Bathing in pool - impact?

[AnnaK]

This is a serious question, really.

Irene has left us without power and, according to our electric supplier, it will be days before they can fix us up. I've been working all day clearing a downed tree and debris and I really REALLY need a shower. The pool water is cold, yes, but at this point I'd put up with just about anything just to wash my hair and body.

There are alternatives: I can bring in a bucket of water, heat it on the propane stove, wash my hair and do a sponge bath. I could drive to a beauty shop and have them wash my hair except I'm trying to conserve gasoline so I can use it in the generator if I run out. I could just check into a motel for the duration.

But if I wanted to use the pool as a big tub, what negative effects could I expect from soap and shampoo? The pool pump is NOT on, of course, and there is no filtration at present.

[waste]

Hi Anna

I'm not sure but I don't think a little soap and shampoo will hurt much. However, I know when a box of laundry detergent gets dumped in a small pool, the easiest thing to do is drain, rinse and refill.

What you might do is take a dip in the pool then get out and apply the soap/ shampoo and rinse most of it off with water that you heated on the propane stove and then take another dip in the pool to make sure that all the soap is off (leaving soap on your skin can cause various forms of dermatitis - my dad is a dermatologist )

I hope you get your power back soon and have a good bath

[CarlD]

I would think the more soap `detergent you put into the pool, the worse it will get and the harder it will be to clean up. Better off to set the water in the sun to warm up. Too bad you don't have solar panels you could drain. The camping stores sell a "Sun Shower" but you'd have to drive to get it.

Carl

[AnnaK]

Thanks for your ideas! There's a good way of combining them and make it work. Set a big tub of water, one of those red or blue ones from the hardware store, in the sun to semi-warm up. Take a dip in the pool to get wet. Use the warmish water to soap up, wash hair, rinse. Get back in the pool to wash off the remainder of the soaps.

Yeah, solar panels. How I wish! But there just is no good place to put them with our setup. I have most of my refrigerator stuff in the camper fridge which runs on propane. It has a shower but dang it, the water tanks are empty and I have no way of filling them.

[CarlD]

"It has a shower but dang it, the water tanks are empty and I have no way of filling them. "

Sump pump via the generator and fill with pool water?

[AnnaK]

Good idea but now moot. The power came back on last evening, two days ahead of their anticipated schedule. I'm drinking "real" coffee instead of the brew produced by the old camping stove percolator.

Running the siphon hose downhill from the pool produced some very hot water these past few days. I was surprised how quickly the sun heated the water in the black hoses. No wonder people use solar heat!

I'm phasing in the various appliances and pumps slowly. The well pump and house chlorination system got turned back on last night on their breakers, as did the two freezers. This morning I plugged in the fridge/freezer and as soon as it's cold I'll move the perishables back in from the RV. We lost about $150 worth of condiments, the sort of stuff that collects in the door shelves of the fridge that you forget about after a while. It was mostly all way past its use-by date anyway.

Today I'll bleach the pool, will brush it, and run the pump for a few hours. Most of the leaves got scooped out and the water is still clear despite not having been filtered since Sunday. BBB rocks!

I've never been in such an extended power outage and I learned a lot, much of it having to do with self-reliance, creative improvisations, and must-have items during a power outage. It's been interesting.

[CarlD]

"We lost about $150 worth of condiments, the sort of stuff that collects in the door shelves of the fridge that you forget about after a while. It was mostly all way past its use-by date anyway. "

I saw this and nearly spewed my drink all over my screen!

Sounds like the silver lining of the cloud!