Shower Evap Ponds during the windstorm

[huggima]

Hey folks, has anyone had experience with dealing with wind/dust storms majorly affecting your solar showers evap ponds? Does the water fly out everywhere? If it stays put but the ponds get filled with dust, do you take all the mucky playa goo home in trash bags? Does it help with the evap process to have the greywater get dusty? Thanks!

[some seeing eye]

Dust gets in the water. That makes your nice black pond a light color, much less evaporation. Yes greywater mud in trash bags. So suggest something like this:

or
http://www.instructables.com/id/Gray-B-Gon-wind-powered-evapotron-for-graywater-di/

The systems above will scatter droplets in a windstorm, so I wouldn't put it next to your lounge or kitchen.

[dragonpilot]

The evap ponds that are more like pools are barely OK. You'll still be left with the messy job of scooping out the swamp on your last day and taking the mess home with you....along with cigarette butts and other trash inconsiderates (noun) have deposited in your pond.

The ponds that seem to do a better job are like the one above where the water is lifted and exposed to more air. Of course these require more time, work, and money...not to mention a bit of ingenuity.

Google: "evaporation ponds eplaya" for some interesting reading.

[Trishntek]

We give our pond a regular sweep with a push broom to spread the water over the relatively dry areas of the black plastic liner. We also hang a cotton blanket with one end in the water to wick the water out of the pond to enhance evaporation.

I do end up bringing back grey water in 5 gallon buckets, but what the hell, that's where it came from in the first place!

[HandJamMasterC]

" We give our pond a regular sweep with a push broom to spread the water over the relatively dry areas of the black plastic liner " - same here. With a big enough pond ( ours is 10' x 4' ) the water, dust and everything dries up by Monday if you don't overload it with too much water at one time, and I just roll up the plastic sheeting and throw it away when I get home. Hell, I had to buy a 10' x 500' roll of plastic. That's a lot of evap ponds and Burns !!

[Homiesinheaven]

yep, the key is in how much water you use. if you and your camp are mindful of not taking long showers and not filling the pond with tons of water then you should be fine. like Trishntek mentioned, tending to the pond every morning and using towels or a soaking material will help the water evaporate. i've had 95-100% evaporation each year:

[Trishntek]

As-far-as showers go, we like the garden sprayer buddy approach.

[delle]

We also hang a cotton blanket with one end in the water to wick the water out of the pond to enhance evaporation.

BRILLIANT.

[AntiM]

we only have a small evap pan, I think the type used for mixing concrete. Does okay, but we don't take full showers, we too use the garden sprayer routine. We have to hide our pan at night, people like to dump their water into it when they think no one is looking. We had to pour the greywater into a jug to take it home twice. Pretti nasti.

[MyDearFriend]

As-far-as showers go, we like the garden sprayer buddy approach.

we only have a small evap pan, I think the type used for mixing concrete. Does okay, but we don't take full showers, we too use the garden sprayer routine. We have to hide our pan at night, people like to dump their water into it when they think no one is looking. We had to pour the greywater into a jug to take it home twice. Pretti nasti.

The garden sprayer method is much more fun and way better at cleaning, if you put a little vinegar in the water. Stand on a towel to bathe, hang the towel to dry, no grey water at all.

[Dr. Pyro]

AntiM, MDF, you ladies do know that we have a full shower that actually runs electrically so you can get clean, right? We even supply loufahs! Rumor has it Moto Stu is going to build a new shower that will be on the end of our 16' trailer we just bought, complete with privacy sides. (If you want everyone to see you in the shower, just don't close the curtain.) We'll have another 300 gallons of water, which should last until about Wednesday (prior to recycling of melted ice water). It just doesn't suck being us. But we do need a new evap pond however.

[Trishntek]

Get clean? Really?? You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!

[AntiM]

AntiM, MDF, you ladies do know that we have a full shower that actually runs electrically so you can get clean, right? We even supply loufahs! Rumor has it Moto Stu is going to build a new shower that will be on the end of our 16' trailer we just bought, complete with privacy sides. (If you want everyone to see you in the shower, just don't close the curtain.) We'll have another 300 gallons of water, which should last until about Wednesday (prior to recycling of melted ice water). It just doesn't suck being us. But we do need a new evap pond however.

I do know. However, small question... is there a shower wand which will get up under a lady's undercarriage? Personally, I need to wash not only from the top down, but also from the bottom up. I'll likely wash my hair come Monday or Tuesday in the real shower, but the sprayer gets in delight nooks and crannies a top down only shower does not serve. And it takes an assistant, which really enhances the shower experience.

There, TMI requirement fulfilled.

[Bay Bridge Sue]

AntiM: +123.5! I have a pressure tank (hudson sprayer) with a kitchen sprayer for cleaning the "undercarriage" bits... I aso have this geegaw I got from a hospital decades ago (I think it dates back to my daughter's birth) called a PerioBottle - It's a squeeze bottle with a sprayer head on the end just FOR this necessity. VERY cool playa gear, if I could find a case or 2 I'd get them to give away!

[trilobyte]

There's no escaping the dust.

[Homiesinheaven]

hahahaha. good to see the old eplaya users still hijacking posts.

[Eldon McMullen]

I use about 2 gallons of water for a complete shower. Of course I have very short hair and not much of it. I have a 2 gallon garden sprayer that pumps up. sometimes it runs out of air in the middle of rinsing but its easy to recharge with a two handle pump. I start with my head and buy the time I'm down to my feet most of the water has already evaporated. Iv'e never been on the Playa so I may have a lot to learn. I plan on having a 10 by twenty evaporation pan with a large carpet in it. I will use it as a place to sit in a lawn chair when its hot because the water evaporating will cool the air imediatly above the carpet. See you in the mud. Mac

[Trishntek]

OMG!! I just had an EPIPHANY! What if we installed a sort of bidet at Retrofrolic? Would this be something desired?

I'm sure there's room in my tent for it!

[AntiM]

OMG!! I just had an EPIPHANY! What if we installed a sort of bidet at Retrofrolic? Would this be something desired?

I'm sure there's room in my tent for it!

First time I used a bidet, I was 14, in Paris, and my feet were nearly frozen. I knew what is was for, but it made the bestest foot bath ever.

but a real bidet? Oh hells yes.

[Marks71]

I never got clean showering in a wind storm and mud won't evaporate.
Close the shower down when the wind comes up and cover it with a plastic tarp and tie it off. Because of the weight of the mud/water you can't put that much in a trash bag even if you double it. One year I had to load out 18 bags of the stuff and it's a lot less work to just not offer a shower if the wind is blowing. Marcus

[Trishntek]

I never got clean showering in a wind storm and mud won't evaporate.
Close the shower down when the wind comes up and cover it with a plastic tarp and tie it off. Because of the weight of the mud/water you can't put that much in a trash bag even if you double it. One year I had to load out 18 bags of the stuff and it's a lot less work to just not offer a shower if the wind is blowing. Marcus

Oh sure! get back to the OP why doncha!

So if I could combine a Queening Chair with the option of bidet-like service, it just might be appreciated? Or am I just overthinking something baby wipes can handle?

I was thinking of a lemon water spray, scrub scrub rub, and rinse with a bidet-like spray of rinse water. Whatchathink?

[theCryptofishist]

Oh sure! get back to the OP why doncha!

Signs that I'm drunk: Reading that as get back to the OP whiney douche.

(and I hate the word "douche".)

[theCryptofishist]

OMG!! I just had an EPIPHANY! What if we installed a sort of bidet at Retrofrolic? Would this be something desired?

I'm sure there's room in my tent for it!

First time I used a bidet, I was 14, in Paris, and my feet were nearly frozen. I knew what is was for, but it made the bestest foot bath ever.

but a real bidet? Oh hells yes.

When I was nine in Amsterdam they told me it was a footbath...

[Trishntek]

I give the greatest foot baths ever,,, everyday on the playa between 2 and 6

[theCryptofishist]

I'll be there.

[Trishntek]

I'll be there.

I would thoroughly enjoy giving you a heavenly hand wash and massage fishy.

[MyDearFriend]

AntiM, MDF, you ladies do know that we have a full shower that actually runs electrically so you can get clean, right? We even supply loufahs! Rumor has it Moto Stu is going to build a new shower that will be on the end of our 16' trailer we just bought, complete with privacy sides. (If you want everyone to see you in the shower, just don't close the curtain.) We'll have another 300 gallons of water, which should last until about Wednesday (prior to recycling of melted ice water). It just doesn't suck being us. But we do need a new evap pond however.

I do know. However, small question... is there a shower wand which will get up under a lady's undercarriage? Personally, I need to wash not only from the top down, but also from the bottom up. I'll likely wash my hair come Monday or Tuesday in the real shower, but the sprayer gets in delight nooks and crannies a top down only shower does not serve. And it takes an assistant, which really enhances the shower experience.

There, TMI requirement fulfilled.

Yes, well, yes Doc I used the lovely BDC shower twice last year but, must say that being in there by myself was not as much fun as using the sprayer with a friend. Though the shower head does move around and spray nicely upwards, AntiM. Or at least it did we will have to see this new arrangement.

I give the greatest foot baths ever,,, everyday on the playa between 2 and 6

*makes a note*

I can bring a friend, right?

[tamarakay]

AntiM last year the shower at BDC was plenty big enough for two or three people at a time. And it had a hand help sprayer for the undercarriage bits that worked beautifully with or without an assistant. But of course assistants make it the bomb. And since Stu is making the new shower, I have no concerns that it won't remain plenty large enough for company.

[CornMan]

Maybe it would work to just run grey water through a solar powered swamp cooler with the cool air blowing away to the open air like the exhaust of a generator. A decent swamp cooler can evaporate several gallons of water per hour in BRC's dry air.

[theCryptofishist]

I think the problem then becomes filtering the water so the innards don't clog up.
I'm also not sure what happens with germs. Maybe the evaporation kills them before they have time to breed and find damp crannies to hide in.