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The Benefits of a Solar Heated Shower

There are few things that feel better than a nice warm shower. Showers are a place where we can be free to sing out loud, get in some quality deep thinking, and just relax. A traditional shower, however, can cost an average of fifty dollars a month per person for just ten minutes a day. The more devastating cost of a hot shower is the hundreds of pounds of carbon emissions that a family will produce every month. It takes a lot of energy to heat a shower, and that energy all adds to your carbon footprint. Luckily, there are alternatives to gas and electric heating that you can incorporate into your home. A solar heated shower can give you the hot, relaxing shower you desire without ever adding a single pound of emissions due to heating. And, a solar heated shower can be installed with only basic plumbing and carpentry skills.

The water from a typical solar shower sits inside a cistern. The inside of the cistern is painted black to absorb as much heat from the sun as possible. When the sun beats down on the water the black lining absorbs the heat and, when it is pumped into the shower, it can reach well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. If the water is being pumped in from an outside source, and not just collected from rainwater, a glass cover can be placed over the top to focus the rays from the sun, making your water even hotter. There are a lot of benefits to owning a solar shower.

Low Cost

Because solar showers don’t rely on electricity or gas to heat the water they start to save you money the first time that you use them. Your savings get even higher if you connect them to a gravity fed source of water or simply collect rainwater to fill them up. Getting your water this way reduce your need for electricity to pump the water, or paying for water from the city.

As Simple or Complex as You Like

A solar heated shower can be as rudimentary or complex as you like. A solar powered camping shower, for instance, consists of nothing more than a heavy-duty black plastic bag coupled with a hose that can be set up in a matter of seconds. A more advanced solar shower could be installed in your home and used from summer through winter. The possibilities for a solar shower are only limited by your imagination.

Good For Your Hair and Skin

Using a solar shower can protect both your skin and hair. A gas or electrically heated shower can get extremely hot, and that can mess with your body in some ways you may not have ever given thought to before. If you are someone who enjoys taking a daily hot shower then you are probably doing irreversible damage to your hair and skin by washing away your body’s natural chemicals. Without those chemicals, they will dry out, and that can lead to rashes, gray hair, and even premature hair loss. And, while a solar shower does get warm it will rarely get to temperatures so hot that it could do the kind of damage a traditionally heated shower could.

Good For the Environment

Whether you’re currently heating your shower through electricity or gas, you are still releasing harmful carbons into the environment. By using solar powered to heat your water you negate any ill effects a normal shower would have on the environment. Solar power is the cleanest most abundant source of energy available, and with a solar heated shower, you don’t even have to install any solar panels to take advantage of it.

A solar heated shower is a great addition to anyone’s house or backyard pool. They are economical, easy to install and much better for the environment than a traditional shower. If you want to keep enjoying long, warm showers without feeling guilty about the damage it will do to the environment, or your wallet, then a solar heated shower is something worth looking into.

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