Speakman Anystream Carries the day

[jetcone]

So AW'ers its Speakman season! I've been playing with vintage Speakman shower heads lately. When I first became aware of the brand in a hotel in the late 1970's I thought someday I'm gonna get one of those for my shower.

 

I scored a late 1960's Speakman off a friend who was selling his house and was about to toss it out as it didn't conform to the new "dry shower" standards doled out by the "water nazi's".

 

Installed I took my first 'Full Blast©' shower in decades! I must have been using 7 gal/min.

 

So I was HOOKED! On the hunt I was.

Then I found it-- a good used condition 1928 model 1 Speakman -- ALL BRASS shower head. It weighs in at 3 pounds of solid cast brass!  "Electrically melted to insure fine grains of brass..." So states Doctrine !

 

When I installed this baby last week, it practically blew me to the back of the tub!! It would certainly blow our Webmaster to the back of the tub and nail him there!!! 

[this post was last edited: 7/21/2015-07:24]

 

[jetcone]

Well now being curious

I wanted to seek out "Forbidden Doctrine". So humming around Etsy the other day I discovered this>>>

 

It was at my door in DAYS thanks to the innertubes!

 

[jetcone]

How old to you ask??

See for yourselves- Vintage is the word! All revealed here for the first time !

 

"Seventy Years of Progress" !!

 

 

[jetcone]

Thick Lush,

"Virgin" Doctrine on glossy pages with fine etchings!!

 

 

[jetcone]

It even reveals

the "Forbidden Flow Rates©" !! 
Now if I can just get the city to call me back on my water pressure I can know just how much is blasting by me in the shower !!

 

I must say after a solid week of 1928' Shower-Baths that my shower time has been cut in half! So I am now wondering just how much water I am saving or not. Higher pressure = shorter shower time /// Lower pressure = longer shower time. But whats the true water savings? We'll know once I get the figure from the City!

 

Robert had some Forbidden Doctrine he was hiding , but  I forced him to publish it in automatice yesterday !!

 

 

[jetcone]

I would love to find a working

Mixometer® exposed wall mount version!  Love the labelling on it!

 

 

[hooverwheelaway]

"Washers are made of long-wearing composition of rubber and asbestos fibre."

Yikes!

How about an action shot of the thing pumping water? ;-)

 

[gusherb]

Thanks a lot, now you've inspired me to find myself a vintage Speakman!

I've always been a fan of them and have a few of the modern ones, one all brass and two plastic. I have picked up quite the collection of shower heads over the years in the quest for the perfect shower and for the last two years have settled on an Italian made Siroflex shower head.

 

[philr]

Interesting! I need to find one!

Here's the box of a 1950 model!

http://https//welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/interior-demolitionists-save-box-to-a-vintage-speakman-shower-head/

 

[tomturbomatic]

"It would certainly blow our Webmaster to the back of the tub and nail him there!!!"

Although there would be less surface area so, perhaps, correspondingly less force. Smaller is not necessarily better or worse, just different.

I really like my handheld shower and with my quarter turn faucets, it is very easy to turn off the water once I am wet and the washcloth is wet and not use any water while I scrub then turn it on for rinsing. I don't need the highest water pressure because I can hold the water source near any area that I am rinsing. By using only my FL machines, mostly using the Miele W1986 instead of the more water-hungry W1918 and only using water outside my house through the special meter that does not charge me for sewer on water for the yard, I have reduced my daily water consumption to the recommended amount by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. I am anxious to see how much more of a reduction I can make by turning off the water while I scrub myself, even though I used to turn the setting on the handheld shower to the maxi-save position while washing.

I also have a valve that allows me to use the regular shower head. I read that often when you have a headache or a stiff neck, the tension arises in the calf muscles so when that happens, I can stand with the water running on my back and lower legs to loosen the muscles. When I can bend over and touch my feet, the muscles have been relaxed and the tension in my neck or scalp is gone, too.

 

[jetcone]

Phil

love that box photo! LOL how the man needs the "stimulation" setting !!

 

Tom I first used a telephone shower aboard the Queen E2. I must say it was direct and stimulating! Have to save water on board so all the showers were telephone showers as the English called them.

 

 

I put a link up on Square, there's a guy selling some with a removable flo restrictor from a Vegas hotel. Nice head not expensive too.

[this post was last edited: 7/21/2015-13:48]

 

[philr]

The Needle Spray...

...will nail you to the tub! 

 

 

This box reminded me this Eaton Vibra Queen home massager that I have!

 

Use the scalp applicator and feel the tingling sensation... I just tried it for a few seconds and now I have a headache!

 

I guess, the tingling sensation might be worse if you use it in a damp location like the shower or the bath!

That thing must be old as there's no notice against doing such a thing.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jetcone]

Well the box shows you Phil

It must be done by a certified guy in health care garb  only !!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Nice head not expensive too.

What more can you ask for. Livin' la vida loca.

I can't find your link.

I removed the flow restrictors from every one I have had.

 

[whirlcool]

I think with higher water pressure you use less water. We have high water pressure here in our showers. I can hop right in and out very quickly. Maybe 10 min for everything. We once had a house with low water pressure. It took 30 min to shower and rinse off properly.

The showers here will definitely blow you against the back wall if you are not ready for it! Plus we use a Delta hand held shower head with an inline chlorine filter too and the pressure is still strong.

 

[mattl]

Have a Speakman or two around the house and really like them but I'm more than happy with the shower system I put in a few years back.  4 body sprays, a large fixed pulsating shower-head, and a rarely used hand held shower.  I use the body sprays and the fixed shower head daily - all at the same time, only time I use the hand held is when I scrub down the shower.  I'm about a 10 minute user too, odds are about 6 minutes of full flow water use.  It's a Delta system and when I installed it I was tempted to drill out the 6 position diverter valve,  it has 1/2 feeds coming it, but only a pencil sized opening in the valve.  I didn't but sometimes I wish I had when the water pressure is on the low side due to whatever.  Does not happen often though.

 

Other bathrooms get Speakman brass units, never plastic.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Will you guys just stop dancing around it and write what you really mean? Sheesh.

 

[jetcone]

Tom

here is a direct link to the auction, says he has 15 left.

 

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thanks, Jon. Got it.