Shower Accessories & Hardware
Conserve Water
Conserving water has become a national movement, with the Environmental Protection Agency program campaigning for more conservative water usage and promoting the use of low-flow showerheads. It’s no joke, considering that the average household could save thousands of gallons per year by installing a single one in your home.
Considering that showering accounts for around 20-30% of household water usage, it’s a good first step to take when making more environmentally friendly changes.
Advanced Technology
A few years ago, shower heads delivered about 5 to 8 gallons per minute (gpm). The current standard today is a shower head that dispenses 2.5 gallons of water each minute, or lower flow shower head which disperses 2 gallons or less of water per minute. A quick tip to find out if your current shower head is wasting water is to put a one-gallon container in the shower, turn on the water, and count the time it takes to fill up completely. If it fills up in 15 seconds, the flow rate is about 4 gpm. If it’s full in 10 seconds, the flow rate is closer to 6 gpm. With a low-flow head, it should take 24 seconds or more. When you are looking to make the switch to a sustainable and green shower accessory, consider these benefits of choosing a low-flow model.
Know The Benefits
Benefits: Low flow shower heads can decrease water consumption by 40% or more! This not only conserves water, but it cuts down on your monthly water bill providing significant end-of-year savings. Showers take energy to heat the water, thus cutting down on water usage also cuts down on energy usage. You can expect to save up to $50 annually on heating costs. It also cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions. Since the demand for hot water is lessened, the amount of energy used is lower and results in lower CO2 dispersed into the air.
Common Misconceptions
Low-flow doesn’t mean low-pressure for a lower quality shower. Older models of low-flow shower heads were less effective as they slowed the water pressure down to a trickle. The newer versions that have been coming out as of late use a mix of smaller apertures and air to create stronger pressure for a more pleasant shower.
There are many benefits when you switch to a low-flow showerhead. Newer models have fixed the initial low-pressure issues that many people disliked with older models. The combination of cost savings each year, a new model will pay for itself a few times over in the first year alone.
