low volume shower heads

[alohaspirit]

Quench Water-Recycling Shower - Guilt-Free Indulgence? : TreeHugger

Good link

Ive been thinking about this for years

Typically Im a 2 minute showerer like everyone else

But sometimes I just want to sit there and relax



The Quench Shower system, originating in Australia, involves a two-step process – the first being a regular shower where you soap up and rinse off, and the second in which you allow the shower basin to fill up and then let the Quench system recycle and reheat that water perpetually. So you can enjoy as long a shower as you like without using any more water.

[MissileStick]

Originally Posted by alohaspirit

The Quench Shower system, originating in Australia, involves a two-step process – the first being a regular shower where you soap up and rinse off, and the second in which you allow the shower basin to fill up and then let the Quench system recycle and reheat that water perpetually. So you can enjoy as long a shower as you like without using any more water.

Sorry, I just don't see the benefit here. The vast majority of the ecological impact of showering comes from the water heating phase, not the water delivery phase. Even in drought-striken areas, toilet flushing and clothes washing each consume almost as much as showering, and lawn watering is more than double.[1] Furthermore, irrigation and thermoelectric consumption dwarfs residential consumption of water.[2]

The advantage here seems to be that it doesn't have to heat the water quite as much, though you still lose a lot of heat to evaporative cooling on the way down.

I have serious doubts that this thing will ever pay back the energy required to make it, especially when compared to drain water heat recovery. I can even see it resulting in higher ecological impact (through energy consumption) as it creates a false sense of sustainability.

EDIT: Oh yeah, something productive! I use a flow restrictor and soap & save with the removeable showerhead I got on sale. I chose the 1.5 GPM restrictor and have no complaints.

[Christ]

Y'all need turbo nozzle shower heads... I had one in my trailer, but forgot to take it when I moved out. For those of you with machining skills, it's just a shower head with an air venturi in it. The air comes through and aerates the water, and since the water is at a given pressure already, but has to flow through a smaller opening, it comes out with more force, while being aerated... all in all, they feel AMAZING.

PS - I'm a 1/2 hour shower, easy. Some days, I'm in and out though. Depends on the situation. I also don't use city water, but I like 'em HOT.

[RobertSmalls]

I went to Target and bought an EcoPix brand showerhead for like $15. It's great. 1.5GPM but it feels like a 2.0GPH. It has a "water pause" feature which cuts the flow rate to 0.5GPM for navy showers. Add a $2 mechanical egg timer and you've got yourself a five-minute, 4.5 gallon shower.

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