Excessive water from shower pump.

dashcamdanny · 21-08-2014 12:56pm #1

Hi. Would love some recommendations on how to save water .

Just did a bucket test on my shower and it uses 13L of water per min. :eek:

With my shiny new meter keeping an eye on my usage from October I need to reduce this somewhat .

I am using a showermate electric shower pump and a Triton mixer. I think I removed the restrictors on the mixer years ago and threw them away. (who would have thought we would have to worry about water in Ireland)..

Anyways. Here it is. Its the best shower I have had anywhere to be honest and I would love to retain the feeling of pressure I get from it.

I have been looking around ebay and there seems to be a great deal of water restrictors on the market. To the point that I don't know what to pick. I also seen this shower head that claims to retain the feeling of pressure while reducing the water flow.

http://purchase.ie/water-saving-showerhead

What are my realistic options? Do these devices work?

Any advice would be greatly received.

corkgsxr · 21-08-2014 2:42pm

You'll know. There's no feeling like volume.

You could always just turn the valve to half.

Or get 2 of the rubber washers with small holes on them and fit them either side of the hose.

Cheap and works

Wearb · 21-08-2014 2:57pm

corkgsxr wrote: »

You'll know. There's no feeling like volume.

You could always just turn the valve to half.

Or get 2 of the rubber washers with small holes on them and fit them either side of the hose.

Cheap and works

I hear people talking of turning off shower while soaping themselves up. Will save some water.

I am on my own well, perhaps there is room for a new business here. Cheap showers anyone???

dashcamdanny · 21-08-2014 3:11pm

Wearb wrote: »

I hear people talking of turning off shower while soaping themselves up. Will save some water.

I am on my own well, perhaps there is room for a new business here. Cheap showers anyone???

I have 2 children and a wife who will not do that.

I have to take measures against them :pac:

Wearb · 21-08-2014 3:43pm

dashcamdanny wrote: »

I have 2 children and a wife who will not do that.

I have to take measures against them :pac:

Been there.

LIFFY FISHING · 23-08-2014 7:07am

Put a 9 or 6 litre flow regulator in the hose before the handset, you should be able to purchase these in any good plumbers merchants

John T Carroll · 29-08-2014 12:39pm

LIFFY FISHING wrote: »

Put a 9 or 6 litre flow regulator in the hose before the handset, you should be able to purchase these in any good plumbers merchants

It would be far better to get a spray head sized to give say 5 LPM with the existing pressure, the spraying pattern will be much better because if you throttle the pressure before the spray head then the water is inclined to just "fall" from the holes rather than spray.

dashcamdanny · 29-08-2014 12:49pm

John T Carroll wrote: »

It would be far better to get a spray head sized to give say 5 LPM with the existing pressure, the spraying pattern will be much better because if you throttle the pressure before the spray head then the water is inclined to just "fall" from the holes rather than spray.

I was thinking that also.

If the jets in the shower head were smaller, they would blast the water out at great pressure and use less water. And before it gets out , it could be aerated to give the feeling of loads of water.

John T Carroll · 29-08-2014 1:57pm

dashcamdanny wrote: »

I was thinking that also.

If the jets in the shower head were smaller, they would blast the water out at great pressure and use less water. And before it gets out , it could be aerated to give the feeling of loads of water.

You could just borrow an electric shower spray head which are designed around 5 LPM to see how it feels, do another bucket test with it as your mains/pump pressure may be different to the electric shower design pressure, remember that flow is proportional to the sq.root of pressure (head) so if you had double the pressure, the flowrate would be 41% greater etc.

The idea of an aerated type head makes a lot of sense as well.

dashcamdanny · 25-09-2014 3:00pm

Just an update.

After a bit of searching, I found the same shower head cheaper here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161248135446?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Fitted it. It feels good. Not as good though. Will take getting used to.

Then did a side by side test. Today the old Trition shower head was spewing out a massive 13.5 L of water per min.

Was very surprised with the other one.

It only used 5.5 L of water per min. I'm now using near 3/4 less water for the investment of under 20 euro. I kept the restrictor that was with the new shower head in. it can be removed.

After fixing both toilet cisterns in the house and the shower combined, I have really made a positive adjustment to our consumption.

I hope the upcoming Irish Water bills will reflect this.

John T Carroll · 29-09-2014 10:11pm

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Just an update.

After a bit of searching, I found the same shower head cheaper here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161248135446?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Fitted it. It feels good. Not as good though. Will take getting used to.

Then did a side by side test. Today the old Trition shower head was spewing out a massive 13.5 L of water per min.

Was very surprised with the other one.

It only used 5.5 L of water per min. I'm now using near 3/4 less water for the investment of under 20 euro. I kept the restrictor that was with the new shower head in. it can be removed.

After fixing both toilet cisterns in the house and the shower combined, I have really made a positive adjustment to our consumption.

I hope the upcoming Irish Water bills will reflect this.

You say that you kept the restrictor in with the new showerhead, from this I would assume that the new showerhead will then have bigger nozzle holes than a showerhead that is specifically designed for a flowrate of 5/6 LPM. I would still think that one would get a better spray pattern with the latter, if available.

Supercell · 05-10-2014 2:15am

That looks like a great job, you've inspired me to start doing my own bucket tests tomorrow (wife and two kids myself and like yourself , I think I need to take measures!)

dashcamdanny · 05-10-2014 8:46am

I have seen shower timers online as well. Going to get one. 4 mins is all one needs . So instead of the governments evaluation of 80L a day on a shower, I will be using only 25 give or take.

If this routine gets converted into the normal way of things, I may be able to sail close to my free allowance.

Excessive water from shower pump.

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