New products from Evolve Shower Heads came across my desk recently — and suddenly my family of four was given a new challenge: take greener showers.
The concept is simple: No more waiting for the water to reach a comfortable temperature before hopping in. The ShowerStart technology pauses the water flow when it reaches 95 degrees. Once undressed, pull the valve cord and your shower is at maximum comfort level. No more wasted water down the drain. Now we just have to get my wife and kids to get out of there.
Results: Because of the old shower valve system I have, we had to buy one additional product to allow this to work. $20 and minimal work later, everyone was loving their shower experience. We used to wait three minutes before our water was at a comfortable temperature, now we could jump right in(Please no actual jumping in the shower). This also lead to less mirror-fog — making it easier to shave, and less house humidity that the air conditioning had to remove (I live in Florida so low humidity is key). Plus, the water pressure and rain-head style makes this experience a great way to start the day.
The annual savings is about $75 a year. If only it automatically, completely shut off in five minutes, forcing us to take shorter showers, then we’d really have gone green!
These are the three products we tried:
The Lady Bug: An adapter that sits between your current showerhead and the supply pipe. It would be practically invisible if it did not have the restart cord hanging down. If you already love your showerhead, this is your fastest fix.
The Water Lily: A standard 2.5 gallon per minute rain-type showerhead with multiple flow levels and a built-in Lady Bug adapter. This was our personal favorite as it had a great full shower feel and it made me feel green with no sacrifice.
The Roadrunner: The greenest option, this provides a lower flow at 1.5 gallon per minute. Though it has a regular shower spray pattern and the water flow felt full, my wife and I both like the larger spray pattern of the Water Lily.
All said and done the ShowerStart technology was a hit in our house, allowing us to take greener, cleaner showers without impacting our lifestyle.
The only small problem: Our 5-year old daughter needed assistance with the pull cord.
Have you bought any green appliances or gadgets — or completed any green challenges? Tell us.
Credit: Showerstart Technology
