I'd like to add an outdoor shower on my patio, immediately behind the elevated sink in my garage. Nothing fancy, just hot and cold water. It doesn't even need to be pretty, but I will need to be able to drain the pipes before the New England winter.
How do I do this?
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
That was fun to watch, but I just really need to see the plumbing side of it. I'll need a mixing valve for hot and cold water, and a way to drain it for the winter. There's already a patio there, and I'm not concerned about the privacy barrier.
I think having the drains on the inside might be best so that when it is shut off you have no water going to the outside at all.
I'm not sure how much detail you're looking for. Plumb it like a normal shower but with shutoff valves indoors and drains outdoors. Also, I'd plan on pulling the mixing valve in the winter. I've got a couple of decades of experience winterizing a children's camp and pulling the valves is the only %100 reliable way we've found to prevent issues with them in the spring.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:In reply to 1988RedT2 :
... and I'm not concerned about the privacy barrier.
Good Lord, man! Think of your neighbors! 
I'm not sure if this is helpful for your particular application but when we had our house built, the wife (or the contractor at the insistence of the wife) found an oudoor hot and cold freezeproof setup so she can bathe her high-maintenance horses all year round. I'll come back and post a photo momentarily.
It has the freezeproof part. It's not a shower mix valve, though.
On edit after looking at the photo: I see no reason it would not function just fine as a shower mix valve. They may be 1/4 turn valves, though, so it might be a bit touchy.
You could do it with frost-free sillcocks and disconnect the hose before winter, but I would plumb it inside and use the sink as your drain.
Kinda like this
I would take the valves off the service lines under the sink and put two tees and two additional service valves. Plumb the two extras up behind the sink to tees with two more valves.
For the winter, turn off the service valves at the bottom, go outside and open the shower valve, then go inside and open the valves above the sink allowing the shower water to drain into the sink. I strongly suggest Pex as it is terrible at conducting heat. Copper has a tendency to wick heat outside much further upstream on the pipe.
For a simpler version of this you could skip the tees/ball valves over the sink and just use a threaded 3/4 hose. When winter comes, just turn off the shower supply and loosen the hoses.
ClemSparks said:I'm not sure if this is helpful for your particular application but when we had our house built, the wife (or the contractor at the insistence of the wife) found an oudoor hot and cold freezeproof setup so she can bathe her high-maintenance horses all year round. I'll come back and post a photo momentarily.
It has the freezeproof part. It's not a shower mix valve, though.
On edit after looking at the photo: I see no reason it would not function just fine as a shower mix valve. They may be 1/4 turn valves, though, so it might be a bit touchy.
Oh... This might be the ticket. Then get a short section of rubber garden hose and fab up an aerial with a shower head.
You'll have to check your local recommendations. Frost-free sillcocks are sold in certain lengths. I think I recal in PA they recommend a minimum of 8". Might be tough to get the sillcock high enough to be convenient without it sticking in your face at the sink inside.
We've got the hot/cold mixing frost proof sillcocks in our garage and barn, and they should work fine for a shower. Establishing the desired temperature is a bit fussy, especially with a long hose, but that shouldn't be a problem for whatever you might hook up for a shower.
We use them for washing dogs and horses.
Also, my parents found out, living in New Mexico, that you're better off removing the shower head and bringing it in from freezing weather even if you've drained the line to it.
Of course, part of their problem was water being trapped in the head by the lime build up from the very hard water they had.
Put a T in the existing lines, run one side to the sink, and the other side through the wall to the frost free hose bib, then do something like this
On October 1st, disconnect the hose.
1988RedT2 said:Woody (Forum Supportum) said:In reply to 1988RedT2 :
... and I'm not concerned about the privacy barrier.
Good Lord, man! Think of your neighbors!
I really don't care if the neighbors get a peek at my glistening Hogan after I mow the lawn.
At our local beach they had showers where you pushed the button and the water stayed on for 3 minutes or so and then turned off ......any idea what that valve is called ?
#2 can you have an on-off valve that has a lever that is activated by pulling a rope , pull the rope "Water" , let go and a spring closes the valve , There was something like this at a campsite 30 years ago , but I also never knew what the valve was called :) ,
thanks for the info
ClemSparks said:I'm not sure if this is helpful for your particular application but when we had our house built, the wife (or the contractor at the insistence of the wife) found an oudoor hot and cold freezeproof setup so she can bathe her high-maintenance horses all year round. I'll come back and post a photo momentarily.
It has the freezeproof part. It's not a shower mix valve, though.
On edit after looking at the photo: I see no reason it would not function just fine as a shower mix valve. They may be 1/4 turn valves, though, so it might be a bit touchy.
Had I known that these existed, I would have installed one when I built the house!
In reply to Steve_Jones :
I'd really rather use copper, or maybe Pex, as garden hoses tend to smell funky after a while.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:In reply to Steve_Jones :
I'd really rather use copper, or maybe Pex, as garden hoses tend to smell funky after a while.
I agree, just giving you the idea. Pex is how I'd go. I'd still just have it so you can just unscrew it from the hose bib for the winter.
Pex FTW. Easier to work with, no intermediate joints, tolerant of some freezing.
I have one of those Woodford valves (single circuit) on my house. It is basically impossible to turn off without leaking by design, even when freshly rebuit. But as long as you're okay with the immediate area getting wet, it seems to be a good choice. It's been on our house for nearly 40 years and I see no signs of anyone having to go spelunking to change it out.
Ours is not quarter turn so that technology exists.
this was the inspiration for the outdoor shower I made out of copper.
I put a drain in ours so we could use shampoo and soap and not just run that crap into the ground.
it was a big project but completely worth it.
the 1/4 turn valves aren't bad. We turn the hot all the way on and adjust the cold and adjust the volume with whichever accessory we want to use.
the only down side is you need to make sure the supply valves are turned completely off or you could possibly get some strange behavior.
I'll try to dig up what ours ended up like
For now, I'm going to start with one of these and cold water only, using the existing hose valve.
Step Two might be adding one of those Hot/Cold Woodford valves, and Step Three would be something more permanent.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:For now, I'm going to start with one of these and cold water only, using the existing hose valve.
Step Two might be adding one of those Hot/Cold Woodford valves, and Step Three would be something more permanent.
Just opened the package, and this thing is complete garbage.
There is no dollar amout that this item is worth.
Maybe I'm missing something, but why not mount a shower valve inside the garage (assuming it's heated) and fab up and extension for the temp/flow control that extends through the wall?
If you use the style that works with a tub spout that controls flow (pull knob in spout to activate shower), then you could plumb the shower head through the wall up high, and the tub spout down low as a foot wash.
When you shut the water off for the shower, the tub spout should open and allow the water in the line to the shower head to drain.
in edit: looks like APEowner suggested a similar approach. You could even fab up a cover inside the garage to hide the pipes if a concern.
Garage is not heated. I turn off the water supply in the winter.
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