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Shower Heads

Everyone enjoys a nice long hot shower. It does come with some cost for the water and don’t forget the associated cost to heat the water. The ideal situation is to apply the water only toward the person and avoid as much as waste as possible. Current federal standards require that shower heads deliver no more than 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute). Except for older homes that have not been renovated, most homes are already equipped with shower heads that comply with this federal standard.

New recommendations are to lower the shower head flow rate to 1.5 gpm. Manufacturers are designing products by controlling the size and shape of the water droplets so that a lower flow rate does not cause perceptible loss in comfort. Products approaching the new recommended flow rate are already in the market.

Potential water savings are shown in the table

Regular Shower Head Low Flow Shower Head Difference
Flow Rate (gpm) 2.2 1.5 -0.7
Average Shower Duration (min) 8.2 8.2 0
Average Showers Per Capita Per Day 0.67 0.67 0
Average Volume Per Capita Per Day (gallons) 12.1 8.2 -3.8
Average Volume Per Capita Per Year (gallons) 4411.7 3008.0 -1403.7

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