Found this money saving tip in the August issue of Consumer reports:
$265. That's how much the average four-person household could save on its annual water bill by replacing a 5-gallon-per-minute showerhead with a good 2-gpm model.
I have NO IDEA how many gallons per minute my showerhead delivers, but it has to be high. That thing blasts out the water like it's from a fire hose. And it's a bit old too, so I should look at replacing it.
Anyone done this? Notice a difference in your water bill?
Given that my annual water bill is about $500, and that a substantial fraction of our water is in toilet flushing, dishwasher, clothes washing, and gardenhose of the front yard (and bath vs shower) I find it hard to believe my three-person household would come close to that kind of saving. Maybe I live in an area with unusually low water bill rates?
Posted by: Paul | July 17, 2009 at 03:00 PM
I'm about to have two teenagers, no shower head is going to save me on my water bill! I do think all the laundry and dish washing (both high efficiency) boost our water usage. We don't water the grass, I just can't be that wasteful. A few years ago we had a water shortage in our city and I never started watering again after that.
Posted by: Laura S. | July 17, 2009 at 03:26 PM
FMF- I would trade you my low flow showerheads for your older ones. I have high water pressure and they still do not give me the pressure I want (memories of a great seinfeld episode come to mind).
Anyways, my beef is that my city makes me pay a flat rate for the first 10,000 gallons of water. My wife and I have never used more than 5,000 gallons according to our bill (our sprinkler system uses secondary irrigation water) so no money savings here. Maybe when our kids are teens, I will reconsider.
Posted by: bill | July 17, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Like Paul, there is no way I could save that much (though I realize some big cities/places out west probably charge a whole lot more and this might make sense), maybe more like $26/year.
The first thing I do before installing a new showerhead is to remove any of those plastic/rubber flow restrictors. A firehose would be great.
Posted by: Strick | July 17, 2009 at 03:59 PM
I'm with Bill, I think this is one of those areas I don't want to save. My parents have a low flow showerhead and I hate using it when we stay there, although their dual flush toilet is cool. You could always do what my dad did when we were young - standing outside the bathroom door looking at his watch when we emerged from being in the shower too long; although as you have teen boys I think?, they may end up strangling you :) Or do what my husband does and shower at the gym.
Posted by: guinness416 | July 17, 2009 at 04:36 PM
Or, you could stop being a pansy and do the right thing and permanently remove the flow restrictor that the government conveniently put inside of your showerhead! It only take a few minutes to yank the stupid thing out and you will notice a huge difference in the quality of your shower. Google "how to remove shower head flow restrictor" for the simple instructions.
We have done this in all of our showers in both homes. If I stay at a hotel for more than one night, I will always remove it from the hotel showers, too. (I travel a lot and I always bring a small wrench with me, to remove and discard flow restrictors from the hotel showers.)
Why should I accept anything less than the best, highest-quality, most cleansing shower possible? Ask yourself, is really worth saving a few dollars to experience an inferior shower? It's your home, your water, your shower, your body. Don't you deserve the best? Remove your flow restrictors and you will wonder why you did not do it years ago!
Posted by: Bob411 | July 17, 2009 at 04:53 PM
Low flow shower heads achieve only one thing: annoyance.
When I encounter a low flow shower head in a hotels, I just have to stay in the shower twice as long to wash my long hair. Fire hose? In and out in a flash.
Some of us actually need water in our showers!
Posted by: MC | July 17, 2009 at 05:43 PM
Showerheads bought after 1992 were required to be 2.5gpm or less.
Most of the savings would not be in the cost of the water itself. Most of the savings is from not having to HEAT the water. It generally costs in the range of 1-2¢ per gallon to heat water. The cost of buying the water is probably more like 1/10th that. Exact costs will vary depending on if you have gas or electric and your local utility rates.
If you went from 5 gpm to 2gpm then you're saving 3 gallons a minute. If you have a family of 4 people each taking a 5 minute shower then you'd save 4 x 5 x 365 x 3 = 21,900 gallons of water a year. Heating that much water at 1¢ a gallon is about $219.
Posted by: Jim | July 17, 2009 at 05:47 PM
This is my first visit to this site and it will be my last. I can NOT believe how incredibly short-sighted and mean these commenters are (except for the last guy, Jim)!
There's another way to save on water and heating that water: shower twice a week. My husband and I both do that and it's not really a problem (except when we get incredibly dirty working on a project, at which time we go ahead and shower). If having dirty/flat hair is the reason you shower every day, try washing it in the sink. Also, even at twice a week, my husband takes a "GI shower": get wet, turn off the water and soap up, turn it back on to rinse.
Belly-aching about the need to luxuriate when we are ALL headed for water issues in this country and around the world is simply irresponsible. (And, BTW, don't stop making things grow in your yard: we need all the air recycling plants we can get. If you want to save water, please save it elsewhere.)
There. I can get off my soapbox now. Anyone what to climb up?
Posted by: Christine | July 17, 2009 at 07:41 PM
Add me to the list of those that hate the low flow heads.
I love the rainshower heads and the shower towers.
Shower twice a week???? GI Shower???? No way! Every morning at 6 am, I have a date with Delta and Kohler!
Posted by: JimL | July 17, 2009 at 07:55 PM
Water pressure is worth the $$$
Posted by: Josh | July 17, 2009 at 08:49 PM
people never appreciate something til it's gone. i'd love to see all these people complaining about low flow showerheads when there's no clean water left to drink.
Posted by: irenie beanie | July 17, 2009 at 11:34 PM
Irenie beanie, agreed agreed agreed.
Given California's current/ongoing drought, I like to know I'm not making things worse.
As for savings, my coworkers and I were once filling out a survey, and a coworker asked the group about how much she should estimate for her and her boyfriend. She didn't believe me when I said our monthly water bill was $27. We installed low-flow showerheads, sink aerators, a low-flow thing for our toilet, shower every other day (unless we get dirty or sweat quite a bit), and do that hippie thing of letting it mellow if it's yellow.
Posted by: Francesca | July 18, 2009 at 03:38 AM
I bought a new showerhead back in April. It defaults to 1 gallon per minute, but can be set at 1.5 or 2 gallons per minute. Once you shut off the water, it automatically snaps back to 1 gallon per minute, so it can't accidentally be set to a higher level. Our water bill was low to begin with, but we like our current one better than the 2.5 gpm one that we used to have.
One of my coworkers spends about $270/mo on his water and he bought one of these and even with only a few weeks using that showerhead he saved about $30 his first month. Since he'd tried replacing the showerhead before and his girlfriend and her son (who both take at least 2 20+ minute showers a day) had fished the old one out of the trash and put it back in place he counts it as a victory that they like this one. He bought a second one for his other shower that only has the 1 gallon per minute setting; I haven't asked him how it's helped his water bill yet though.
Posted by: Blaine Moore | July 19, 2009 at 11:49 AM
It's hard to compare bills when utility rates apparently vary tremendously. Our typical water+sewer bill is under $15/month for 3000 gallons. Two adults, two babies, no lawn watering, no pool, old toilets, showerhead has low-flow constrictor removed, efficient clotheswasher and dishwasher. Water is gas-heated, and the typical gas bill (excluding winter) is under $20/month.
Posted by: jdgjdg | July 19, 2009 at 05:55 PM
Obviously, it depends on where you live, ie if you live in an area with a water shortage or not.
Here in the upper Midwest, people water their lawns and hose off their driveways almost every day all summer long, and most municipalities charge homes for a minimum amount of gallons whether they are used or not. So installing a water conserving shower head is pointless.
Posted by: MC | July 20, 2009 at 02:45 PM
I don't get all the compaints about low flow showerheads. I think they're fine. But showering only twice a week sounds really icky!
Since I live in CA, I don't flush if it's yellow unless I have guests coming over. However, it's a low flow toilet, so it's probably not saving much.
Posted by: mysticaltyger | July 22, 2009 at 02:37 AM