Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When my water heater went out 2 weeks ago, I had no choice but to heat water from my electric kettle and a bowl of water in the microwave (both going at the same time). I filled my bath tub halfway with cold water, and the other half with the manually heated water. It took an hour and a half before the tub reached a desirable temperature suitable for bathing. I was so exhausted after making several trips back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom. I really didn't enjoy my bath because after washing my hair, I was bathing in shampoo water and it felt disgusting and like I wasn't getting myself clean and rinsed off. Well, 2 weeks of this nonsense was driving me crazy!! I thought about going to the Pilot truck stop because I heard they have clean showers set up like a hotel room and you don't have to be a truck driver to use them; you simply pay $7 per shower. But that can add up daily. The next thing that came to mind was to join a gym and just shower up there after a nice workout, but I would have to pay a $60 fee upfront and sign up for auto-payment using my checking account at $20 per month after that. Sounds like a simple solution right? Well, it is if you're not on a tight budget like I am right now. I would love to purchase a new hot water heater, but at $600 tops for the one I need (unit, delivery, installation) it is going to have to remain on my "to do" list a little bit longer. So I decided to do some internet surfing on my favorite Amazon website and searched for portable showers and came across this unit. It sounded wonderful, and I made sure I read the reviews first before purchasing. It received great reviews so I added it to my cart and even paid an extra $10 for same day delivery (to break the madness of not having a clean shower, of course). It arrived about 6 hours later and was very easy to assemble. It comes with a USB cable to charge on your computer, so I plugged it in and headed off to a birthday party. By the time I got home, it was fully charged and ready to give it a "test drive". I used a 5 gal bucket I had purchased at Wal-Mart earlier for $3. It only took me 20 min to heat the bucket compared to 1 1/2 hour. Drop the pump into the water, turn it on, and you get a nice flowing shower. The shower head is actually larger than my current hand-held brand so I am getting more shower water with this one. Not knowing what to expect from this gadget, I kept thinking it would drain my bucket water quickly and I would be stuck wearing soap suds (a cold water rinse was not in the plan). But to my surprise, it slowly drained the water and I had more than enough left over that I just stood there and enjoyed the water (make sure to power off when soaping up). I went to bed a very happy CLEAN camper!! The next day, I bought a second 5 gal bucket with a lid (to hold the water temp in while not in use), a 5 gal solar shower bag ($10). Now before I go to work: 1) I fill the shower bag in the morning 2) set it directly in the sun 3) fill both buckets half full from the faucet so it reaches room temp by the time I get home. I get home and empty the shower bag into both buckets (both filled to the rim). The water is really warm from sitting in the sun all day (8.5 hrs). I put the lid on the second bucket until ready to use. Shower with the first bucket, remove lid from second and wash hair. I don't run out of water this way because I have long hair and it takes longer to rinse shampoo. I hope this was helpful. Thank you for taking time to read!!!