Tipi Village Glastonbury 2010

Showers with style that show you care about the environment and the users experience.

Unfortunately Spiral sun solar showers will not be running this year. Thank you for your interest and best wishes. David Wick

Spiral Sun Solar Showers have been specially designed to bring a touch of eco luxury to festivals and other outdoor events. To show that environmentally friendly technology can be aesthetically pleasing, affordable, effective and pleasant to use.

Spiral Sun’s unique system of in the cubicle solar collectors, wood fired back up boilers and reserve water tanks mean that in poor weather or even if the site water supply fails, your users can continue to shower. – see Performance below and How it Works for more info.

All set up and ready to go

Back of queue next morning

And another in better weather from a few years ago. Canyon Field Big Green Gathering 2007

Performance

Spiral Sun Solar Shower performance is comparable to gas powered trailer/electric powered portaloo types with the following exceptions:

Water Usage: This is only about 1/3 or less of most gas powered trailer types which often use powerful 240V pumps to provide a “power shower” using about 80 – 100 Lt of water per shower compared to our 20 – 30 Lt per shower.

Reserve Water Tanks: We have reserve water tanks sufficient for at least ½ days running at full capacity (should your site supply suffer problems). We know of no other shower business providing this facility.

Waste Water Disposal: This is therefore also less in the same proportions as usage – what you use you must also dispose of. This greatly reduces the demand on the events infrastructure.

240V Power: This is not required by Spiral Sun Solar Showers. Power for our pumps is provided by a combination of battery pack charging in transit (i.e. from the alternator of the vehicle transporting the equipment between festivals) and Photovoltaic (PV) panels when on site.

Gas: This is not required by our showers although we do use a little of our own for crew cooking.

Wood: This is required to provide hot water in early mornings and poor weather. Wood is of course Carbon Neutral. See Site Requirements for more info.

Carbon Footprint of Transportation: The light weight design of the showers minimises the Carbon Footprint of transporting the Showers between festivals.

Reliability: Our record is second to none, largely due to the purpose built design of the showers (as opposed to the use of ordinary domestic technology in the case of gas fired boilers and electric shower units). We also carry a full range of spares and experienced crew able fix any problems.

Design

The basic unit is a tipi like structure containing solar collectors and a shower cubicle

Once inside and the curtain pulled too the user has complete privacy and is provided with the usual shower head, mixer tap, mirror and soap dish. A rope ladder arrangement by the entrance is for hanging clothes, towel etc.

Each solar shower easily makes enough hot water to run another shower head in sunny weather, this takes the form of an attached Al Fresco cubicle.

The outside cubicle uses the same hot and cold water supply as the inner one, has the same type of shower head, mixer tap etc. and is a delight to use in fine weather. Privacy is ensured by rubber bungee cords holding the entrance closed at all times. Both cubicles may be used at the same time. A solar shower tent and its outside cubicle is called a unit.

User Numbers
The number of showers the system can provide is similar to other mobile showers i.e. about 6 an hour per cubicle. If the minimum of 2 units (4 cubicles) are hired this is about 250 showers a day or 500 showers a day if 4 units (8 cubicles) are hired.

Crew
Full time attendants ensure the novel layout doesn’t phase first time users and that the highest standards of hygiene are maintained. Experienced full time rigger/operators and the tried and tested equipment ensure an excellent record of smooth running in all conditions.

Biodegradable Soaps Only
To minimise the environmental impact of waste water only biodegradable soaps may be used in the showers. A general purpose shampoo/body wash is provided free for customers not having their own.