of air tank didn’t work because I was told that air tanks rust, since they aren’t made for liquids. So I went with the concept of the Corny keg. I also like the keg concept because I can use this as a backup source for drinking water when camping. Modifications: • Pressurization: I added a Schrader valve to the lid of the keg to pressurize the system. So far, I have used a bike pump to pressurize the system up to 30 psi. If I have 4 to 4.5 gallons of water in the keg, the bike pump is more than sufficient, but pressure drops off rather quickly. I have to repressurize the system after a minute of use. I may use my electric pump (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-12-Vo...) in a later test. I think this Kobalt pump may work to keep a constant pressure. • Valves: o I have a friend (RM) who does machining and metalwork. He was able to take the existing valves off the Corny keg and machine them down to adapt to a standard ½ inch plumbing fitting. I connected a ball valve to the ½ inch fitting, so I can close off the system for pressurization. I then connected a garden hose spray nozzle to the system for “showering”. o He also connected a pressure gauge to the other Corny keg valve. I think the pressure gauge may be redundant, since my bike pump and my Kobalt pump have pressure gauges on them. I only plan on pressurizing the system when I am using it, then depressurizing it. But it pressure gauge doesn’t hurt. An alternative would be to put a pressure relief valve there that would automatically release pressure at a predetermined setting (50psi?). • Shower heads: I adapted the ½ inch piping to work with garden hose fittings. The garden hose is a temporary solution, but I like the concept because the garden hose nozzle can control flow rate easily. I may explore different shower heads to install, but that is all once the system is finalized. • Heating the water: I still haven’t experimented with this yet, but conceptually there are three ways that I can heat the water for a shower: o Place this in the sun or somehow strap it to my truck roof rack to heat the water using solar energy. o Boil some water in a camp stove or set a coffee pot on a campfire to boil water, then mix that into the existing water in the keg. I suspect it won’t take a lot of boiling water to bring the remaining water in the keg up to a reasonable temperature for showering. o Set the keg near a campfire, and warm up the water. This poses some dangers, since I don’t want to blow up the keg. I would need to depressurize the system and have the lid loose. The keg also has rubber ends, so I couldn’t put it to close to the fire, or the rubber may melt.