Solar shower or stainless steel garden shower?
At first glance a solar shower looks cheap and simple. Look more closely and questions arise about hygiene, location and lifespan. Here are the main differences.
Hygiene: water in the tank
In a solar shower the water stands in the tank and is heated by the sun, often to temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. This is the range in which Legionella bacteria multiply particularly well. Many manufacturers recommend flushing the tank before every use. But then the warm water is gone too, and it takes hours before the sun has heated fresh water. In our experience many users are not even aware of this recommendation.
What is Legionella?
Legionella is a bacterium that occurs naturally in water. It becomes a problem when it multiplies strongly, above all in standing water between about 25 and 45 °C. Below 20 °C it hardly multiplies; from about 60 °C it dies.
Infection does not usually happen by drinking, but by inhaling the fine water droplets produced when showering. Legionella is not passed from person to person. The result can be severe pneumonia, Legionnaires' disease. Older people, smokers and people with a weakened immune system are particularly at risk. In Switzerland several hundred cases are reported every year.
Location: sunshine needed
A solar shower needs as sunny a spot in the garden as possible. A permanently connected shower can stand wherever a water connection reaches: by the pool, next to the sauna or in the shade.
Quality and lifespan
In recent years we have taken back solar showers and cut them open in our workshop. In several of these units we found supports made of rusting structural steel in the water-carrying part, along with basic pipework. Repairing such units is rarely worthwhile, and spare parts are often unavailable. Higher-quality solar showers do exist, but they cost considerably more. Solid stainless steel does not rust and can be repaired.
Warm water without a solar shower
The GS01 is connected to hot and cold water and sets the temperature with its single-lever mixer. The GS02 is a cold-water shower. With a mixing valve in the supply line it becomes a mixed-water shower with a fixed, pre-set temperature. The change is made where the supply line comes from, usually in the plant room of the house. The shower itself stays the same. It lasts for many years and can be repaired. After a longer break, let the water run briefly, as with any pipe.
In winter
With the automatic drain for the GS01 and the GS01 Corten, the column empties in around 30 seconds at the press of a button after showering. This lets you shower outdoors even in sub-zero temperatures, with no trace heating and no dismantling in autumn. Available as an option for CHF 1'500.–, and can be retrofitted.
Source on Legionella: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health FOPH, Legionellosis (Legionnaires' disease), accessed 10.11.2026.