Off the Grid living: Cabin Water System – Video

Off The Grid Living Video Series

Cabin water system

Pump on Off Grid Cabin water system

This Raven Dale cabin has all the bells and whistles and is capturing rain water from the roof, filtering it, pressurizing it for regular cold water washing and drinking and even heating it for showers with plenty of pressure. Think of an RV system running in your cabin but using rain water and you’re not cramped inside that terrible RV shower. In my opinion, this is really an ideal water system for off-grid cabins & houses, hunting camps with no running water. You need power from either batteries from solar or I suppose you could substitute a generator and 120v components but that seems wasteful so I’d go 12 volt if you can or even better do a gravity powered system if you have a hill to provide about 60 feet of head for 30psi (we have this).

off grid shower

Major Components you’ll need to make this 12 volt rain water collection water system in your cabin.

  • Metal roof, gutter
  • Rain Storage Tank
  • Plumbing supply lines to whatever fixtures you want, shower, sink, toilet. He’s using PEX or a similar flexible plastic pipe system. A drain at the lowest point in supply lines for winterizing is very important for a seasonal used cabin to prevent frozen pipes.

He’s got his pipes on the outside of the building and that may be fine for his climate but everyone’s system should be designed to fit their climate.

What would your ideal system entail? Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear about your project.

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5 Responses

  1. Hi Cedar, Thanks for the reply. I checked out your youtube channel and really like your system and DIY attitude. I’m on a tight budget myself. I’ve got to try to get one of those on demand colemans if I can’t find an RV system. I work for a company associated with Coleman so I can get it pretty cheap but we don’t currently have any pressure in our system. How do you support rain barrels up so high? I’d like to see a video on that since we also have a rain barrel under the shed gutter for washing.

  2. Hi Bruce, thanks for the note. Sorry you got ripped off too. I know how it can change your entire mindset about your cabin and sour your outlook. It sure did mine for a while but I refuse to let others ruin the fun I have at our cabin. It means alot more work hauling toys/tools/supplies there and back though… Is the Zodietap one of those on demand systems? Where do you get your water pressure from now?

  3. Ya, I watched that guys video. He’s got a sweet system and it’s do-able. Thanks for listing the parts. Maybe Santa will bring me a Accumulator pump…

    We’ve got two 55 gallon barrels on the roof for the main cabin. That’s just for washing dishes and the drip system for the hanging plants. Maybe 10 psi. The outdoor shower is located in between the outhouse and the guest cabin. In the summer, we used a Coleman hot water on demand unit. Works good, tends to use a lot of water to get to a hot temp. Goes through a 9 gallon container in 1 and half short showers. Maybe that’s normal. Never used one before. In the winter months, we do the old ” have a bath/scrub from a bowl” or we take the kids on a 40 minute drive to the local indoor pool.

  4. Stephane says:

    Wow. This is very interesting. I just built a cabin beside the lake, and am putting in a shower system next spring, and was thinking of doing roughly the same thing, but didn’t think of also putting in a water filter system. This is a great idea, and I will be using this, thanks.

  5. We had been using a ZodiTap at our cabin until we were ripped off near the end of last years hunting season. It worked great for our needs, but lacked pressure and sometimes would get too hot if more than 3 of us were showering in a row. As I said, we got ripped off so now we have the opportunity to re-build (positive attitude) Thanks Solar Burrito for the great vid and awesome idea. I think I am going to try and replicate what I saw in the video exactly as shown. It looked like a well planned and built system that should meet our needs much better than the ZodiTap ever did. We share your pain at being ripped off, but are very inspired at how you adapted, improvised and overcame. Respects!