On long, hot showers

02 Apr 2008

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

The biggest waster of energy in our house right now is our 15-year-old daughter, whose never-ending daily showers must surely be responsible for warming the planet another half-degree. No matter how loudly we bang on the bathroom door and scream for her to stop, she showers on -- 20, 30 minutes at a time. And yes, we have a low-flow showerhead and our water heater is set to 120 degrees. Is there any kind of device -- one that isn't too dear and doesn't require a plumber -- that can curb the wasteful shower habits of a teenage girl? I'm partial to the pay showers you use at the state parks, the type that shuts off after 3 minutes, but that looks expensive and would probably require a plumber. A decent waterproof timer, even, would be useful for everyone in the household to remind them to keep it short.

Katherine Z.
Seattle, Wash.

Dearest Katherine,

Your first million awaits you. There is a crying need for a home shower auto-shutoff valve that even the plumbing novice can install. Design this device and parents of teens around the showering nations will deluge you with cash and praise. I can't find one. The closest I can come are devices that annoy the showerer into stopping. Most of my usual half-baked Umbra-O-Matic ideas are also annoyance-based, though we will address reason and logic at the end.

"Mooooom, I'm in the shower!"

Photo: iStockphoto

Before engaging the Umbra-O-Matic, let us reflect on the urgency of the issue. The Department of Energy estimates that heating water accounts for 14 to 25 percent of household energy consumption. Although water use is a concern, it is this energy consumption that we wish to reduce. Exactly how much energy goes toward heating water in your own household depends on the efficiency of the heater, as well as how much it is used (long showers included), the temperature setting on the heater, whether hot water pipes and heater are insulated, and other factors. Given the amount of household energy in play, shower length is certainly something we should evaluate and curtail in our homes.

I did find one timer that stops the shower after a certain time and energy use has passed, but I believe it may only work with on-demand hot water systems. I found another that runs for a period of water flow and then emits an annoying noise until the shower is turned off -- maybe your best bet, timer-wise. There are also various waterproof shower timers on the market, just regular timers with a waterproof cover, which you will find on the internet under "waterproof timer." Please shop carefully and try to avoid vinyl.

With a little extra effort on your part, you can personally be more annoying than any buzzer. Trouble is, the showers just may continue to annoy you as well as your daughter. My most drastic ideas involve ending the shower yourself. Have you tried marching into the bathroom and turning the shower off for her? I understand the bathroom door might have a lock, but it can be removed without hiring a plumber. In order for this tactic to be remotely fair, you would need to have a clock in the shower, so that she can pace herself through the allotted showering time before you summarily shut off the faucet. Or, if you don't want to invade the bathroom, set a time limit on her showers, let her know what it is, and get a kitchen timer to carry in your pocket. When she starts the shower, start the timer. When the timer goes off, turn off the hot water pipe at the water heater. Voila, her water will be cold only, shower will end.

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I have another drastic idea, but it does involve plumbing: get rid of your current showerhead. Attach a hand-held shower nozzle instead, but no mount for the nozzle. Everyone will have to hold the nozzle with one hand while they desperately try to suds themselves with the other. No one's shower will last long and houseguests will be baffled.

Since none of these techniques is ideal, I wonder if you might back up a step to the negotiation phase. I understand that these long showers are annoying and persistent and do use quite a bit of hot water. Without fair negotiation, though, I'm not sure you will effect any lasting change (lasting here meaning two weeks or longer).

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Did you already try to calmly sit down with your daughter at a non-shower time, and go over why shorter showers are important to you? In this conversation, did you lay out the consequences of longer showers on your household budget and her future planet? You also might try to challenge her to find a larger waste of energy in the household. If she can, then you need to reduce that energy consumption in fairness to her shower efforts. If her showers are truly the largest waste, lay out a series of consequences for her related to the environmental consequences: docking her allowance based on her share of the water heating bill, for example.

Finally, although I know this will not make me sound properly environmental: you only have a few more years with her in the house. These years are either precious or already full of conflict or both. My final solution: Try to limit her hot-water use, and then (is she reading this?) give up. She may eventually grow out of the endless shower.

Hopefully,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (21 comments)

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pick your battles

I love a long, hot shower. It's one of my favorite things (I fantasize about walk-in showers with multiple shower heads and a seating bench). But I also live in a studio apartment that doesn't require much in the way of heating and I do all sorts of other things to reduce my impact on the world (no car, compost/recycle). I kind of figure that some things are going to slide, and in the grand scheme of things, this one doesn't seem so bad.

Also, what about a compromise? For example: she can take her long hot showers on weekends, but during the week, she should keep it to 10 minutes or less.

You could also start charging her $5 for every minute over 10 minutes or something like that - especially if you want to drive home the economics of hot water heating.

by demolitionwoman at 11:03 AM on 02 Apr 2008

2 easy options

The Market Based Solution: Time your daughters showers and charge her $1 for every minute past 5 that the shower is running, $2 for every minute after 10, $3 for every minute after 20. A 10 minute shower would cost $5, 20 minutes would cost $25, 30 minute shower would cost her $55.
Rationing: Turn off the water valve for water flowing out of the hot water heater. Do this after her 5 minutes is up. I would suspect that if her hot shower turns cold without warning a few times she may get the picture. It may work best to not do it every time, but rather be erratic and unpredictable.

by gregoryheller at 11:06 AM on 02 Apr 2008

What else is going on in that bathroom?

I recall the Alexander Portnoy spent a lot of time in the bathroom too. There may be other reasons teens sequester themselves naked in the bathroom other than hygienic ones.

by learsfool at 11:13 AM on 02 Apr 2008

Shortening showers

Try turning on the hot water faucets somewhere else in the house - this will make the shower a chilling experience, especially if the faucet is on a lower level than the shower.

by gstratelak at 11:13 AM on 02 Apr 2008

A bathtub solution...

If you shower in a bathtub here's is what I do. I quickly wash my hair. Then I close the bathtub drain while I condition and wash my body. In my case, I'm usually finished before I have an inch of water around my feet.

So I can shower as long as I want, knowing that I'm not wasting energy -- the heat from the hot water will warm up the bathroom the rest of the day (not noticeably, but that's what physics tells us).

Of course, this method won't work for summer.

by Colin Wright at 11:19 AM on 02 Apr 2008

Another energy-saving option

One tech fix for this particular problem is the drainwater heat exchanger, or the gravity-flow exchanger (GFX). It will require a plumber, and tearing up some of the wall in the room below your bathroom (sorry about that). The GFX replaces a stretch of pipe that is the shower drain, with a new drainpipe that includes a coil of copper tubing wrapped around it. You connect the wrap-around coil to the cold-water line serving the shower, so that the heat from the drainwater per-heats the cold water. Once the drain water is hot, you can adjust down the amount of hot water (from the water heater) by more than 50%.

Honestly, these are more common in new construction or major renovation projects, since the installation is a drag. I'd also recommend getting a thermostatic shower valve with one of these so you don't have to adjust the mix as the incoming cold line warms up. But it's worth checking out for you energy-savers out there:
http://gfxtechnology.com

And even Bob Vila recommends it:
http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Drainwater_Heat_Reco ...

Raphael Sperry

by raphsperry at 11:19 AM on 02 Apr 2008

i've seen the future!

...or more appropriately, showered in it. At the decidedly non-futuristic Internationaal Zeemanshuis (Seaman's House) in Antwerp, Belgium the showers operated like the sinks in many American public restrooms. That is, you pushed a button down, and got a gradually diminishing stream of water that lasted for approx. 30 seconds. Need more water? Push the button again.

by atlasgrrl at 12:03 PM on 02 Apr 2008

RE: What else is going on in that bathroom?

Exactly. I'd wager that many of us used the bathroom for various onanistic pursuits...those tub faucets can be a girl's best friend.

by demolitionwoman at 12:32 PM on 02 Apr 2008

Solar thermal water heating

You seem like the perfect candidates for solar thermal water heating system. Solar thermal uses the power of the sun to heat your water. It is much cheaper than PVC solar panels as it does not require the same complicated battery technology, so it's very cost-effective. I think they only cost ~$200 depending on the size of your water tank and will quickly help pay for itself and save energy.

But if you're worried about wasted water in addition to energy, which, depending on your state, may be a big issue, you should also take your daughter to Good Vibes--or maybe just tell her about it... :)

Comprimises and good, direct, honest, two-way conversations with her are highly recommended, as are giving her choices. You don't want to be too heavy-handed on these issues I think (I was a teenage girl not too long ago), but rather encourage her to think about her choices and even possible mitigation strategies.

But you should definately investigate solar thermal water heating. Everyone who owns their house or plans on staying a few years should.

by Daria at 12:44 PM on 02 Apr 2008

Not only teenaged girls

I have a 24yo stepson living with me and his mother. He not only takes long showers, but usually twice a day as well. He complained when I replaced the full flow shower head with a 2.5gpm unit but has learned to 'live with it'. It's not worth the hassle to argue beyond that. IMHO

by olmon at 1:18 PM on 02 Apr 2008

adjustable shower flow - useful for ladies shaving

Sorry if someone already posted this idea, I'm in a hurry:

I have a low-flow NAVY showerhead, which has a button on it that you can use to reduce or stop the flow. I use it to reduce flow to keep some steam going while I lather/shampoo/shave (which actually makes it EASIER, since water isn't washing away your lather or shaving cream or whatnot). It's a lot easier than trying to avoid the flow/splash, and you don't need the water on full blast to keep yourself warm. It's really convenient to be able to control the flow without inadvertently changing temp, which most showers make it hard to do!

by sarahbei at 1:52 PM on 02 Apr 2008

You must be a mom,

Umbra, because that comment was right on. I raised 4 kids, now safely launched, and first having a heart to heart talk is best - mutual respect. And remembering that they are just passing through and to enjoy them as they are is the best advice there is. It's amazing what they will remember later on when they're not doing the proving their independence thing. I have had the pleasure of hearing my kids tell their kids almost word for word some of my admonitions. Put it out there with respect and it will come back. . . and keep the peace.

http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com

by swan at 3:31 PM on 02 Apr 2008

Other ideas

Some kids will listen to a heart-to-heart and others will just roll their eyes. My stepdaughter (now 18) is in the latter category, and uses every opportunity to negate our environmentally conscious behaviors: she buys her own industrial laundry soap so she won't have to use our "green" brand; she tosses trash on the sidewalk or in the street; keeps the thermostat in her room set at 80 degrees, day and night, all winter; takes 35-minute showers and frequent hot baths; goes through three rolls of toilet paper a day (for what I don't want to know); and never turns off lights or the television. Talking to her doesn't change anything, her behavior is part of her extended teenage rebellion that she's inflicted on us since age 12. In cases like that, one approach is to make her pay for her energy use. She gets a monthly child support check from her stepfather, and we recently started deducting a portion of it to cover her extravagant energy use (our electricity bill doubled when she moved in with us). That got her attention.

by bhurley at 6:17 AM on 03 Apr 2008

Change your water heater...

...buy one with a smaller capacity! That way, the hot water will run out after 5 or 10 minutes and she'll be forced to get out of the shower!

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by johnrplatt at 8:24 AM on 03 Apr 2008

Ultra-high standards perhaps?

I wonder whether some long showerers genuinely believe that they need that long to get clean. If you watch how she washes dishes, does she labour over getting them completely spotless? Is she a perfectionist in other areas?

I worked for a while in a nursing home once, showering elderly people among other things, and quickly found that different staff members had different ideas about what should be done. This greatly affected how long the showers took!

Perhaps you could talk about this with your daughter. If she feels hurried out of the shower in a way that leaves her feeling unclean for the rest of the day, that might not be the best solution. Relaxing her high standard of cleanliness (if this is the case) might be helpful.

by tui3 at 3:40 PM on 03 Apr 2008

It is your house

This is the not-so-nice approach, but there are times when you need to put your foot down and say "Enough!". It is obviously better to start telling your kids early in their life how long a shower can be (or better how much water, especially hot) they can use per day. If you constantly and early tell your kids what is allowed they will not push too long. It needs consistent parenting as well and that is probably the more difficult part. In my house the kids are only with us every other week and they have free reign at their father's house. That makes it much more difficult.

I ordered 5 minute sand timers. Some you can buy that stick to a shower wall. That MIGHT encourage my kids to keep it under 5 minutes. I believe they usually just forget and loose track of time.

Please do not limit your kids to less than what you allow for yourself. You will have to be the one who does it the "greenest" way. It is hard enough for the kids to experience that other families are living much larger.

This occasionally (or better: more often) saying "Enough!" business is really important, I believe. This applies to much more than just taking a shower. There are limits to comfort, convenience, money, and resources for 6.5 billion people on Earth. What was acceptable just a few years ago is not any longer and it is getting worse. If you do not raise your children that way they will not see it later as adults. It has to do with learning now what is acceptable before they are forced by the circumstances to do it. And those radically more limited times may not be that far away. 10, 20 years maybe.

Adolescents are self-centered by nature. Nevertheless, raising more hedonists is not what the world needs. Start early and live by good example in the areas where is matters.

Karsten
--
http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice To Pollute Less

by PolluteLessDotCom at 12:08 PM on 04 Apr 2008

Take the simple route

Here's what I do to keep my son from taking too-long showers:

Before he starts, I fill a 48 oz. plastic cup with cold water, and set it on the sink. I tell him he has x minutes to take his shower,then I'm coming in and pouring the water on his head (no door lock to worry about). Guess what? It works.

You could also do what my brother and I did when we were younger and wanted the other out of the shower...just go flush a toilet in the house. That gets 'em out of the shower pretty quick.

by themrfreeze at 1:03 PM on 04 Apr 2008

The mom weighs back in...

Hey! This was my question, and I enjoyed Umbra's answers, but kind of feel like I opened up Pandora's box on the feedback.

We live in Seattle and - of course! -- keep the house temp dialed down low, so who wouldn't want to linger in a warm shower - it's the warmest place in the house. Also, we unfortunately inherited a monster-size hot water heater installed by the previous owners; one of these days that's gonna have to go, but in the meantime, the hot water never, ever runs out.

Anyway, I've already talked it over with my daughter, who's a good kid and completely on-board with environmental concerns (already takes the bus everywhere, for example - just hates being cold). And we all like the lowest-tech timer out there - the five-minute egg timer that attaches to the bathroom tiles with a suction cup looks like a winner to me...it might not bring her to a total stop, but it's simple and easy and a good reminder to everyone else in the family, too.

by KZ at 3:18 PM on 04 Apr 2008

Solution from NZ; Seems interesting

http://www.waitek.co.nz/index.html
Check this one out. A shower monitor, a little pricey though.

by prashnaidu at 12:59 PM on 06 Apr 2008

Shave after the shower

I'm an 18 year old girl. Someone already mentioned a similar proposition, but for a different reason.

What I do is I close the drain of my bathtub while I shower (If you have only a shower I remember when I was little we had this rubbery circle that we placed over the drain and it stopped the drain). Once I'm done soaping, shampooing, and conditioning I turn off the shower and use the water that collected to shave. I also soap up while I let my conditioner soak in a bit. I don't know how much time my shower takes but it is sure less than 10 minutes... probably about 5.

by selftitled10 at 8:09 AM on 08 Apr 2008

what I do..

I am 15 and love relaxing and taking hot showers in the morning to wake up. What I do is turn the water off when soaping up and shampooing/conditioning, just like when I'm brushing my teeth. This way I don't waste the hot water, save energy, and am pretty quick (15mins). And as the third child with two older sisters and a little brother, I have to be quick and save the hot water.

by emoninjadragon at 3:09 PM on 22 Apr 2008

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