How Spiral Sun Solar Showers Work
The solar collectors used by the showers are of the passive type i.e. the water is heated directly by sunshine. Collectors of this type, of various different designs, have been around many years. For simply heating water they are far more efficient than the flat glassy plate types that make electricity (known as PV or photovoltaic panels or collectors).
In Spiral Sun Solar Showers the passive solar collectors are in the form of spirals of black plastic pipe. The colour black is used in all passive collectors because it efficiently absorbs all the sunlight’s energy and converts it into heat. This heat is passed onto the water inside the spirals of pipe and so heats it up.
The spiral solar collectors are housed inside the solar collector tent. Six are on the floor of the tent in a ring around the inside shower cubicle.
The seventh spiral forms the roof of the inner shower cubicle.
The outer cover of the solar collector tent is made of clear polythene and so acts as a greenhouse. This traps and concentrates the power of the sunshine making the solar collectors more effective, as well as warming up the inner cubicle. The inner cubicle is made from opaque lilac shower curtain. It is hung up around the outer edge of the upper spiral, as in the picture above and so provides a private inner cubicle. Each solar collector tent contains nearly a 1/4-mile of collector pipe.
The energy for forcing the water out of the shower heads is provided either by the pressure in the site water supply system or by 12v pump.
