ferrousland.com - news archives
Thursday, May 08, 2008 - (see all news for this day)
the problem with water-saving shower heads - 08:18 AM
(filed under 'green living')
mum & bill have recently renovated two of their bathrooms. when i came around one time after they were finished, i had a shower in the guest bathroom upstairs, & had a difficult time trying to get the water temperature right.
we're on strict water restrictions here in queensland. we're supposed to limit our showers to only four minutes. that's a problem when it takes you about five minutes just to get the water temperature right.
it seems that with the water-saving shower heads, with the low-flow & fine spray, that when you turn the tap to adjust the temperature, it takes the water a long time to get from the pipes where the adjustment was made, to up into the shower head & out onto your body.
when you turn the tap, it takes about twenty to thirty seconds to feel the difference in the water. maybe it's not actually that long, but when you're standing naked in a cold bathroom with the water either so cold you have goosebumps on your goosebumps, or so hot that your skin is starting to turn red, it feels like forever.
here's how it goes:
you've turned on both taps on & the water is flowing but it's too cold, so you turn the hot tap on more. you wait a few seconds, standing there shivering with your hand under the stream of water. nothing happens, so you turn the hot tap on a bit more. you wait a few seconds longer & still nothing happens so you give it another really good turn. it finally starts to get warmer, so you move your body under the water with a happy sigh, but within a few seconds it's scalding hot & you jump out again with a squeal, reaching through the hot water to turn it down, but only a bit so you can try to get that optimum temperature. you go through the same process again, but this time in reverse. you then do this about two more times with varying degrees of temperature extremes until finally the temperature is just right & you can actually begin to wash yourself.
i've been through this with the shower at suzanne's house (where we're house minding), too. i know that each shower is different in how far you need to turn each tap to get that 'just right' temperature & it does take a while to learn how to get it right the first time. when it takes so long for the water temperature to change, though, it makes it really difficult to have a four minute shower. especially when you add in the normal waiting time for the hot water to come through in the first place.
it's kind of frustrating. i guess i'll learn exactly how many turns each tap needs by the time suzanne & family come back. lol! 
I agree with you! I just came back from overseas and I noticed the difference. The low water pressure here sucks too. I think it wastes time and water. Especially when you are washing your hair. You need water that comes out fast and plentiful. This was not a problem overseas. Also, in other countries where it is cold, you can adjust the temperature to suit you, which is great...you just leave it on 38 degrees and it doesn't take long at all the heat up, so you don't waste the water that you waste here. I just found out that I use 20 litres below the 140 litre per day water saving target. If only more people could be more responsible.
some text ads:
Loans - Cheap Car Insurance - Credit Counseling - Arizona Pools
ferrous
gmail
com
So much do I agree with you about water-saving shower heads that I have refused to install them. Our compromise, to be water-friendly, is:
- the kids bath together and their (shallow) bath water is bucketed out to the garden
- G and I usually shower together and set the timer for 3 mins when we get in, and also use buckets to save water for the garden. (The two days of the week we shower separately are my hair-washing days and I do allow myself a luxurious 5 minutes on those days, to rinse everything through!)
So we don't have water-saving heads, BUT no drop is wasted and we are strict about timing the showers, reusing all water etc. Our overall water consumption reflects this (very low for a household of 4 people with frequent visitors).