Showers – 19th century luxury and health | Hacker News Reader

Showers – 19th century luxury and health

homethingspast.com

40 pointsuserbinator32 comments

> Showers appeared in sports clubs and other communal facilities but remained uncommon in private homes in Britain before the 1970s/80s.

I wonder why the exact opposite happened in Brazil? "Brazilians love showers (twice a day is common), but houses and hotels almost never have a bathtub; however, Jacuzzis and hot tubs are found at spas."[1]

[1] http://brazilsense.com/index.php?title=Common_in_the_USA_and...

The same is true in much of SE Asia, because in hot and humid places, showers are much more useful than bathtubs.

This is also reflected in bathing habits: broadly speaking, hot countries shower off the sweat in the evening, while cold ones warm up in the morning (or at night before bed).

and it's fun because when you leave the shower, you 'dry' almost right away. at least that how it feels.

An interesting contrast I've noticed is just how "timeless" the UX of certain plumbing fixtures are; the average person today, going back in time to a (well-equipped) house in the early 1900s, would probably have no trouble at all using the sink, toilet[1], or shower. Compare this with the computing industry where a span of 5 years can mean radical and confusing changes.

[1] Amusingly enough, there are YouTube channels showing off nothing but very old toilets --- which look and work nearly the same as modern ones.

I wonder .. well wikipedia to the rescue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper#History

Because the product hasnt changed: hot and cold water through pipes. Wait until the smart shower alters its temperature according to a facial recognition interface synced to your fitbit. Such "smart thermostats" will never be a thing.

Some really old ones would have a tank close to the ceiling and a pull chain to flush.

But that means old. Nothing built since end of WW II would have that.

Note that that doesn't mean you won't encounter them.

Both my high school's gym in Germany (rebuilt after the war) and my student housing (survived WW2 intact) had pull chain operated toilets.

We had them in India in the 90s I guess (newly built then)

Around 1900 is actually a difficult time because that is when they installed gas lines everywhere. The house I just moved in has outlets everywhere to hang your gas lanterns, including ceiling hooks (but no electricity at the ceiling). The gas expert who installed the gas boiler in the bathroom (from the 50s, it appears.. You need to light it up by hand every time you want hot water) couldn't figure out whether there still is gas in there, but said that usually there is..

So at least some part of the plumbing infrastructure is obsolete and a legacy issue.

Where are you located? I've lived in buildings aged about that much in Vienna and Berlin and never encountered what you're describing.

A smaller German city. There are a lot of buildings of that age around, but I suspect most of them have been profoundly renovated. (If you do that they're worth serious money.)

This one seems to have undergone one upgrade (installation of very basic electricity and renovation of some of the water plumbing) in the 50s/60s and that's it. At least that means we can afford it.. The windows and doors are still original as well.

When we took off the wallpaper we found remains of newspaper from 1934 (cheering for Hitler) underneath, so the wallpaper has been done at least twice. (We covered it again for the next person to find.)

Technology is a much cheaper and faster industry to produce. Software has no physical components and is therefore free, compared to plumbing which needs piping. Where am I going with this? They couldn't afford to replace piping every 5 years so they needed to find ways of making them timeless.

What are the modern bathing luxuries that will 'trickle down' (so to speak) to the rest of us sooner or later?

I know of:

  Steam showers
  Electrically-heated floors
  Rain showers (not new; mentioned in the article)
  Hot water recirculation?
  Tankless heaters?

Personally, I'd happily pay for an appliance or add-on to the plumbing that increases water pressure in the shower. (Maybe such a thing already exists?) Some places have good water pressure, but lots of places don't and weak pressure really kills the joy of a shower. Fancy showerheads, which are getting to be the norm, cut the pressure even further.

You can get inline shower pumps upto about 3 or 4 bar. Will drive a fancy shower head, and half a dozen or more jets.

e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C1NOWBW

I've used this

https://images3.campingworld.com/CampingWorld/images/product...

Works like a charm. Even when you have enough pressure, it helps reducing water consumption.

One issue in older homes is that very few people clean the particle filters and you would be surprised at the build up in just five years.

There are many low flow shower heads out there that simply use a plastic insert to restrict water flow that can either be removed or bored out a bit.

I've seen electric baths in Japanese bath houses.

Bidet toilet seats? They’re not prohibitively expensive now, you just need an outlet in the right place (which is why I don’t have one).

Spain has them in every house. Once you get used to them, they're actually really nice and far more hygienic.

I have a non-heated non-electric one. It has a mechanical flow control and it branches off from the main toilet line, so you're getting tap-temperature water. It's surprisingly comfortable to use (and I used it in New England in the winter). It's not much different than putting your hands in cold water, and it only takes a second to wash up. I found it substantially more hygienic than toilet paper (and I could always add a little soap if necessary), and at ~$30, it paid for itself in a year.

Tankless heaters. As a Russian I LOLed a bit. How about hot water with no heater? Central heating system FTW and it is much more efficient. Now I'm in Australia and I have this tankless, instant as they say, heater. I have a bit of distaste for it. 400 volts, 25 amps in the cupboard. Danger, waste of energy and you never can set up water property - too hot or it turns off because of lack of pressure.

EDIT: oh, they also have district heating in Finland as well, cool: http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/25777/DISTRICT_...

I have a single tankless heater in my basement which services hot water to the whole house - no high voltage close to living spaces.

I am not sure about "much more efficient". It was not an uncommon view to see a strip of land with no snow on it in winter when everything else is covered. The secret? There are hot water pipes underneath. I have no idea how much energy was lost in transport.

A number of Nordic cities do this on purpose to keep pedestrian streets free of snow and ice.

Holland, Michigan in the US is notable for this. https://www.cityofholland.com/streets/snowmelt

In Russia heat from power plants is often used to heat water for residential buildings. Main product is electricity and heat is byproduct.

I'm thinking of doing solar concentrated heater

Thermostatic showers are starting to get more common. They have pressure and temp controls which automatically adjust the hot and cold water ratios to keep the temperature constant (even if someone turns on a sink or flushes a toilet).

My parent remembers a time when she washed herself in the kitchen. Had to do that myself once when the water was out and I will say this: a shower is not a luxury but a basic human right. Thankfully the government agrees with me.

Why is a shower a basic human right?

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