Rain Shower Head vs. Regular Shower Head

[Bianca and Bernard]

Another one with a problem with rain shower heads--my hair is too thick to rinse properly. Our shower can switch between the handheld (but mounted) head and the rain shower. DH uses the rain shower, I use the (stationary) handheld. My DS16 likes to set it so he gets water through both.

If you don't have super-thick hair, go with what makes you happiest.

This is the one we have.

It is nice for us, because DH is ogre sized, and I'm closer to dwarf sized. I hated the fixed ones, where I would have to stand on my tiptoes to get wet below my face, which would get blasted with water, since he would angle it up so high.

I use the handheld to rinse everything; I like I can move it around to where I feel I'm still soapy, lol. I use the rain part to just stand under and get soaked. We haven't run out of hot water during a single shower yet; but if we take back to back showers, then the 2nd person may end up with cold water, if the 1st person is DH, because that man likes his showers HOT.

 

[BrianL]

We have one like this:
View attachment 668365

Do you live on the starship Enterprise? That's the fanciest showerhead I've ever seen!

 

[pens4821]

Funny we were just talking about changing ours. We have a rain one that has great pressure. It’s nicer than the one we had before. We’ve had it for a couple years.

However, we never put two and two together until recently, but I think it must use a lot of water. We noticed that our hot water wouldn’t last as long, but our water heater was older and figured it just needed replaced (we didn’t really notice it right away but a couple months after changing). Well our water tank started a small leak a couple months ago so we replaced it. Same issue. We spread out showers and last night took two back to back and the second one had very little hot water. Can’t be the tank since it’s new, unless it’s by chance defective. We will be getting a different shower head here soon to see if that helps the situation.

 

[mrodgers]

There's no specific local laws/regulations that I can tell. At least around here. There is a federally mandated flow rate in the United States set at 2.5 gallons/minute. Any showerhead sold as new in the US has to be less than this, and most are 1.5 gpm or less.

This is what I love about regulating things like this. To use less water, they regulate the volume down by 30% (note, I'm not doing math on it so if the number is off a few 10ths of a percent, don't attack please.) But now it takes twice as long to shower so instead of a 10 minute shower using 25 gallons, you take a 20 minute shower and use 30 gallons.

It's similar to the paper towels they supply in our manufacturing plant bathrooms which as being manufacturing, we wash our hands a lot. So they buy the crappiest paper towels because it's half the price, but we use 3 times as much to dry our hands netting a higher overall cost.

 

[kdonnel]

We switched to 1.5gpm shower heads eight years ago. One of the neighbors kids was doing some sort of school project and needed volunteers to do some measurements before and after.

In the end, while we noticed some reduction in water volume, we didn't have any issues with the reduction. Everyone was able to shower and feel just as clean when done with no need to increase our shower time.

We ended up seeing a $10 decrease in our water bill with just the one shower head changed out. We spent $20 buying two additional shower heads so that each shower regularly used was 1.5gpm, buying the same cheap one we were provided as part of the project, and in subsequent months saw a total of $30 reduction in our monthly water bill.

That one simple change has saved us almost $3000 to date, paying for a vacation.

We were most recently in Las Vegas. My wife and I both commented on how much extra water was pouring out of the showerhead at Encore. It must have been a 3.5gpm or more shower head. It seemed like such a waste, especially with the Lake Mead water concerns.

 

[GreatLakes]

Funny we were just talking about changing ours. We have a rain one that has great pressure. It’s nicer than the one we had before. We’ve had it for a couple years.

However, we never put two and two together until recently, but I think it must use a lot of water. We noticed that our hot water wouldn’t last as long, but our water heater was older and figured it just needed replaced (we didn’t really notice it right away but a couple months after changing). Well our water tank started a small leak a couple months ago so we replaced it. Same issue. We spread out showers and last night took two back to back and the second one had very little hot water. Can’t be the tank since it’s new, unless it’s by chance defective. We will be getting a different shower head here soon to see if that helps the situation.

Have you considered a tankless system? That solves the problem or running out of hot water due to the flow. There are some cons so make sure to do the research but anyone that frequently runs out of hot water should take a look. Taking colder showers also would be a solution. It is an adjustment but I changed to much colder showers a few months back and find them invigorating.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Our rainfall shower head is right in the center of the shower, while the handheld unit (in stationary position) is on the side like a typical shower. Of course, we did a whole bathroom re-do--the current shower is where the sinks were, and vice-versa. so, little additional cost to put it in. If the OP is just replacing one style of shower head with another, her options are more limited.

In our house, it's DH and DS16 who are the water hogs--DH shaves in the shower, and DS just likes long showers. I shave in the shower, too, but somehow, it doesn't end up taking me nearly as long as it takes DH.

 

[bcla]

This is what I love about regulating things like this. To use less water, they regulate the volume down by 30% (note, I'm not doing math on it so if the number is off a few 10ths of a percent, don't attack please.) But now it takes twice as long to shower so instead of a 10 minute shower using 25 gallons, you take a 20 minute shower and use 30 gallons.

It's similar to the paper towels they supply in our manufacturing plant bathrooms which as being manufacturing, we wash our hands a lot. So they buy the crappiest paper towels because it's half the price, but we use 3 times as much to dry our hands netting a higher overall cost.

Depends on the design. More water doesn't necessarily work better. Frankly a lot of these designs are pretty bad at washing off. I remember my old fashioned toilet that I replaced with a low water toilet. The new toilet was superior at flushing even though the old one used 4x the amount of water. The only thing the old toilet did better was overflow the bowl if plugged up, and with a narrow trap it did that quite often.

Reminds me of a lot of low flow faucets these days. While I suppose having 10x the flow rate means has the time to wash off, that certainly doesn't save water. Beside the contact time with the water is emphasized these days, but not the amount of water washing hands.

 

[TLSnell1981]

While I prefer a long hot bath...love the rain shower.

 

[Jeannie]

Personal preference, but I hate the water coming straight down from a rain shower head!

 

[Cadiewampus]

We switched to 1.5gpm shower heads eight years ago. One of the neighbors kids was doing some sort of school project and needed volunteers to do some measurements before and after.

In the end, while we noticed some reduction in water volume, we didn't have any issues with the reduction. Everyone was able to shower and feel just as clean when done with no need to increase our shower time.

We ended up seeing a $10 decrease in our water bill with just the one shower head changed out. We spent $20 buying two additional shower heads so that each shower regularly used was 1.5gpm, buying the same cheap one we were provided as part of the project, and in subsequent months saw a total of $30 reduction in our monthly water bill.

That one simple change has saved us almost $3000 to date, paying for a vacation.

We were most recently in Las Vegas. My wife and I both commented on how much extra water was pouring out of the showerhead at Encore. It must have been a 3.5gpm or more shower head. It seemed like such a waste, especially with the Lake Mead water concerns.

Wow $30 dollar reduction. Guess I am lucky. We have lived in our house since 98 and have only had a couple of water bills above $30. Thats when we were watering sod. Most of the time its between $19 and $25

 

[BrianL]

Personal preference, but I hate the water coming straight down from a rain shower head!

Yeah, me too. I dislike rain showers. I also like high-pressure shower heads.

 

[tzolkin]

Do you live on the starship Enterprise? That's the fanciest showerhead I've ever seen!

It lights up, tells you the temperature, and keeps track of how long you have been in there.

We stayed at an Airbnb that had one so my husband looked it up and was surprised to find that it only cost around $250 so we put one in at home.

It's similar to the paper towels they supply in our manufacturing plant bathrooms which as being manufacturing, we wash our hands a lot. So they buy the crappiest paper towels because it's half the price, but we use 3 times as much to dry our hands netting a higher overall cost.

I have tried having this conversation with my mom numerous times about toilet paper. She claims she has to buy the cheapest kind because they go through it so fast. No, you go through it so fast because it’s thinner than tissue paper so people use way more. I probably use five times the amount at her house than I do at home.

Wow $30 dollar reduction. Guess I am lucky. We have lived in our house since 98 and have only had a couple of water bills above $30. Thats when we were watering sod. Most of the time its between $19 and $25

Yes, water prices vary greatly. In our old neighborhood every new person who moved in would make a concerned post on social media because their water bill was over $300 (billed bimonthly) and then everyone else would inform them that was normal for the area.

 

[kdonnel]

Wow $30 dollar reduction. Guess I am lucky. We have lived in our house since 98 and have only had a couple of water bills above $30. Thats when we were watering sod. Most of the time its between $19 and $25

Our bill went from the $100 range to the $70 range.

Not sure how our water rates compare, it is the sewer rate that truly inflates the bill.

Prices are per 1000 gallons.

 

[tzolkin]

Not sure how our water rates compare, it is the sewer rate that truly inflates the bill.

Our rates are about double. And there’s also a minimum which is $104 even if you didn’t use any water. (+$30 if you have irrigation)

My family is very conservative with with water so our bills are a fraction of our neighbors (which will be $300-600). We had always previously lived somewhere with a well/septic, but even looking at averages online wasn’t much help in budgeting because the average water bill for our state is supposedly around $24/mo.

 

[bookgirl]

Trying to decide....any suggestions?

thank you.

I think it depends on your shower preference. I like harder water pressure because I have a sore back and neck/shoulders so rain forest heads will get the job done but doesn't really make me 'feel' better after a shower. Clean yes, but not relaxed.

I wouldn't get a rainforest unless there was a separate hand held or second head option.

If everyone in you family likes soft relaxing water flow then go for it, but resale might be affected.

 

[BrianL]

I think it depends on your shower preference. I like harder water pressure because I have a sore back and neck/shoulders so rain forest heads will get the job done but doesn't really make me 'feel' better after a shower. Clean yes, but not relaxed.

I wouldn't get a rainforest unless there was a separate hand held or second head option.

If everyone in you family likes soft relaxing water flow then go for it, but resale might be affected.

Yes, this! I like extremely hot showers/soaks due to my back. It just makes me feel better. I know I can get clean with less water, and the shower will be much shorter if that is the only goal, but sometimes nothing beats a powerful blast of very hot water on my back- it's so nice!