How Much Water Do Low Flow Showerheads Save?

Many people are hesitant to change out their shower-head for one that claims to save water for fear that they will be giving up something. Most people associate "water saving" with less water to bathe with and therefore don't want to think of giving up a luxurious shower to save a few pennies.

Nothing could be farther from the truth with today's new water saving showerheads. So, how do water saving shower heads work without causing you to sacrifice comfort and cleanliness?

Basically a water saving showerhead works by injecting air into the water stream. This air increases the space between water molecules making the water seem softer and also gives it more volume. This added oxygen also helps soaps and shampoos work better, which saves on the amount of products you have to use. If you have hard water, a water saving showerhead will make your water seem softer and enable you to use less soap.

How Much Water Will A Water Saving Showerhead Save?

The amount of water you will save by installing a water conserving shower head will amaze you. Most showerheads use between 5 and 10 gallons per minute. Imagine two, five-gallon buckets filling up each minute as you shower. If you take a ten minute shower that can be over 100 gallons. Not only is you water meter out at the curb spinning but your electrical meter is as well as your hot water heater has to run more.

How Much Money Do Water Saving Showerheads Save?

A water saving showerhead, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Star Program, will only use from 2 to 5 gallons per minute. Depending on how you adjust the water flow and air input, you may go from using ten gallons per minute to two gallons per minute. That is a savings of 8 gallons per minute. If you do a rough estimate and use thirty minutes of showering a day multiplied by eight gallons per minute, we are talking about 240 gallons of water a day or 87,600 gallons a year. Depending on what your local water costs are you may save as much as $500 or more a year. That's not bad considering most water saving showerheads cost between $10 and $50. Of all the water saving appliances a low water use showerhead offers one of the fastest paybacks.

To determine just how much you can save take a look at your water bill and determine the cost per gallon or cost per 1000 gallons you are paying.

According to a water heating calculator provided by the Nebraska Public Power District, the cost to heat 240 gallons of water a day, 365 days a year in a 50 gallon water heater (using electricity that costs ten cents per kilowatt hour) is $1,905.00. That's a rough idea of how much you could save in energy costs alone simply by changing your shower head. Using propane gas the yearly cost savings would be $1,754, assuming $1.50 a gallon for propane.

While this cost savings estimate is subject to a lot of conditions, such as water heater efficiency, fuel costs, distance from the heater to the bathroom, etc., you can see that by switching to a water saving showerhead you can expect your overall utility bills to go down dramatically. Even if you take the worst case water wasting scenario shown above, and half the cost savings, you will still save hundreds of dollars a year by retrofitting your showerhead with a water saving one.

How Easy Is It To Install A Water Saving Showerhead?

For a person with basic home fix it skills a water saving showerhead can be installed in less than five minutes. Usually all that has to be done is twist off the old showerhead, wrap a couple of turns of Teflon tape around the exposed pipe threads, and spin the new shower head on. Next adjust the amount of flow with what you are most comfortable with. That's it.

How Can You Get A Water Saving Showerhead For Free?

Many cities offer water saving showerheads for free as a part of their water conservation program. Check with your city water department to see if there are any free product or rebate programs.

I Have My Own Water Well, How Will A Water Saving Showerhead Save Me Money?

Many rural residents do not consider saving water if they have their own well. Water from a personal well is cheap, usually costing only the electricity that is required to pump it out of the ground. Still, these electricity costs add up. Depending on the horsepower of your submersible pump and the depth of your well, you could be looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of a half cent per gallon to pump water. That's still about $40.00 a year, not including the hot water you are saving. For those on well water the most savings from a water saving shower head will come from the propane, natural gas or electricity that would have been used to heat thousands of gallons of hot water.

An Extra Add - On To Save Even More Energy and Water

Another clever energy saving device that will not affect water flow or comfort is an automatic valve that reduces the water flow from your shower to a trickle when it is hot and ready for you to step in. The Ladybug water saving shower valve by Evolve uses a heat sensitive metal strip to shut off the flow of water to the showerhead when hot water finally arrives. For example, if you turn the shower on, and are waiting for the water to get hot, you may be doing other things and not be aware of just when the water is warm enough for bathing. In some homes it can take several minutes for hot water to arrive at the shower. In that time several gallons of hot water have gone down the drain without you even being there to use it. To use one of these devices, all you have to do is flip a small valve to the "on" and step in to have your shower, which is now fully warm. You can learn more about water saving thermal valves here: Water Saving Thermal Shower Valves or by reading the product description below on Amazon.

Ways to Save Even More Water

To save even more water consider installing a dual flush toilet valve. These enable you to flip the flushing lever either up, for 1/2 the water used, or down, for a full flush. Since we don't need a full flush much of the time, the savings can really add up. Here is a Hubpages article about how to convert your toilet to dual flush for under $30 with an easy to install retrofit kit. How To Install a Dual Flush Retrofit Kit

Neither of these devices will cause any lack of comfort and both are easy to use. As water bills and energy prices continue to rise it just makes good sense to install water saving devices in your home.

About the Author. Doodlebugs blogs about ways to save energy at Savegreenly.com.