Why you should change your shower head!

No this is not dealing with the latest news that came out about bacteria on showerheads and telling you to replace them because of that.  There are better reasons.  Whatever your hangup is (cleanliness, saving money, going green) you will see why it's important to change your shower head.  Here are some things you've probably never heard or read before.

If a low flow shower head spits out 1.5 gpm and an older style one runs at 2.5 gpm, then every minute it is on is saving 1 gallon of water. Assume 2 people are taking 15 minute showers every day for a year. That saves you 10,000 gallons of heated water per year. At around an estimated 3 cents per gallon for the cost of water, sewer, and heating the water, that's $300 per year. Your initial investment for a new one is paid for within 1-2 months. And I don't know about you and everyone in your house, but my shower time is not 15 minutes. For some people it's 5 or 10, for me it's more like 30 or 45 minutes! Give me a break. I'm not a morning person. So it's not only saving you money, it's saving the environment.

There have been different versions of low-flow models out before.  The earliest ones just had less spray nozzles on them which was meant to limit the amount of water, but the water still has the same pressure behind it, so it would shoot the water out of the fewer holes much harder and can even hurt.  I've been to many hotels that still use these, and it's not pleasant.  The next version was aerators, which would inject air into the water streams to make it feel more dispersed and like more water is coming out.  The air though cools off the water some by the time it gets to you, and when these things go wrong it's like the thing is being choked and spitting water at you every now and then.  The newest low flow shower heads are full faced spraying patterned, that don't apply extra pressure or aerate, but feel like it should.

Who gets in the shower and then turns the water on?  Hardly anyone does that because the water will still be cold.  Usually people turn it on and then do something else until it gets hot.  Now there are ones that will shut off when the water is hot and ready, and when you are ready you pull a chain to turn on the hot water.  This saves you from having to wait by the shower with your hand in the water for a couple minutes or from doing something else in the meantime and wasting water.

You should clean your showerheads often, but say you don't do it often, like most people.  There are now anti-clogging spray nozzles which are made of a pliable material that just need to be moved around to open back up instead of using a needle like with the old ones.

By the way, did I mention new ones look better too!