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Monday, June 28, 2010
It’s Sunday morning and I have absolutely nothing planned for the day. The only decent option I can think of is to spend the entire day by the pool and just relax a bit. At the same time I’m thinking why not grab a couple of solar camping shower bags that I have lying around the house and do some tests while I’m at it. I’m sure there are people out there who would like to know how 3 solar shower bags fare against each other in a fierce competition of which one heats up faster, right? Hmm, maybe not but I’ll post it anyway ;) You’ll thank me later when you’re thinking about purchasing a portable camping shower and you have no idea which one to get. Let the testing begin:  At noon exactly I filled all three bags with water and laid them down on a long chair: Seattle Sports 2.5-gallons, Stearns Sunshower 2.5-gallons and Texsport Camp Shower 5-gallons. As you can see the Texsport and Stearns shower bags are upside down with the clear side facing direct sunlight as per the instructions of each manufacturer. The Seattle Sports shower bag doesn’t specify which side needs to be facing up so I guessed and placed it with the front of the bag facing up.  I left them there under the sun for three hours (which is the average time that a shower bag needs to heat up the water to an acceptable water temperature for a shower) and then hung all three solar shower bags on a tree branch and used a thermometer to measure the temperature of each: - Texsport Camp Shower 5-gallons: 90°F(32.2°C) - Seattle Sports 2.5-gallons: 91°F(32.8°C) - Stearns Sunshower 2.5-gallons: 95°F(35°C). The outside temperature was 77°F(25°C) with some cloudy periods so the sun was shining down for about 50% of the time during the 3 hours so you can imagine that the water would have been much warmer under continuous sunshine. As you can see from the pictures below, I showered with each of them(still talking about shower bags) to get a feel of the differences in temperature and water pressure.    Final thoughts First, I was surprised that the Texsport was able to heat up the water to almost the same level as the other two because it had to heat up double the amount of water in the same amount of time. I’m also wondering if I shouldn’t have turned the Seattle Sports shower bag on the other side with lettering side facing down (I read the instructions and it doesn't mention anything… ooops, I just checked the box and it says:"black body for heat absorption." I guess it's now confirmed that the side with the lettering works since that's where it points to on the box. Looks like the Stearns Sunshower performed well today and I might add that it provides the best water pressure out of the three camping showers (although it also means that you have less time to shower since the bag is empty before you know it). Why does it flow faster than the other two models? The shower hose is wider than on the other two camping shower models. That’s not something you notice when comparing models by looking at their pictures on the Internet. Other thoughts Hmm, it sure helps to be Hercules when trying to lift a 5-gallon shower bag high up in a tree ;) Labels: camp shower, camping shower, camping shower bag, portable camping shower, seattle sports solar shower, solar shower bag, stearns sunshower, texsport camp shower by: Camping Shower World 
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3 Comments:
Great review! This was very helpful. I'm curious to know if the two bags with the "windows" would have heated up just as much as the all black bag had they been already hanging to heat up.
We haven't tested the heat up time of a hanging bag versus a bag laid on the ground but I'm guessing that any difference would be marginal.
It might make a difference if you take the bag to a really hot spot such as Death Valley and laid it down on ground that's already been heated up by the sun. The water would probably heat up faster that way.
Anybody experienced this before?
Does the water heat up faster in a shower bag left hanging or one laid flat on the ground?
I like your article and it really gives an outstanding idea that is very helpful for all the people on web.
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