ecocamel. Energy/water saver showerhead

1jim

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

Right, so there may be no 'saving benefit' for electric showers and it doesn't 'work effectively' with showers fed from gravity fed systems. So the shower head doesn't give any advantage unless you have a power shower?

you dont need a powershower...we use it with a mixer shower fed from a combi boiler with good results

welshmike_2

From Ecocamel's website:

”These savings are based on the following assumptions;

• water consumption - conventional showerhead - 12 litres a minute.
• water consumption - ecocamel showerhead -
  6.7 litres a minute.
• cold water cost per cubic meter - £1.78p.
• heating cost gas - per kilowatt hour - £0.06.
• family of four taking each daily 7 minute shower with conventional showerhead.
• family of four taking each daily 7 minute shower with ecocamel showerhead.”

My experience with a power shower;

• water consumption - conventional showerhead - 4.5 litres a minute.
• water consumption - ecocamel showerhead -
  3.0 litres a minute.
• cold water cost per cubic meter - £2.25p.
• heating cost gas - per kilowatt hour - £0.044.
• family of 2 taking each daily 4 minute shower with conventional showerhead.
• family of 2 taking each daily 4 minute shower with ecocamel showerhead.

So it looks to me that ecocamel have for my situation:
1.Over-estimated water consumption
2.Under-estimated cold water cost
3.Under-estimated heating cost
4.Assumed a family of four not two
5.Over-estimated the length of showers.

Making allowances for the differences, savings per year are:
ecocamel’s calculations £60.47
my results using their calculator £58.26 (now including fuel cost saving and using a 1.4 bar power shower )
my results using my spreadsheet £19.31

So it is very difficult for individuals to forecast the savings that will be made.

It looks like ecocamel may be basing their figures on a 2 bar water pressure. That may be unreasonably high. Also they should include the default assumptions in the calculation form and allow us to change those assumptions for our specific circumstances.

alanfp

Welshmike,

Your wife spends only 4 minutes in the shower?? - you must have ordered the 'low-maintenance' model

Calcs....you also need the specific heat capacity of water, which is 4.186 joule/gram °C (remembering also that a Joule=a Watt second).

And remember to include the cost of your sewage bill, as that also depends on water usage if you're on a meter (normally the charge is based on 90% of the volume of water used).

I tried a flow restrictor - a bit too severe - reduced the power shower output to a dribble, but our head is a bit old and possibly a new one would work OK. Or I could get an aerating head and remove the restrictor

PS Still not sure about Waterwise - are they an NGO, a QUANGO, who funds them??? I do know that they genuinely do promote water efficiency, and Jacob Tompkins is certainly a fan of ecocamel, isn't he.

[Deleted User]

we don`t have power showers here but we have a combi condensing boiler and both showers are on the second floor. They were brilliantly well with ecocamel. I had my first ecocamel over a year ago and would buy one again, most definitely

Horniman

After non-delivery of a shower head (so I didn't even get the chance to try it), it's taken me just under a month to get a full refund (they originally sent me one for £1!) - and that was only after contacting Consumer Direct and sending them a recorded delivery letter with instructions to pay up or Consumer Direct would take up my complaint against them. Naively, I expect that 'eco' companies would have a more caring relationship with their customers, but they seem to behave in the same uncaring way as big business and banks!!

Doc_N

Horniman wrote: »

After non-delivery of a shower head (so I didn't even get the chance to try it), it's taken me just under a month to get a full refund (they originally sent me one for £1!) - and that was only after contacting Consumer Direct and sending them a recorded delivery letter with instructions to pay up or Consumer Direct would take up my complaint against them. Naively, I expect that 'eco' companies would have a more caring relationship with their customers, but they seem to behave in the same uncaring way as big business and banks!!

Thanks for the warning - having seen one of these at the Ideal Home Exhibition I imagine there must be a fair few disappointed customers wanting their money back. Maybe too many for comfort perhaps?

smjxm09

I have just ordered one for £20 including free postage from plumbonline.net just enter ecocamel on their search engine. Sorry I can't provide a proper link as I have not sent in enough posts to this forum but just add www. to the company name.

I will report back on how long it takes to arrive.

Update: I see they have added £1 to to cost of the product 24 hours after I ordered mine.

smjxm09

Placed my order with www.plumbonline.net at 18:00 on the 20th and it arrived safe and sound on the 22nd. My old shower had the force of Niagra Falls and while this has the same spray range and body coverage it doesn't have that jet blast feel about it like the old shower but then if it did I would be using the same amount of water.

Quite happy with my £20 buy:T

Fire_Fox

alanfp wrote: »

Welshmike,

Your wife spends only 4 minutes in the shower?? - you must have ordered the 'low-maintenance' model

I only spend a few minutes in the shower, and I turn the water off whilst shampooing!! :T The secret to speedy showering for girls is using leave-on conditioner.

I don't think Mr. Fire Fox would agree that I am low maintenance tho.

Super_Consumer

Saw the Ecocamel in the Daily Mail last Saturday and was going to buy two and then noticed there were pricing anomolies both in their advert and on their web site. i.e. "Save £11.90 buy two for £41.90" Doesn't add up. 2 x £24.95 - £11.90 = £38.00! If you order on their web site they also add VAT extra to that in the advert. I queried this and got fobbed off so ASA are dealing with my complaint.:mad:
Good News though, :j You can get the original watersaving showerhead from www.alchallis.co.uk at the moment for just £15 + VAT + P&P = £22.63 or £40.25 for two and they have proven to be a trustworthy company and someone I feel I want to do business with.
If you want to save water and money I suggest you go to them and avoid Ecocamel at all costs!