Eco showers have been dubbed cost-effective household appliances by UK water Utilities to help customers save money on usage costs. As a lot of my household bills are on the rise I put one to the test.
Since water rates are one of the many household bills going up each month steps like taking showers instead of baths and using the eco setting on the washing machine for example have been proven to be more cost-effective. Apparently, the type of showerhead fitted in your home could make a huge difference too.
According to UK provider Wessex Water, the average shower uses 12 litres of water a minute or 60 litres for a five-minute shower, costing an average of 1 penny per litre, that's 60p for each five-minute shower. Times that by a shower a day and you're looking at a rough cost of £4.20 per person per week.
Like many, the rising utility bills have made me a lot more aware of what we use around the house and I often try various ways to save money at home. Whether it's saving £400 on my broadband bill, finding a cheaper way to boil the kettle, or getting rid of energy-guzzling appliances at home.
So when it comes to looking at ways to save money on household water it was certainly a challenge I was up for, and one which could now save me £225 a year, just by making a simple switch in my bathroom.
When looking at the average cost per litre for a five-minute shower I was astounded at the thought of how much my daily showers cost me a year, on average, as I know for a fact I take a lot longer. Especially on a hair wash day where I could easily spend 15 minutes.
Considering I don't wash my hair each day, the time I spend in the shower averages out at about 10 minutes a day, costing me a chunky £1.20 per shower and just under £9 a week or £468 a year (gulp).
Changing to a 'money-saving' shower
After finding out the figures it's evident there's a lot I could do to reduce the costs.
I'd seen a few varieties of the 'beaded' style shower heads on various retail sites, but I had no idea that on top of their 'funky' aesthetic and design, they are actually deemed to be 'water-saving'. This is where I came across the Magichome Filtration ShoweHead on Amazon thanks to my colleague Laura, who had pointed the money-saving gadget out to me.
The beaded shower heads create air pockets causing it to feel as though you are using more water and pressure. This style of Aerator shower head combines water and air to make it feel more powerful, but in fact, it uses less water.
As stated on Amazon the shower uses 2.5 gallons of water (11.3 litres compared to the average 12 litres) each minute, so even if you don't cut down the minutes of usual shower time users could still save money by making this simple switch.
After using the shower for each day for a week not only am I saving money without making any changes, but I noticed a huge difference in the water pressure too. Before switching we had a standard white showerhead, nothing fancy like a powerful waterfall shower so the added pressure was definitely noticed.
The simple swap will save me £225 a year
Taking an average of ten minutes a day with the old shower would cost me an average of £468 a year, not taking into consideration that I'm not the only person living and showering at home. Not only does the pressured, filter shower head use less water (11.3 litres a minute compared to 12) the added power means I've cut my shower time to just six minutes a day.
The new shower head costs 56p for each five-minute shower (based on its usage of 11.3 litres of water a minute), even if I continued to take the same amount of time each day (10 minutes) I'd still be saving 4p per shower a day. This may not sound like much but it works out at £14.56 a year.
Since using the new 'power shower' I've managed to cut the time spent from an average of ten minutes to just six minutes a day, which for someone like me is a huge achievement.
Making the small swap to the Magichome showerhead brings my average cost per shower to just 67p a day, or a huge yearly saving of £225 a year.
As well as showerheads there are a handful of products said to help water the amount of water you use at home. If you're already got an economic shower head but you're looking at reducing your costs further, a Flow Reducer Attachement may be a good option.
The small device can be fitted on to the pipe of your shower to restrict flow (by a minimal amount), it can be bought here on Amazon.
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