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Comment by dgfitz | Hacker News Reader

To make light of the comment: what the hell does someone need to take a 30m shower for?

I personally don't understand the people who wouldn't want to take a 30 minute shower.

So long as the water stays hot and you have the time, it's one of the more relaxing things you can do at home. Baths use way more water, and if you don't live somewhere like Japan, they aren't deep and cool off quickly without a bath warmer. Its also kind of gross to sit in a bath without already showering and getting clean before you get in.

If you have a speaker in the bathroom you can listen to an audio book. Long showers have only gotten better with water proof phones becoming more common. As a kid I would put my Gameboy in a Ziploc bag just so I could stay in longer.

Only on HN someone wonders what's the cost of a shower, another person actually attempts to calculate that, and then we get into a discussion whether 30 minute showers are a good thing or not. IMO 30 minutes is a bit excessive but I do enjoy longer showers myself ;)

In grad school, many years ago, I would plug the drain and let the tub fill while I showered. I would pull the plug and let the tub drain once the water had cooled. This way my bathroom would warm up a bit. I suppose this might have saved a few cents.

These days you can get passive ‘waste water heat recovery’ systems that sit beneath a bath or shower tray - warming your inbound cold water with your outflow, so you use less new hot water (or have to heat it less).

I'd be curious to know how these systems manage with dissolved soap, partially dissolved skin cells, hair, etc.

A 30 minute shower uses more water than a bath.

If you don't believe me, try plugging the drain on just a 5 minute shower to see how much it fills up, then extrapolate...

(The shower crosses into more water generally somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the shower flow and desired bath depth...)

Every shower head is a minor restriction on flow compared to the bath faucet. It may or not be negligible. But a bath drawn for the same faucet runtime will use more water than the same runtime for a shower every time. The crossover in cost happens when the shower uses more water than the bath. That should happen very shortly after the time it takes to fill a bath. At one house, our bath took 40 minutes to fill, another 15-20, and another took under 10.

> I personally don't understand the people who wouldn't want to take a 30 minute shower.

Are you aware that clean water is a finite resource that we're almost certain to run out of? [1] does that not bother you all?

Even mighty British Columbia with all the rivers, lakes, mountains and snowfall is under drought conditions, right now in winter!

https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state...

What do you mean it's a finite resource, I take a shower with some water, it gets dumped, cleaned then I can use it again. Does me taking a longer shower just disintegrate the water?

GP did not consider septic tanks either apparently

> > I personally don't understand the people who wouldn't want to take a 30 minute shower.

> Are you aware that clean water is a finite resource that we're almost certain to run out of? [1] does that not bother you all? https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state...

I think a 30 minute shower contributes to a global water shortage in the same way that plastic straws contribute.

The link you’ve provided says 90% of water usage is on the generation of electricity, food, and products.

I think the GP should continue to take 30 minute showers, because even if they stop, even if every person stops, it’ll have a negligible effect on water usage.

Much like plastic straws.

With unlimited energy, there's pretty much infinite water in oceans to desalinate. Energy and its clean production and storage is the only thing to worry about.

> Are you aware that clean water is a finite resource

It kinda is, when you're drawing it from a spring that will lead to the ocean one way or the other.

It's terrible for your skin.

Agreed, although I don't think this was a problem for me until I was in my 30s or so.

Many years ago, at the end of a fifty mile race, I collected my bag and went to the locker room. When I got in, I guy was leaning against the wall, with the showerhead kind of over his shoulder (this was a junior high school). I undressed very slowly, for I was quite sore from the run. I took what I thought was a long shower, and then dressed very slowly and packed my stuff the same way. As I left the locker room, the guy was still leaning against the wall with water running over him. I didn't blame him.

You ran 50 miles in middle school??!!?

No, I ran 50 miles to middle school, or rather to a middle school. The 2024 JFK Memorial 50 Mile will finish at the Springfield Middle School in Williamsport, Maryland. I presume that it was the same school back then--I don't think Williamsport has the population for two middle schools.

I was 27, about twice the age I was when I finished 8th grade.

Shiiiiiitttttt! 30 minutes is a quick shower to me. Idk but I typically budget about an hour for a shower, then 20 to 30 to get ready. I figure most at the gym are just rinsing though.

Body hair really extends shower time. A lot of body hair does it even more. Add long hair and beards and it's even more.

How so?

More hair means more product, more lathering, and significantly more rinsing. When my hair is short, I can wash it in a few seconds. With my hair below my shoulders, it can take more time to clean than an entire shower took with short hair.

Yeah, but the GP post was talking about body hair, which kind of puzzled me.

Maybe they were (implicitly) talking about shaving their body hair? I dunno - confusing.

second this, it looks insane I can barely endure 3 minutes shower and my average is 40-50 seconds especially when it is -13 C outside

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