How do you save water when boondocking or overlanding in your RV? This is a common question that we all seem to have. I think one of the biggest uses of water is taking showers but I’m not willing to give up feeling clean just to be able to stay out longer.

We found a solution to saving a tremendous amount of water while boondocking while also not compromising on a daily shower through a gadget we bought at the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show from Geyser Systems.

RV boondocking in the Anza Borrego desert amid the sculptures

What is boondocking or overlanding?

Boondocking or overlanding is camping off the grid, simple as that. Where you boondock can be anywhere from your aunt’s driveway to parking way out away from others in some remote area. Boondocking is our favorite way to camp simply because we usually are further from other RVs and have more open space around us.

But we also moochdock, camping in the driveway of a friend or relative, quite a bit. This gives us our own little house on wheels but right outside the front door of people we truly enjoy seeing.

There are also some RV parks where there are no services. This can be boondocking too, or at least try out the same skills and challenges you would experience while boondocking. We recently got to spend five days and four nights off the grid in this oceanside RV park and have this story about how our solar and lithium systems enabled that.

Listen to our podcast with Geyser Systems inventor Jonathan Ballesterors

The problem with off-grid camping

With the increased performance of solar and lithium battery systems in RVs the problem of where to get power is lessening. The next challenge is extending the holding tanks in your RV and we finally found a solution for that.

Geyser Systems is a company that makes what can best be described as a replacement shower head for homes or RVs. Essentially you simply unscrew your RV’s shower head and replace it with this and, the company claims, you can take a complete shower with under one gallon of water used.

The way this works is that there’s a thin tube that’s attached to the end of your shower’s hose instead of your RV’s shower head. This tube has a rubber base near the top and you put Geyser’s specific sponges over that tube. The base holds it in place.

You then use Geyser’s replacement valve to allow as much, or as little, water inside the sponge as you like and use that sponge instead of spraying water from your shower head. You can rub a bar of soap on the sponge or we use shower gel.

After Peggy installed this while I was writing something, we both eagerly anticipated the shower the next day.

Peggy showing off the Geyser shower system sponge.jpg

The Geyser diverter valve allows you to vary the amount of water you use - we plumbed ours into our existing shower system.jpg

The Geyser system head easily goes into the sponges provided and each user can have their own easily-changable sponge.jpg

The Geyser System uses a tube inside a sponge to replace the traditional shower and you can vary the amount of water that gets to the sponge.jpg

The Geyser system uses a tube with a special head which you cover with a sponge.jpg

Is the Geyser EcoShower good?

The big question - how was the experience? In a word, great. The way you can vary the amount of water going into the sponge makes using the system absolutely fantastic to me. In fact, not having water spraying all over the place is something I like better than a normal shower. It only took me two days of showers to realize this is a superior experience to a regular shower.

At least to my way of thinking.

Peggy has a different way of thinking. She doesn’t dislike the product or the experience but still prefers the more traditional shower head shower. However she also doesn’t find the experience of using this system unpleasant at all.

So in our family I am probably going to use the Geyser shower system at home and on the road whereas Peggy is more likely to use a traditional shower when we have hook-ups or at home and the Geyser system when we’re trying to extend the capability of the holding tanks.

I just like the precision this offers and I feel my showers are a bit faster, too.

How much water can you save?

So far we had a full (54 gallon) holding tank at the start of having this system installed in our camper. At this point we have each taken three showers and done dishes and all the usual things you use water for. At this point we have only used whatever one indicator light on the fresh water tank, leaving three remaining.

This is remarkably less water usage than would normally be the case. Typically we can extend our 54 gallon fresh water tank to about four days of showers. Instead, it seems that we can extend it much, much further than that.

Of course less water consumed also means less water directed to our gray water tank as well. That compounds how long we can stay out off the grid.

Other considerations

We got to speak with the inventor of this product, Jonathan Ballesteros, about how this came to be. Essentially he was a van camper and wanted to clean up for a date, but didn’t have a shower handy.

Ballesteros has experience in working in medical appliances so he knows how to create things. As soon as he told us this part of his background it was immediately apparent why the quality of all the fittings and pieces of this system were of such high quality.

Honestly this really feels like a well made piece.

The Geyser Shower System

If you get one of their RV shower systems it comes with the fittings to replace your shower head including a hose that simply replaces the one in your RV. This can easily be done just with your hands.

It also comes with three sponge heads, each of different color. Coincidentally ours had colors to match our towels so it is easy to have one for me and one for Peggy.

The system also has a diverter valve so you can vary the amount of water going into the sponge.

More options

Interestingly Geyser Systems also has a fully self-contained shower system that might be great for people in vans or tents. In fact you could use this with the Privy Bivy privacy tent that we have to create a full outdoor shower.

The self-contained system comes in two varieties, one with a built-in water heater and one without. Their self-contained system also has a built-in water pump so you can use it to actually facilitate a shower without needing other systems. It does use a standard household outlet, though, but you can easily accomplish this with something like this portable power station.

Since there’s really no splashing with this you could quite literally use it inside a van while standing in a portable tote of some sort which would absolutely be a game changer. For example if you got one of the Wayfarer Vans we reviewed recently, this is absolutely the perfect way to create a shower.

Coincidentally both Wayfarer Vans and Geyser Systems are Colorado companies.

A few more considerations

As for installation, Peggy figured out how to use the diverter valve so that our RV shower head was still in the system as was the valve for the Geyser System. We also have a Shower Miser water saving feature in our RV where the water is redirected back into the fresh water tank as we wait for the shower water to get hot. It’s another great water saving feature.

We also have friends who bought one of these systems for their RV which has a tankless (on demand) water heater. Unfortunately the very small amount of water this uses means that there isn’t always enough demand to kick on the water heater so that might be a consideration if you have such an appliance.

As mentioned, I am absolutely thrilled with this on every level. The quality of the build and materials, the experience in using it and the fact that it saves a tremendous amount of water. If you enjoy boondocking or just want to help save water or reduce your water bill this device might be just what you’re looking for.