High efficiency Californiaquistan shower heads

[thomasortega]

A few days ago, my "fire hose" shower head broke. I ran to Lowe's and purchased an Oxygenics whatever model that was on sale.

As it's California, it's not a surprise that the governor führer Fidel Castro Newsom wants to control even the way people shower, with ridiculous restrictions way harder than in any other state.

Shower installed, I was already expecting it to be almost like a drip irrigation sprinkler, how naive I was... it was much worse, almost like a VW beetle foot pump windshield washer.

Don't get me wrong, saving water is extremely important for the planet, the problem is the socialist government dictating standards that make IMPOSSIBLE to take a decent shower with those 0.1 gal/decade flow rate.

What I mean is, the flow was so restricted that there wasn't even water enough to come out through all the holes, the upper three rows of holes simply didn't have water at all (and the pressure/flow here is very high)

Today it was one of those days that I was pissed off with everything, I entered the bathroom to take a shower and when I looked at it, I remembered it sucks, had a nuclear meltdown and marched to the laundry room to get my tool bag. (Add to the scene a complete list of bad words in English, Spanish, Portuguese cursing up to the 15th generation of the family of the SOAB that had the stupid idea to make the restrictors even more restrictive)

3 minutes later, I was pulling the drill auger off the restrictor and voila, the remaining part of it came out stuck to the auger...what a difference! A shower with water... YAY.

Ok, in 10 minutes I ran out of hot water but at least I had a decent fire hose to rinse my body and wash my hair after the bath. So much water that the bathtub filed almost halfway with the drain open.

It made me wonder: How effective those restrictions are? How many people remove the flow restrictors and end up wasting water that could be saved if the flow restricors were designed to save water but not turn a shower into a miserable experience?

 

[yogitunes]

I yank the restrictors out of everything....

shower heads, faucet aerators, washing machines....

I even take tools when staying at a hotel, remove the shower head and toss that restrictor....

same goes for tempered water valves in showers, pop off that knob and turn the adjustment up....

there may be a need at times for these, but I want it as an option, not purposely installed...

 

[revvinkevin]

“Don’t get me wrong, saving water is important for the planet.....”

... But I absolutely refuse to even TRY to save ANY water at all in the bathroom OR laundry room..... Is that how it is Thomas???????

 

[sfh074]

Some brands .....

Now make the restrictor internal to the shower head and can't be removed or drilled out. I had to buy 3 different brands last year to find one I could modify. The other 2 were returned.

Same thing with newer toilets. If the damn thing would actually flush solids down the drain in one flush (like they used to), how much water over time would actually be saved. The effing toilets in this house that was built in 2003, the saying goes ..... dump, flush, dump flush, paper flush. Any other way and you have to get the plunger.

.1gal/decade ...... that's funny!

 

[iheartmaytag]

I have a Delta

Rain shower head. I left the restrictor in and am very happy with the performance.

I remember reading that President Johnson wanted a powerful shower, he wanted to feel the sting of the water spray. The only way the plumbers/engineers could accomplish this was have a separate water holding tank and a commercial dishwasher pump supply the feed to the shower head.

Maybe you could rig something like that to your shower to give you the results you desire.

 

[ea56]

Every state should be so lucky to have Gavin Newsom as their governor. He recognizes what the problems are that we are facing and acts accordingly.

This is the worst drought in history for California and we’ll all be lucky if there is still water coming out of the tap in September when we turn it on. Wasting water now because you just have to have torrents of hot water cascading off of your body will only help to make the precious water that we do have run out that much faster.

We’ve had a low flow shower head for 20 years and never had a problem getting clean. Futhermore we turn off the water after we’ve wet ourselves down, soap up with the water off then turn the water back on and quickly rinse off.. I spent my teenage years living in a home with a well. I know from experience what its like to turn on the tap and have no water because the holding tank ran dry due to using more water than the pump could keep up with.

Quit complaining. If you don’t like California you can always move somewhere else.

Eddie

 

[gizmo]

Methven

Methven shower heads, made in New Zealand, are amazing. I have googled and they are available in USA.

The top models expensive and very high tech but they give a lovely shower and don't use much water.

We have a more Methven basic model at home, it still gives a good shower but I have used the top models in hotels and they are amazing.

Premium Shower Heads & Bathroom Solutions | Methven New Zealand

Explore Methven's premium shower heads, taps, and bathroom solutions for quality, style, and water-saving technology. Shop high-quality tapware today in New Zealand!

www.methven.com

 

[48bencix]

I have one of these

I have the Delta low flow shower head and it works very well. The flow is limited compared to an old style full flow. I do think it is a lot better than some other shower heads I have seen in hotels for instance. We do still have our older toilets and do not always flush them (for pee). I keep them because of the very long run of the sewer to the nearest larger sewer. We have a large yard and some old huge trees that need to be watered. I hope the water can last through the end of the year here in California. Our major reservoirs are quite low and may not be able to even generate electricity late this year. I saw somewhere that the major reservoirs were designed to provide 5 years of water when full, and they were full in 2019. Maybe they were used to flush out the rivers for the endangered fish or maybe we have so many millions more people here than when the dams were built.

Amazon.com

 

[turbokinetic]

Agree with you whole heartedly on the shitty restrictor shower heads! I drill them out as well.  In my home the shower has a way to control the flow and temperature separately, so I can decide how much flow I want for any given situation. Firehose for rensing hair, and more moderate for other areas. It's a win-win.  Like you I just want to be in control of it and decide how much water to use at what time. 

 

[d-jones]

California has always had water issues, as has much of the Southwest. What has changed isn't the amount of available water so much as the number of people using it. Populations throughout the Southwest have grown tremendously in the past few decades while the water supply remains essentially the same. It's guaranteed to result in shortages. What's needed is an improved system of reservoirs to capture rainwater and melting snow from the mountains. As things stand now far too much of it simply flows out to sea. But even that might not be enough for the current population. There's simply too much demand for too small a supply. Thankfully, having moved to Pittsburgh a few years ago I no longer have to deal with it. We get so much rain here no one even bothers with sprinklers. They aren't needed, and I frequently find myself having to wait for the yard to dry out before I can mow the lawn.

 

[ea56]

Water Saving Toilets

were installed by our city in our home 12 years ago at no cost to us. They use 1.6 gals per flush and they flush better than the 3.5 gal per flush toilets that were installed when the home was built in 1980.

Once in a Blue Moon will I have to flush the toilet a second time and this is always because I forgot to hold the handle down for a few seconds when flushing solid waste.

I have no experience personally with the newer 1.3 gal per flush toilets, but I would expect them to be comparable to the 1.6 gals per flush models.

We have two major reservoirs within 30-40 miles from us, Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino. Both are at the lowest levels in their history, practically dry. This is due to the increase in population, Climate Change which has ended up in the lowest rainfall for our area since at least ‘76, and maybe even ever. Also, we are a state that has a tremendous agricultural economy. It takes vast amounts of water to grow grapes, lettuce, you name it, if it grows in the soil it needs plenty of irrigation.

As far as the water running out to sea, thats why these lakes were formed, to catch and retain as much of the water as possible. But if the Russian River didn’t empty into the Pacific Ocean the river would flood our entire county eventually, its impossible to catch all this water. Lake Sonoma was at capacity in 2019 which was supposed to last for FIVE years. But without normal seasonal amounts of rainfall for the past two years now its practically dry.

Yeah, it would be nice to never have to worry about how much water we are using, but that is not reality for California. I can make the necessary sacrifices in order to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And with Climate Change continuing at breakneck speed its only a matter of time before water shortages come to a home near you too.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 6/18/2021-12:16]

 

[tomturbomatic]

I wet the washcloth, turn off the faucet and add the liquid detergent then wash my whole body. I turn on the tap to rinse out the washcloth then wring and hang it. Then I turn the faucet back on and send the water to the shower head. The initial cold blast I aim at the drain to knock down the suds, thinking of the add for the Westinghouse TL commercial washer that advertised the cold spray rinse to knock down suds, then I rinse off and shut off the water. Shampooing adds an extra step, but I do not let the water run while I am soaping up.

As I stated previously, when I used top loaders, I used to drain the rinse water into a trash container with a submersible pump in it and pumped the water outside through a garden hose to trees and shrubs that needed water in a bad drought. Everything lived.

Pure, clean water is a blessing whether or not you live in a desert. A tub half full of water during a shower sounds gross. The desert Southwest needs to investigate routing gray water to dry wells outside to soak into the sandy soil. The caveat to that is that our ancient technology sewer systems depend on high volumes of water to move solid waste. There are places in San Francisco where apartments installed low volume toilets and the sewers under the streets are almost clogged with poop.

 

[ea56]

“There are places in San Francisco where apartments installed low volume toilets and the sewers under the streets are almost clogged with poop.”

This isn’t due to low flow toilets, is because people are flushing wet wipes down the toilets and these don’t decompose, but rather sit in the sewers and treatment plants with all the human waste. There have been several news reports on this problem in several localities. It requires the sewer workers to get down into the sewers and manually remove all these clogging wet wipes. What a terrible job assignment!

Eddie

 

[vacerator]

We got all

water saver toilets and faucets when we remodeled. The 1.6 gal. flush toilet works good. I never have to flush twice. Kohler San Succi, in Cashmere, not cheap.
The Toobi bsasin faucets are low flow, and quiet. The shower mixing valve and head are great too. Catlayst flow is strong. My old basement bath toilet used 3 gal. per flush. Our sweage bill part of the water bill isn't cheap, and local rivers and the lake are still polluted. The beach has been closed for years due to E-coli.

 

[twintubdexter]

"führer Fidel Castro Newsom"...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #339966;">As far as that restrictor goes for the person that started this post. Don't toss it...take my advice and swallow it.</span>

 

 

 

[thomasortega]

That's exactly what I mean.

When flow restrictions are applied with common sense, we end up with fixtures that people love, like the toilets mentioned above, that save water AND do the job.

With the showerheads, it's a different story now. It's even more restrictive than the shower head I bought 3 years ago. But it's beyond ridiculous! I imagine somebody with long hair trying to rinse the shampoo.

Nobody needs a fire hose to shower, but a shower that drips like a leaky faucet when it's fully open is stupid.

People get pissed off because of those 15 minutes only to rinse the shampoo and end up getting rid of the restrictors. All the efforts to save water went down the drain. And the shower heads end up using much more water than a shower head from the 1930s.

 

[thomasortega]

By ridiculous I mean, if the shower is placed fully horizontal, the waterflow is so ridiculous that water will spray through the pinholes LESS THAN HALF INCH. A bit less than half of the pinholes won't even work because there's not enough flow.

I'm super hairy, rinse off the lather off my body is a pain with a squirt bottle. And the shower head is LESS than a squirt bottle.

 

[thomasortega]

@ea56

Nope, I'm not complaining because of not having torrents of hot water, my complaint is about they exaggerated so much on the restriction that lots of people will intuitively remove the restrictors and end up wasting too much water.

Something changed in the last 3 years. My previous shower head was restricted, weak, but it was somewhat possible to get a decent shower out of it... now it's so restricted that even that pulse massage setting that makes that vibration noise simply doesn't work at all.

Any person with at least 2 neurones will look at one of those modern CA showerheads and say "ok, something is wrong, this thing is clogged because it doesn't work".

I forgot to mention that I went back to Lowe's to replace it... the attendant was like "everybody come here to return them, it's not a defect, ALL showerheads are like that because of the new codes. No matter what brand or model, if it's sold or shipped to CA it must be restricted like that. What people can do is drill the restrictor, but it voids the warranty." He replaced it anyway but it was exactly the same

As far as I know saving water is important, but we're not guinea pigs or chinchillas to take a bath in marble dust. We still need water coming out of the shower, not half gallon per hour.

I have a drip irrigation system for my plants, it has those tiny sprinklers (bubblers) that are small as a thimble, fed by a super thin hose. Only one of those sprinklers has a waterflow much higher than a brand new shower head. Really? How can that thing be called shower? It's a dripper!

 

[ea56]

This Is The Shower Head We Have

its an Eco Spa with 2.5 gals flow per min. I purchased it at Lowe’s about 6 years ago. Its excellent, gives out plenty of water. I’m pretty hairy and still have a full head of hair and it rinses me off quickly. It also helps to have a hand held shower head so you can reach all areas of your body easily. It definately doesn’t dribble.

There is a little build up of minerals on it right now, I need to polish it with some vinegar again. In 6 years of use I’ve only needed to clean out the holes with a needle twice. It’s the best shower head we’ve ever had. The goose neck extension adds the extra hight my 6’5” husband needs to get under the spray when standing.

Eddie

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