High shower pressure can help people save water, study suggests | Hacker News Reader

High shower pressure can help people save water, study suggests

theguardian.com

20 pointserehweb18 comments

Does anyone else find these sorts of analyses really patronising?

I'll get the shower head that makes showering pleasurable. It's a trivial expense and there's already been a huge saving from shifting from filling a huge bath.

At the extreme end, actively causing discomfort (uncomfortable high pressure blast from a small number of nozzles) would drive water usage to an absolute minimum. People keep the shower session to a minimum, perhaps avoiding the shower altogether.

Whether this is utilitarian depends on the externalities of the water usage.

I believe that this article means speed when it says pressure.

A showerhead (unless it has a pump in it) cannot increase water pressure, but it can increase the speed water comes out. It does this by creating a restriction, which actually decreases the water pressure, causing higher speed.

A water outlet such as a shower relieves the pressure generated at the pump. A more restricted outlet doesn't provide as much relief, in effect increasing the pressure.

Can you expand on this please?

I'm not a physicist so I'm going off high school physics, anecdotes and gut feel.

I would think that by restricting the flow on the shower head, the pressure inside it would increase. That in turn should cause the higher speed of the water that actually comes out of it, and this increased speed should cause greater pressure where it hits compared to the lower speed version.

Am I misunderstanding the meaning of pressure, or is there some other parameter I haven't considered?

Higher GPM shower heads usually cost more, so this certainly passes the “it’s expensive to be poor” test in that those who can’t afford a $75 shower head eventually pay for the difference and possibly then some.

It’s very easy, and free, to remove the flow restrictors that shower heads have these days. For example, Waterpik shower heads can be purchased for closer to $30-40 in the US and removing the flow restrictor takes less than 5 minutes.

If properly designed, removing the flow restrictor will make your shower experience worse. As the article says, it's the pressure that makes a shower effective and pleasurable, not the flow rate. A good restrictor will increase the pressure.

For example, when you want to clean something with a garden hose you restrict the flow with your finger on the end to increase the pressure.

As someone looking to replace their old, unrestricted showerhead... do you have a link to instructions of removing the flow restrictor from modern heads?

Unfortunately, shower heads are constructed differently. Removing the flow restrictor depends on the design. Sometimes, it's so easy you can pull them out with a pair of pliers; other times, I've had to drill them out with a drill bit.

They look like little metal or plastic screens, usually. In the US, all shower fixtures must come with them installed by regulation.

Without any intention to sound cute: look inside it, remove o-ring. It really is that simple.

It’s not an O-Ring… you want the O-Ring in there. Some shower heads have a sort of mesh looking object the covers the O-ring or sits just below it.

If it’s a wire mesh you should leave that there as it is a strainer, to prevent debris from the pipe to get into the shower head.

Sometimes the restrictor looks like flat plastic cap with holes added.

Most of the time it’s an o-ring and the process looks like this: [0]

[0] https://www.tiktok.com/@hopopro/video/7261933672025132331

Not to be pedantic but I don’t know that it’s an “O ring” if it’s a flat cap with holes.

That simple? Alright I can do that. Thanks!

Youtube...and type what you just typed.

Understood, and thank you.

Mirrors my experience. You want lower rate for long sessions as it is often enough.

But on other hand if you want effectively wash quickly higher pressure is better.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com