If you are looking for an easy way to potentially save an extra 5000 litres of water per year, it’s worth looking at replacing your 9 liter per minute shower heads with a new 7.5L per minute shower head (source). It’s also possible that you could be eligible for some government rebates for installing water efficient shower heads.
Although 7.5 litres per minute does not sound like enough for a decent shower, according to this article by Choice there are some decent shower heads out there.
When we went to a local bathroom shop to test out shower heads we were actually pleasantly surprised by the amount of pressure coming out of them. I had thought that with only 7.5L of water coming out of the head it would feel like a trickle, rather than a decent flow. The few that we were able to test at the plumbing store really seemed to hold their own in the pressure and features department.
The Choice article that I referenced to above tested seven different showerheads, by six different manufactures. They tested them based on the following criteria:
- The feel of the spray
- How effectively it was at wetting the body and hair
- How effective it was at removing shampoo and soap
- The coverage of the water over the body
- How easy it was to adjust the temperature and spray settings
- Total overall satisfaction
The top three according to the Choice testers were:
- Flexispray WELS 3 Star 7.5L/min Splash 5
- Methven Kiri Satinjet FLX150H
- Hansgrohe Puroset Raindance S 100
The Flexispray WELS 3 Star 7.5 Litres Per Minute showerhead is available from Bunnings as a separate head, on an arm, with a hose, or on a bar with a hose. We decided to with the Flexispray WELS 3 Star 7.5 Litres Per Minute Splash 5 Function Hand Shower Kit. It ranked highly on the Choice article, looked pretty good, included five different function, and had the flexibility that came with a hose. Another bonus of the Flexispray shower kit was that it only costs $69.00.
I’ll be installing the new showerhead in the few days, and if we have any serious problems with it I’ll let you know …
Moving that much water from our water sources into my bathroom is a feat that’s amazing in itself. But that’s incomparable to the feeling of a good strong water pressure when you’re taking a shower as opposed to a trickle – so I’d say GO FOR IT!