Hot water in showers

[aina]

Hey,
I'm walking in April andd I wonder if there will be hot water available at all times in albergues?
I know that Spain heats water from solar systems and if the day is cloudy or its raining there is no hot water to shower , unless it is gas heated

Anyone familiar with this?

 

[HedaP]

Good question. I walked in April. In my experience, most of the time the water is hot. My advice is to shower early ie. soon after you arrive at an albergue. I didn’t always follow my own advice and had quite a few luke warm showers. My own fault and nothing to complain about. I did have a couple of really cold showers but my BEST advice if this happens is to try another shower especially if there is more than one bathroom. Sometimes you can get lucky and the other shower will be connected to a different hot water system. Even a cold shower isn’t that bad. Either that or go without. I’ve done both.
So I guess the moral of this story is keep your showers short because often there is a limited amount of hot water and other pilgrims who need it too.

 

[RJM]

Difficult to say if all albergues will always have enough hot water for showering. So many factors in determining that.
More important is one's use of an albergue shower. I mean that in the sense of courtesy. Keep the shower short and use the rinse, shut off, soap and then rinse again method in lieu of keeping the water running the entire time in the shower.

 

[aina]

Good question. I walked in April. In my experience, most of the time the water is hot. My advice is to shower early ie. soon after you arrive at an albergue. I didn’t always follow my own advice and had quite a few luke warm showers. My own fault and nothing to complain about. I did have a couple of really cold showers but my BEST advice if this happens is to try another shower especially if there is more than one bathroom. Sometimes you can get lucky and the other shower will be connected to a different hot water system. Even a cold shower isn’t that bad. Either that or go without. I’ve done both.
So I guess the moral of this story is keep your showers short because often there is a limited amount of hot water and other pilgrims who need it too.

That was my thoughts exactly, that the best thing is to go get a shower asap and not wait for the evening
Thanks for the answer)

 

[aina]

Difficult to say if all albergues will always have enough hot water for showering. So many factors in determining that.
More important is one's use of an albergue shower. I mean that in the sense of courtesy. Keep the shower short and use the rinse, shut off, soap and then rinse again method in lieu of keeping the water running the entire time in the shower.

Absolutely agreed

 

[evanlow]

Most of the albergue's or hostal's hot water are from the hot water tank heated via electric. Needless to say, they are nice and hot for around 2+ showers consecutively. I learn the hard way when I was the 3rd of 4th to take the showers and the water got cold within a minute. After learning this lesson I always check to see who had just taken a shower. If there was more than 2 then I just wait (around 15 minutes or should be alright).

That is also the reason why many in the forum recommended taking the shower early as the chance of many people taking them in the evenings are very high, hence more chance to encounter cold water.

 

[aina]

Most of the albergue's or hostal's hot water are from the hot water tank heated via electric. Needless to say, they are nice and hot for around 2+ showers consecutively. I learn the hard way when I was the 3rd of 4th to take the showers and the water got cold within a minute. After learning this lesson I always check to see who had just taken a shower. If there was more than 2 then I just wait (around 15 minutes or should be alright).

That is also the reason why many in the forum recommended taking the shower early as the chance of many people taking them in the evenings are very high, hence more chance to encounter cold water.

Thanks for the advice)

 

[SYates]

... I know that Spain heats water from solar systems and if the day is cloudy or its raining there is no hot water to shower , unless it is gas heated

Anyone familiar with this?

Sorry, but wherever you heard this was "fake news" ;-) Spain, including the albergues, heats its water MOSTLY through traditional sources aka the central heating for the house/albergue (gas, oil, electricity etc.) SOME places use solar panels as an ADDITIONAL source of heat/electricity and only very, very few use solar as their only source.

Said all that - the main problem during high season can be that the hot water reservoir (no matter the heating system!) gets emptied faster than water can be reheated. But as main season is also warm/hot season in Spain that doesn't necessarily mean cold pilgrim showers ;-)

In short - hot showers are very frequent, warm showers the default replacement and coldish showers the exception.

BUT please be aware of your water usage, electricity is expensive in Spain AND we just had a "drought year" here and water tables are still low ...

Buen Camino, SY

 

[Luther]

I walked from April 20-May 20 and I think the only COLD shower I took was in Roncesvalles. I started early and quit early, though, and was motivated by hot water and clean showers, and almost always found room in the inn. Buen camino!

 

[HeidiL]

Showering straight away makes a lot of sense to me. I won't dirty my sleeping bag by trying to have an afternoon nap in it while still sweaty, and showering and changing into clean clothes the moment I check in means I can wash the clothes I wore and be reasonably certain they'll have time to get dry before I go to bed.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think that the pilgrims most likely to get hot showers are those who arrive very early and shower first and those who arrive very late after everyone else has showered and the water has had a chance to reheat. Since I am in neither group, I am frequently in a lukewarm (at best) shower when I walk on a popular camino -- yet another reason to stick with the solitary ones!

 

[Sailor]

I was lucky, found hot water everywhere we went. I take Navy showers, one bucket of water, good to go! Buena suerte y que la luz de Dios alumbre su camino.

 

[aina]

Well I live in Cyprus and from my experience from Italy and Spain I just assumed that the system is all the same, just a mediterranean thing, well I was wrong
Thanks for the advice

 

[HedaP]

Well I live in Cyprus and from my experience from Italy and Spain I just assumed that the system is all the same, just a mediterranean thing, well I was wrong
Thanks for the advice

Can totally understand why you would think that. You will see lots and lots of small, self-contained, solar hot water heaters on house roof tops along the way. They looked so nifty I wished I could take one home with me. Good simple technology. I don’t know why we don’t have something like that in Australia. Our solar hot water heaters are not simple and usually very big and cost a lot of money.

 

[Thornley]

I'm walking in April

You are safe in April but still shower as soon as you arrive and get your bunk / bed .
Lob next to a fellow sheila as she can watch your belongings when you visit the shower / bathroom , you do likewise.

 

[Alfis]

I liked the shower on our previous Camino. It had a luxury view with beautiful shower panels. Fortunately (or unfortunately), we came too late and the water in the shower was hot enough. I don't like cold water in the showers at all. If it was so, this would ruin all my impressions and mood.

 

[Vacajoe]

Only cold shower I had during two April Caminos was in Cebreiro...in the freezing cold...during a hellacious rainstorm! . As we trudged up that hill to the municipal albuergue, we kept saying, “this is bad, but a hot shower will be our reward” until we arrived and discovered otherwise.

Than again, the showers lacked doors and the building lacked heat, so a VERY quick splash and dash worked out just fine.

 

[trecile]

Only cold shower I had during two April Caminos was in Cebreiro...in the freezing cold...during a hellacious rainstorm! . As we trudged up that hill to the municipal albuergue, we kept saying, “this is bad, but a hot shower will be our reward” until we arrived and discovered otherwise.

Than again, the showers lacked doors and the building lacked heat, so a VERY quick splash and dash worked out just fine.

The municipal albergue in O Cebreiro is one of only two albergues that I have vowed not to stay in again.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Be grateful there's a shower.

 

[C clearly]

The municipal albergue in O Cebreiro is one of only two albergues that I have vowed not to stay in again

One November, I thought I was lucky to get a bed next to the wall heater. That got SO hot that I was sweating, even uncovered, and I was worried about my sleeping bag touching the radiator. I had to get up and sit in a chair in the hallway. What an awful night! Maybe I should have taken a nice cold shower!

 

[Vacajoe]

Some places are placed in your path to make you appreciate all the other places you’ll stay. . I was truly just happy to have a place to lie down that wasn’t outside in the storm....

 

[henrythedog]

I wonder if there will be hot water available at all times.

The simple answer is ‘no’.

The answer at my school would have been ‘never’ and at my house where I pay the bills ‘if you get out of bed early enough’.

Every pound a prisoner.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

The municipal albergue in O Cebreiro is one of only two albergues that I have vowed not to stay in again.

Hear ye, hear ye!
I have three to never stay in again...two of them I refrained from taking a shower in and did not regret my decision...O'Ceibreiro was one of them.

 

[Juspassinthru]

I hope that at the completion of your Camino, this is not the most important question that you have. Buen Camino.

 

[Anniesantiago]

The best place I've ever stayed was San Anton and it only had cold water.

 

[trecile]

The best place I've ever stayed was San Anton and it only had cold water.

If the overall sense of the place and hospitaleros are warm and friendly you barely remember whether the shower was hot or cold.

 

[Anniesantiago]

If the overall sense of the place and hospitaleros are warm and friendly you barely remember whether the shower was hot or cold.

Yes, plus I don't feel the world will end if I go one day without a shower. I can always heat water and wash up.

 

[RJM]

I have stayed at the municipal albergue in O'Cebreiro twice over the past few years and quite honestly I do not remember the showers there. Both times I was there the albergue was at capacity, but overall no complaints about the place I can think of. Nothing stands out. Just another place to hang my pack and sleep.