The water- and energy-saving smart showerhead

File this one under “where there is a need, there is usually a product to fill it”.

When my kids have to take a shower, it always seems like the water is running for five minutes before they ever get in.  So not only are we wasting water, we are also wasting electricity as we have an all-electric house.  Enter the Roadrunner Eco-Friendly Showerhead.

This little example of ingenuity solves all my water-wasting, energy-sapping troubles related to my kids’ shower times.  First, it is a low-flow 1.59 gpm head that saves water when it’s in use, but the stream is so powerful, you would never know.  But the real magic is the ‘ShowerStart’ feature, its ability to sense the temperature when you first start running the hot water.  When it detects that the water has reached approximately 95 deg. Fahrenheit, it slows the water flow to a trickle, keeping the hot water in the pipe, but not letting gallons go down the drain.  Once you are ready to get into the shower, you simply flip the little valve on the side of the head (a quick pull on the little cable does the trick) and the water resumes its normal flow! Very clever, and it works exactly as described. You already have a low-flow shower head that you love? No problem, for about $30, you can buy a ShowerStart adapter to get the great water saving benefits I described, without changing out your current shower head!

These products are available from several online retailers, but I purchased from Greenfeet, a long-time web purveyor of eco-friendly products. I highly recommend them!