Sunday, March 11, 2007

Bubble shower saves water

Oxygenics Water-Saving ShowerheadCSIRO announced they had developed a device for saving water by introducing bubbles into shower heads. But the technology is not new as claimed; such products have been available for years and even the wording of the media release appears to not be original.

The CSIRO described their work in a media release:
While the general concept of using an aerated showerhead to save water is not new, the technology behind the CSIRO's device is novel.

Developed by a team led by Dr Jie Wu, the aeration device is a small nozzle that fits inside a standard showerhead. The nozzle uses a small Venturi tube - a tube for which the diameter varies, creating a difference in pressure and fluid speed. Air is sucked into the Venturi tube as a result of the partial vacuum created, causing air and water to mix, forming tiny bubbles within the water stream.

From: 'Air shower' set to cut water use by 30 per cent, Media Release 06/223, CSIRO, 9 November 2006
In 2005 I bought an aerating shower head from the Australian business E-Co Shower. As CSIRO describes, the unit sucks in air, and mixes it with the water to give you a shower of bubbles.

As pointed out on PhysOrgForum, what CSIRO announced appears to be very similar to the existing E-Co shower. Even some of the wording of the the CSIRO media release appears similar to the wording of the E-Co web site from 2003:
  1. E-CO : "air and water mixing together causes bubbles"
  2. CSIRO: "air and water to mix, forming tiny bubbles"
Leaving aside the question of who invented what (and who wrote what), such devices work very well. It is difficult to tell the E-Co shower in my bathroom from a normal one. There is a slight tingling sensation, which is pleasant. As well as saving water I suspect the system uses less hot water and keeps the bathroom dryer. This is because there is not the very fine mist you get from many low flow shower heads.

Previously I tried a water saving shower head. When on the high setting this produced a narrow jet of water. I had to move around it the shower to get my whole body wet and the force of the water was almost painful. On low setting it produced a fine mist which did not seem to wet the body. Either way it was not a pleasant result.

The E-Co units seem to be particularly popular with institutions. There is a vandal resistant model which just has a small hole for the water to come out of, instead of the usual rose pattern. The unit is only about 20mm wide and 40mm long and can be securely connected to the pipe coming from the wall. As a result there is little for anyone to vandalize.

Also there is the Oxygenics shower head. I am not sure I believe the health claims for the "oxygenated" spray, but it seems to operate on the same principle as the E-Co and CSIRO units and they have a clever animation showing how it works.

Diagram of of Oxygenics showerhead

The innovative technology behind Oxygenics® is based on the Venturi Principle. As water enters the base of the showerhead, it is propelled through an accelerator fin to increase the velocity of the water flow. It is then directed through a channel where oxygen is injected into water. The result? Phenomenal coverage and a continuous range of sensations - from a soft relaxing spray to a deep, therapeutic massage to everything in between. Are you ready to be wowed? Get ready for a healthy, powerful, oxygenated spray!

From: Oxygenics, 2007

The only innovation in the CSIRO approach seems to be that it is an adapter designed to be added to a normal shower head whereas E-Co make a complete shower head. E-Co make an adapter for hand-held showers and basins. E-Co include testimonials from Canberra residents and from the Department of Defence, so it it difficult to believe that CSIRO didn't know of it.

There is also a US Patent for such a device from 1978, complete with diagram:
The passage of water from conduit 17 and through the chamber within the shower head establishes, in accordance with the Bernoulli, or venturi principle, a low pressure environment within the shower head. The low pressure environment tends to draw ambient air through outlets 20 and 21. The drawn air mixes with the water within the shower head due to the turbulent nature of the flow therein and is ultimately ejected through nozzles 31.

Because the ejected jets of water are mixture of air and water, the spray striking a bather will not have the conventional sting of sharply defined jets of water. Instead, the spray will tend to be "softer" and produce a physiological massaging effect which is very pleasant. Aside from the physiological benefits, the amount of water seemingly necessary to provide the bather with a shower to which he has become accustomed to, consumes approximately one-half of the normal water useage. Thereby, aerator 15 can effect a water savings of approximately 50 percent and yet require no change in habits by the bather nor in any manner curtail or restrict the habits developed from a lifetime of showers."

From: Shower head aerator, Richard Harmony, United States Patent 4072270, February 7, 1978
There are only two things I have found wrong with the E-Co shower: is the price and the web site used to sell it. The price is very high compared to a cheap plastic water saving shower head. But the device is very well made, from solid metal and comparable in price to fashion shower heads. E-Co let the quality of the product down with a poor web site, which makes it hard to buy.

There is also another use for a Venturi in a shower: This is the "Venturi shower", where cold mains pressure water is used to draw hot water from a low pressure tank:

Diagram of venturi shower"High pressure mains cold water is used to "suck" tank pressure hot water through the special venturi valve inside the unit, so that the resulting mixed water comes out at a much greater rate than could be achieved using an electric shower or ordinary shower mixer valve. The venturi shower uses no electrical connections, it simply plumbs straight into the heating system."

From: Venturi Shower, tubz.co.uk, 2007 http://www.tubz.co.uk/venturi_shower.php

3 comments:

Me said...

Hi Tom...thanks for all your good posts! Have enjoyed

reading what you have to say...

I initially came across this post when researching the

CSIRO's air shower invention...As the Australian

importer (Cleverlad Conservation) of the Oxygenics

range, we too were ssurprised when the CSIRO came out

with their claims of inventing something new!!

I too have tried the Eco-Shower and it's a great

product. The Oxygenics range differ because they use a

single orifice cone which delivers the spray, rather

than through a series of holes - this patented design is

what makes them unique and allows them to deliver a

powerful and invigorating spray without sacrificing

pressure. It also means they should never clog or need

any maintenance - which is why they come with a lifetime

guarantee.

I don't suppose you're heard much about the WELS scheme

have you? We had to get the Oxygenics range

"registered" in order to sell them in Australia and we

were flabbergasted by the huge flaws in the system...
While the Oxygenics range use no more than 9.5 litres

(even under 800kPa) they recieved a "Zero" star rating

and must be labelled with a "Water Warning" label

because there's more than a 2 litre/min difference in

the flow rate the 150kpa and 500kpa...in this

circumstance it means that these showerheads use less

water under less pressure. Ridiculous? Yes! What's

sillier is that the flow rate of showerheads only needs

to be tested under a maximum pressure of 350Kpa for

determining the flow rate - a pressure which is MUCH

lower than most homes with mains water pressure....

As a result, many showerheads with a 3 star rating end

up using more water than stated on their WELS label.

What's worse, virtually all showerheads on the

Australian market use a plastic "flow-restrictor" to

reduce the flow rate...and these can be (and often are)

removed due to the paltry shower they deliver - thus

removing any water saving benefit.

Oxygenics showerheads are one of the only brand on the

Australian market that don't use flow restrictors which

means they can't be tampered with and will always save

water.

Anyway, I thought you might find this

interesting...we're in the process of putting forward a

submission to the WELS adminstrators to address these

issues. We hope that consumers will cease being mislead

by the WELS rating system soon!

Cheers,

Drew Keenan
CEO

Me said...

Hi Tom...thanks for all your good posts! Have enjoyed

reading what you have to say...

I initially came across this post when researching the

CSIRO's air shower invention...As the Australian

importer (Cleverlad Conservation) of the Oxygenics

range, we too were ssurprised when the CSIRO came out

with their claims of inventing something new!!

I too have tried the Eco-Shower and it's a great

product. The Oxygenics range differ because they use a

single orifice cone which delivers the spray, rather

than through a series of holes - this patented design is

what makes them unique and allows them to deliver a

powerful and invigorating spray without sacrificing

pressure. It also means they should never clog or need

any maintenance - which is why they come with a lifetime

guarantee.

I don't suppose you're heard much about the WELS scheme

have you? We had to get the Oxygenics range

"registered" in order to sell them in Australia and we

were flabbergasted by the huge flaws in the system...
While the Oxygenics range use no more than 9.5 litres

(even under 800kPa) they recieved a "Zero" star rating

and must be labelled with a "Water Warning" label

because there's more than a 2 litre/min difference in

the flow rate the 150kpa and 500kpa...in this

circumstance it means that these showerheads use less

water under less pressure. Ridiculous? Yes! What's

sillier is that the flow rate of showerheads only needs

to be tested under a maximum pressure of 350Kpa for

determining the flow rate - a pressure which is MUCH

lower than most homes with mains water pressure....

As a result, many showerheads with a 3 star rating end

up using more water than stated on their WELS label.

What's worse, virtually all showerheads on the

Australian market use a plastic "flow-restrictor" to

reduce the flow rate...and these can be (and often are)

removed due to the paltry shower they deliver - thus

removing any water saving benefit.

Oxygenics showerheads are one of the only brand on the

Australian market that don't use flow restrictors which

means they can't be tampered with and will always save

water.

Anyway, I thought you might find this

interesting...we're in the process of putting forward a

submission to the WELS adminstrators to address these

issues. We hope that consumers will cease being mislead

by the WELS rating system soon!

Cheers,

Drew Keenan
CEO

Unknown said...

Is there any evidence that the excessive temperature loss from the aerated spray and the poor rinsing ability of aerated dry water means that showerheads that incorporate air into the spray, although attractive, do not contribute as much to conservation as it may seem.