A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional

A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of a home, but make no mistake – it’s a vital one. Whether you’re building a new home or renovating an existing one, integrating efficient components into a bathroom will add convenience and improve functionality, and also minimize the environmental impact of energy and water consumption.
(more…)

Related posts:

1. Efficient: Foot Pedal Faucet Controllers Foot pedal faucet controllers allow you to control a...
2. Efficient Unified Bathroom Theory Overview A meta-efficient design for a bathroom. © Justin...
3. The Best Kitchen Faucet Aerators One of the least expensive ways to increase the efficiency...

I’ve tested many products over the past year. Here are three that have particularly impressed me with their efficiency: (more…)

Related posts:

1. The Best Rated Headphones Under $100 I’ve tested a lot of headphones in the Reactual Labs....
2. Ultrafine Yak Wool Clothing: Efficient Khunu is a start-up company that aims to be...
3. The Most Efficient Material For Cold Weather: Merino Wool Merino wool is the most efficient material for cold...

Overview

A meta-efficient design for a bathroom. (more…)

Related posts:

1. A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of...
2. Finding Inexpensive Non-Toxic Bedding We spend about one third of our lives in...
3. The Three Fundamental Flaws Of The Modern Toilet My unwinking, analytical gaze of efficiency now turns to...

My unwinking, analytical gaze of efficiency now turns to the toilet. Unfortunately, the design of the modern Western toilet is highly inefficient, in fact, it is so inefficient that it is actually harming our health. The modern toilet has only been around for about 150 years — the “porcelain throne” was created to “give dignity” to the water closet, rather than considering human physiology. (more…)

Related posts:

1. Office Building Is 100% Sewer-Free The sewer systems we use today are entirely ineffectual...
2. Efficient Unified Bathroom Theory Overview A meta-efficient design for a bathroom. © Justin...
3. Best Backyard Compost Tumblers Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of...

Foot pedal faucet controllers allow you to control a faucet hands-free. These devices are efficient and hygienic — they are commonly found in commercial kitchens and hospitals. I’m not sure why we don’t see them in more homes. You can reduce water use by 50% using pedal controllers, and if it’s hot water, you’ll be saving power too.

(more…)

Related posts:

1. The Best Kitchen Faucet Aerators One of the least expensive ways to increase the efficiency...
2. A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of...
3. Efficient Unified Bathroom Theory Overview A meta-efficient design for a bathroom. © Justin...

The Best Kitchen Faucet Aerators

One of the least expensive ways to increase the efficiency of your home is to install low-flow aerators on your faucets. These devices save water, and lower utility bills as well, because less hot water is used. Because of this, low-flow aerators will generally pay for themselves in only a few months. (more…)

Related posts:

1. Efficient: Foot Pedal Faucet Controllers Foot pedal faucet controllers allow you to control a...
2. A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of...
3. Tankless Water Heaters: A 2010 Review Tankless water heater have been used in Europe and Asia...

I’ve been testing the Road Runner low-flow showerhead, which is rated at 1.59 gallons per minute. Currently, it’s my favorite showerhead, beating out my previous favorites: the 2GPM Oxygenics showerhead, and the 1.75GPM Nigara Earth Massage showerhead. The Road Runner has a unique feature: it has a built-in sensor that detects when the water gets warm enough for showering (95° F or 35° C), and then it “pauses” the shower by reducing the water flow to a trickle. 

You don’t have to wait for the water to warm up, instead you go do something else like brush your teeth. This feature works quite well for me, and I might end up saving some hot water. You can see a video of the showerhead working here.

I also liked the consistent, rain-like flow of the Road Runner showerhead — the showerhead has a nice wide coverage pattern. The manufacturer says the Road Runner will produce a constantly flow, even if your water pressure is variable.

The Road Runner showerehead is available from Clean Air Gardening for $40.

Related posts:

1. A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of...
2. Efficient: Foot Pedal Faucet Controllers Foot pedal faucet controllers allow you to control a...
3. The Best Shower Filters Of 2010 I just replaced my shower filters, so I thought...

This post has been updated for 2009.

I recently wrote about Filtering Your Drinking Water Very Efficiently, but let us turn now to your shower water. When we shower, we absorb the substances dissolved in water through our skin quite readily. For example, 60% of the chlorine absorbed daily comes from showering in chlorinated water. The chlorine is absorbed directly from the water and from the chlorine gas released into the air.

Ideally, we would filter out all the undesirable chemicals from our shower water. However, unless you have a whole house water filter, this is not possible. This is because filtering water at the showerhead is problematic — the water moves fast, making filtering difficult, and the water is typically hot, which is also undesirable for filtering.

So basically, if you are filtering your shower water at the showerhead, you can only really hope to remove chlorine from the water. Shower filter manufacturers who claim otherwise should probably be viewed with skepticism. But chlorine is certainly one of the first you’d want to remove from your shower water. Anyone who has swam in a swimming pool with high levels of chlorine, can tell you that it dries and irritates the skin, makes  hair brittle, and causes eyes to become red and itchy. Also, inhaling the toxic steam can aggravate the sinuses and lungs. But it’s not only chlorine that’s in municipal water these days, increasingly cities are adding chloramines to the water. Chloramines are more stable compound, containing chlorine and ammonia. Unfortunately chloramines are more difficult to remove from water.

However, there are filters out there that will remove 100% of chlorine and chloramines from your shower water: vitamin C-based shower filters. These filters have a simple method of operation: the shower water passes through the block of vitamin C, and the chlorine is converted to inorganic chlorides. Vitamin C shower filters are made by a few companies, for example VitaC Shower, Keosan and Sonaki. You can also get filters for your bath too.

Another common type of shower filter is the KDF filter, which uses copper and zinc for filtration. KDF filters remove free chlorine by reversing the electrochemical process that originally separated the chlorine from sodium in a brine solution. KDF filters, however, have a important limitation: they do not remove chloramines. Also, KDF shower filters are affected by water pressure. When the water pressure is not high enough, water can’t pass through the KDF powders. KDF filters also tend to get clogged very quickly. I’ve seen some buyers on Amazon reporting that their KDF filters get clogged after a couple months.

Some shower filters use activated carbon. This is effective in reducing certain organic chemicals and chlorine in cold water. Chlorine is attracted to and held (absorbed) into the surface of the carbon particles. However, the efficiency of absorption is quickly nullified when the water becomes warm. The lifetime of an activated carbon shower filter is very short. An activated carbon shower filter gets clogged very quickly by the dirt it is meant to stop.

So I recommend a vitamin C shower filter like the VitaC Shower brand filter. I’ve used these filters for years, they remove 100% of the chlorine and chloramines from your shower water, and will last about 6 months before they need replacement.

Related posts:

1. The Best Shower Filters Of 2010 I just replaced my shower filters, so I thought...
2. The Best Shower Filter This post has been updated for November 2009. I...
3. Ovopur: The Art Of The Water Filter I’ve been testing an Ovopur water filter from Aquaovo, a...

(more…)

No related posts.

© Justin Thomas for MetaEfficient Reviews, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments

It’s available from Amazon for $89.

Found via: Cool Tools

Related posts:

1. The Three Fundamental Flaws Of The Modern Toilet My unwinking, analytical gaze of efficiency now turns to...
2. Efficient: Foot Pedal Faucet Controllers Foot pedal faucet controllers allow you to control a...
3. A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of...