How to get a HOT SHOWER when LIVING in The WILDERNESS or REMOTE HOMESTEAD

     How to get a hot shower when living in the        wilderness or remote homestead.....

TRY HOMESTEADING OFF-GRID

If you have always wanted to try homesteading off the grid, you will find some easy ideas here that will help you get started with minimal costs.  Many of these ideas you can try right where you live, RIGHT NOW!

OFF GRID Hot Water Showers ...

We have tried a few different ideas here, and there are definitely a lot of good ideas out there to be tried.  Since winter is the time that wood stoves are burning day and night for the most part, the wood burning stove is looked to for the main source of providing hot water.  Any large pot or pan works well for heating water. (Do not use aluminum pans as heated aluminum can produce carbon monoxide).  You should use stainless steel, enamel ware, cast iron etc.  We use a large turkey roasting pan and some exceptionally large coffee pots for heating water on the top of the wood stove.  Once the water is heated (about 30-40 minutes) it can be transferred to a camp shower (these can be purchased for about $10 at hardware stores, Wal-mart, K-mart, Cabela's or other similar stores which carry camping supplies.

This shower works on gravity feed so the lowest end of the bag and the tube and nozzle must be above your head for it to function properly.  This might not be a problem in the forest when you can find a high limb to hang it from but you may discover that your ceiling is not high enough to accommodate  the length of the bag & tube w/shower head. Another draw back of the camp shower idea is that the bag is vinyl so is difficult to handle when it is full because it is not rigid. It is difficult to lift high enough above your head to hang on a hook when it is full (5 gal.= 35+ pounds)

Another method we have used very successfully is a simple hand pump pressurized tree sprayer about 3 gallons.  You simply add the hot water, pump the handle several times and use the spray wand for showering. This is still our favorite method in our wilderness traveling and hunting camps where electricity of any major kind is not possible due to the carry weight of batteries.

The pump sprayer is very effective, offers high pressure spray from a stream to a mist at your own discretion by turning the nozzle. Its nearly fool proof and also provides a container for carrying water.

A better home-made set up can be made with a (36"L x 24"D)shelf about head high on the bathroom wall over your tub. On the shelf (a wide wire closet shelf or wooden if you have planks handy) place a ($5)plastic tote (cut down to about 12" deep) on the shelf. Place a tabletop submersible fountain pump in the tote with the tube and shower head from the camp shower.  Cut the tube to just 16" (usually the maximum height a cheap ($15) tabletop fountain pump can handle.) The pump comes with an electric on/off switch that goes from the pump, up and over the edge of the tote and hangs down outside the tote.  Once you have filled the tote with comfortably warm water, you simply turn on the little pump and you have a decent 10-15 gallon shower. When the water runs out you immediately flick the little switch and turn the little pump off.  The advantage to this set up is that the tote is stationary and you fill it from a smaller vessel such as a coffee pot or pitcher or similar container. So no heavy lifting is required.  Also, it can be set up much lower than your existing ceiling because it is not gravity fed, it is fed by the electric pump.  The pump also provides light pressure, it makes your shower feel much more like the showers you are accustomed to.  The pump is very tiny and uses very little energy easily run by very small solar panels or light wind power, or your outlet.  Because you are heating the water on your wood stove you have saved much cost by not running your electric/gas water heater day and night.  

 Some folks place copper tubing around the stove pipe either inside or outside the pipe and connect a garden hose to one end and run the other end into a regular hot water tank (disconnected from electric or propane, this is just for storing hot water produced by the wood stove)  

The tank should be located behind or off the the side area of the wood stove. Then they run a garden hose from the tank to the shower and this works on a draw system.  We opted out of this method due to the cost of the copper tubing. This set up offers a very permanent set-up for cold climates where the wood stove is often in use on a daily basis.

If you live in a very hot climate you can acquire some black garden hose, 300-500 ft and weave it back and forth across your roof or even on the ground where it gets full sun all day and run this series of end to end hoses to your hot water pipe with an on/off T pipe to your faucet at your shower, where it can be mixed with the water coming from your cold faucet to a comfortable temperature,

(the water in these hoses can get extremely hot) and sent up to the shower head via the normal plumbing path.   If you wish to be able to use both your new solar hot water and your conventional hot water from your electric or gas water tank then simply install another on/off T pipe between your conventional hot water pipe and the T for your solar hot water so that you can shut off or turn on your conventional hot water at will.  

Easy solar power ...

Solar power is an easy to use alternative energy.  With all the costs coming down on components as more companies enter the production market.  Small inverters to convert your Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current -used in automobiles, to (AC)-used in houses are very affordable and can even be purchased at low end stores like Wal-mart for $50-$80. The inverter goes between your charging device like your car battery or solar panel and the cord you will be using to run your household items.  Inverters can be purchased up to about 3000 watts at common tool type stores or off line.  As the wattage capacity goes up, so does the price.  We use a 5 watt solar panel and a 400 watt inverter to run all of our lights and a radio at our deer camp.  The car battery charges during the day from our solar panel and we run the inverter, lights and radio off the battery during the evening and night.

How to COOK ON/USE A WOOD COOK STOVE ~The BEST part of WILDERNESS LIVING!

There are a variety of kitchen wood cook stoves, there is one for every decor or price range.  Ebay  is an excellent source for finding these old stoves.  I bought mine off a site called Craigslist.com for $400 it is a working class average housewife stove sold in the early 1800's.  It was in working order when I bought it but it did have a few welded repairs.  It is not UL listed of course due to its age, so if you plan to install one you should check you local ordinances.  I LOVE my stove and I find it very simple to use, although I had to really search the web to find info on how the dampers all work (there are 3 of them). The process is very simple once you understand their purposes, just like turning on the knobs on your gas range! 

 A Dedicated housewife jumps out of her nice warm cozy featherbed and plops her feet down on that COLD wooden floor, makes a dash for her slippers, opens the door to grab some frosty kindling to get that first crackling warm breakfast/morning coffee fire going,....

 NO, I'm just kidding, its not really like that, you don't have a featherbed, most likely its a straw stuffed futon.  You really dont plop your feet down on that COLD wooden floor, most likely there's an old wore out braided rug there but you sure are thankful for it on those cold mornings.  Your slippers are probably already on your feet because you wore them to bed the night before because the wooodstove burned out early due to a lack of firewood that wasnt brought into the house before dark and no one wanted to go out to fetch more. And hopefully you did stuff a few pieces of kindling into the corner for mornings just as this and your fire is already poppin' and crackling.  You can hear the steam rising in the coffee pot and it will be purculating any moment.  You're wondering if the hens have thawed out enough to lay a few eggs yet, as you toss another piece of wood on the fire and sit down in your rocking chair.  You prop your feet up on the open oven door to warm them as the first streams of sunlight wander in the window and the birds outside begin to flit about. Yeah. life is Good.

HOW To USE A WOOD COOKSTOVE

 I have more info I've written about cooking on a wood cookstove at:

Infobarrel - How to cook on wood cookstoves

There are generally 3 dampers on a wood cook stove...

I believe most folks think these dampers are the most intimidating part of using a wood cook stove.  There seems to be little information available on the world wide web on how to use these vintage stoves and their multiple dampers.   It seems that when the women of the late 1800's passed on, that their daughters, enthralled with the  new cooking technologies of gas ranges, deemed the knowledge of using wood cookstoves unnecessary to "modern" life.  So it seems in one generation, or maybe two, this practical self -sufficient knowledge was lost to future generations.

Now, about those dampers... There are generally 3 on most wood cookstoves.

 1st damper...There is a damper on the side of the firebox, this damper is generally left wide open (unless you are just wanting to keep a pot of dinner warm for a long period of time and want to keep the temperature very low.) For most all normal cooking situations you will want a hot fire so the firebox damper is left open to provide for good oxygen ventilation onto your fire. This damper should always be wide open when starting your fires.

 2nd damper...There is usually also a damper on your stove/range top or on the pipe near the range top.  This works just like the pipe damper on a regular wood burning stove, (if you already have experience with those this will be easy for you). This damper controls the temperature and rate of burn for your fire.  With this damper full open your fire will burn very hot and very quickly.  This damper is generally full open whenever you are starting your fire but is closed half to 3/4 of the way after the fire is going well and a few red coals are seen on the  fire grate below the fire. At this point the heat will begin building underneath your range top and around your oven.

3rd damper...Some wood cookstoves may only have the 2 dampers we already discussed, but many have a 3rd damper which controls the heat flowing around your oven and helps to regulate the temperature inside the oven.  This damper is usually found on the backside of the cookstove, sometimes behind the firebox.  When this damper is closed ALL of the heat from your fire circulates around the oven.  This heats up the interior of the oven. The more open this damper is the cooler your oven temperature becomes.  You must note however that regardless of this damper, if you have a rip-roaring fire going using high btu wood such as cherry, maple, or oak your oven is going to heat up very hot.  

DEALING WITH A TOO HOT OVEN...

There are several ways to deal with an overheating oven, first you will want to open the damper on the back of your cook stove to draw cool air into circulation around your oven. This will reduce the temperature slowly or help you maintain the desired temperature even as your fire increases if you are also cooking on the stove top.  Second, if you are only baking and don't have anything else cooking on the range top you can close the side firebox damper partway to reduce the flame and heat source, (you would be doing this in addition to opening the back damper for the oven) and this will make a moderate change in temperature or reduce the temperature to the desired temp needed if the preheated oven has become too hot.  Should you need to change the temp very quickly (your rolls are already turning brown but the inside dough is still gooey) if it got out of hand when you weren't looking, the obvious thing to do is open the oven door allowing the heat to escape quickly. Then work on adjusting your dampers.  

BAKING IN A WOOD COOK STOVE...

The joy of cooking on the stove top of a wood cookstove is that the oven is perpetually heated while cooking on top of the range, so there is virtually unlimited opportunity to bake during everyday cooking and meal preparation operations. Because most wood cook stove ovens are smaller than modern day gas/electric ovens there are a few techniques that you will find helpful in making your baking a success.  First, since the firebox is generally located to the side of the oven box you will find that this side of your oven gets hotter than the other.  This necessitates the "turning" of your baking pan or baking sheet halfway through the baking process to ensure even baking.  (If you are baking rolls or biscuits and want to avoid the hassle of "turning" the pan, you can make the rolls and biscuits smaller on the cool side of your pan and larger on the hot side to accommodate the temperature differences and still be finished baking at about the same time. Although the hot side biscuits and rolls will still be browned more than the cool side.) Cakes and pies MUST be turned 1/2 way through, (very gently to prevent your cake from "falling" in the center if using store bought cake mixes.) If I am baking casseroles and am using dishes or pans smaller than the average 11x13 cake pan I just make sure the dish is all the way over to the side of the oven opposite the fire box.  I also have found that I generally use the lowest rack in my oven as the top of the oven is quite a bit hotter than the bottom.  I find that cast iron baking pans help to have more even baking.

One last word on the oven... you will notice there is a tiny small thin door beneath your oven that generally has to be popped open/out with a flat tip screw driver or butter knife.  The purpose of this little door is to give you access to the airspace where the flame and hot air goes around your oven.  As the flame and hot air circulates it carries a small amount of ash with it.  This ash can build up underneath your oven as well as on top and along the sides which eventually build up and prevent your oven from heating evenly (at least as evenly as possible).  You open this little door to remove this ash from beneath your oven.  You remove the lids and range top pieces to gain access to the top and sides around your oven to clean the ash build-up from those areas.  

WHY DOES MY COOKSTOVE "SMOKE" SO BAD, IS THIS NORMAL?

Typically woodstoves smoke for a few reasons... If you have recently bought a brand new stove or recently re-blued or re-blacked an old one, the first fire you make in the stove will "cure" the black coating.  This curing should be done outside or with all the windows open and fans exhausting the fumes.  The occupants of the home should not be inside during the curing.  

There are some more common reasons wood stoves smoke, if they have not been used in a very long time (since last winter, or even years or decades) the stove may smoke terrible at first until soot builds up in the burner seams which effectively seals them in a short time (about an hour of good pine fire, similar to a smudge fire) after which they will not usually smoke anymore as the stove is in use regularly.  

An antique or vintage stove may smoke because time has warped the rangetop pieces so that they no longer fit tightly together.  (or perhaps they are not all the original pieces, but a collection of pieces that appear to fit together) Sooting may cure this as with the seasonal stove, but if the warping is too severe for sooting to seal the seams adequately then applying stove cement to the seam areas and then pressing the lids (oil the lid edges first) into the soft cement and letting the cement dry will give you a tight fit, then soot and use normally.  

A poor draft also can cause a stove to smoke.  There are a couple of reasons why your stove may have a poor draft... Check to make sure the pipe is not plugged with leaves, bird nests, or other debris. Make sure your pipe damper on your pipe or range top is open fully.   The other reason the stove may draft improperly may be because you have an antique cast iron stove whose body seams are not tight enough and you will see smoke billowing from these seams all around the oven, from underneath the range top etc.  You will need to fill these loose seams with stove putty or stove cement.  Once these seams are filled and dried the stove when relit should begin drafting properly with the stove pipe damper full open and the firebox damper full open.  

The last thing that causes cookstoves to smoke is backdraft on high windy days. The smoke is pushed back down the pipe and out the firebox damper into the room by the force of the wind.  The best way to deal with this situation is to build a very hot fire ...oak, cherry etc full open firebox damper and 1/3 closed pipe damper. It's not perfect but its tolerable.

FIRE SAFETY... Please check with your local fire marshall and township home heating inspector for their regulations and suggestions on properly installing your cookstove.  (Some antique cookstoves may not be allowed by your  local government due to a lack of UL Listing stamp...[they didnt have UL listing back in the 1800's] so they may not be permitted for installation.

We use a 3 foot empty circumference space around our wood stoves, with fireproof wall and floor materials, brick, stone, concrete etc. Pipes going through walls or ceilings should be in double insulated pipes...as per local regulation.  I've seen some folks also who installed a large square of sheet metal through which the pipe passes rather than directly through a regular wall or roof.  This seems like a well thought out idea as well.  Be sure your pipe is higher than the highest part of your roof. Also, if you have a choice, it seems that having your pipe on the downwind end of your home of the most typical prevailing wind in your area would also be a good idea so that the predominant amount of sparks are carried away from your dwelling by the wind.  A 1/2"x1/2" cage wire screen should be put around the space between the opening of your pipe and the hood at the end/top of your stove pipe to both keep birds out and sparks in for safety reasons. I hope you found this interesting and helpful.  I welcome your comments and stories relating to your experience with your cookstove!

When do you SHOVEL YOUR DRIVE when living in the wilderness?

When do you shovel your drive when living in the wilderness?

MAYBE THE QUESTION SHOULD BE, "WHY SHOVEL MY DRIVE?"

                                                                                                                                                               So it starts to snow, but no biggie, I have no desire to go anywhere. I'm sitting on

my couch, covered in a big fluffy blanket, with big fat wool socks on, a hot cup of cocoa in my hand. There is a big picture window with big fluffy flakes twirling down...

out of the sky.  There are birds flittering around my feeder just outside the window. There's a big plump red squirrel tackling the suet cake, circus style.  I feel quite content to do nothing and I'm not even feeling guilty about it!  I have

absolutely no desire to burst this bubble!

Hours later the snow is still falling in a steady stream and the inches are piling up outside. Eventually nature forces me out of the cabin on a small but significant hike to the outhouse, which is when it really dawns on me how deep the snow has become since morning.  I head back inside, careful to step in the same boot prints I made coming out to keep as much snow as possible  from cresting over the top of my boots on my return trip.

I arise the next morning to discover that Jack frost was up all night playing snow globe and there's an additional foot on top of the previous days snowfall.  I look at my truck, looking alot more like a ski hill than a 4x4 FORD, and give a brief but unsubstantial thought to the shovel leaning against the outhouse door... It looks like it has my name on it, but hard to tell from the window. Maybe it'll choose someone else if I ignore it long enough!  By noon I've decided that I need to at least shovel out the outhouse path and unbury the generator...just incase there's any emergency concerning either one.  I still give no thought to the driveway though. Still no desire to go anywhere. I do vaguely notice that I can just barely see the tops of the tires...

I've been busy baking, keeping warm and the snowflakes keep coming down. The sun is brightly shining through the veil of blizzardy snow flakes, so big they fall like waffles or kites from the sky wafting back and forth twirling as they fall. Its mesmerizing to watch them descend sparkling in the morning sunshine. How is it that the sun can shine so brightly with so many snowflakes crowding each other on their decent from the heavens?  Opening the door to throw out the dish water I notice a new accumulation of about 6 more inches!

I click on my cell phone to check the weather and the next 4 days show all snow. Hmmmm. Where did I see that shovel? I hear a noise... we rarely hear noise. Our road is remote and it ends at a very rarely traveled road. It sounds like a motor, it is! Its the county plow truck making a swath down our dead end trail, he courteously raises his blade by our drive so as not to plow more snow into the drive and we hear the thump of his blade come back down as he goes beyond the drive.  Its unusual for our trail to be plowed, so now we're worried...how MUCH snow are "they" expecting? At least the snow out on the road is now only 6" deep. (It is also a state snowmobile trail so they never plow the snow entirely off of it.) We didn't see the plow driver for a few more days, and the snow started really piling up.  Then we started to notice he went by every day, not sure why, but thought he might be wondering if he should stop in to check if everything's ok. (Folks do that up here). he must have hesitated to do so because smoke was always coming out of the chimney... but we did think that once the snow was over the bumpers of the 4x4 Pickup Truck it was probably "TIME TO SHOVEL THE DRIVEWAY"  So we and our 2 teenagers bundled up and got done digging around to find the shovels and had the drive cleared in an hour or so with the 4 of us making quick headway.  We must have relieved the plow driver because his passes by ceased til the next big storm. But I bet he was thinking..."WHEN DO YOU SHOVEL YOUR DRIVE?!"......