Are you looking for a shower that will reduce your water consumption without sacrificing all the comfort of a traditional shower? This search often comes with doubts. Reduced flow rate also means reduced pressure, right? This concern about the lack of pressure in your shower is quite natural, but the Bélanger team decided it was time to reassure you, by explaining exactly how reducing the flow rate is not necessarily the same as reducing the pressure. In fact, a "Watersense" certified shower will provide you with a comfortable and pleasant shower while reducing your ecological footprint!
Curious? Let us explain!
We'll take the KIT-AXO120VTMB. It's a fairly simple shower set, including a slide bar, a valve, and a handheld shower—or shower head—all in a matte black finish. It's one of our square-shaped AXO collection products.
It's a Watersense-approved product, thanks in part to its shower head. In fact, it's the key!
What is Watersense?
For a product to be Watersense certified, it must reduce water flow by at least 20% compared to a traditional product with a flow rate of 9.5 L/min or 2.0 gpm, while meeting performance criteria for water pressure and dispersion.
Watersense products also allow you to earn LEED points!
Currently, the only faucets that can be Watersense certified are sink and shower faucets. This means that baths and kitchen faucets are excluded. The goal is to reduce water flow as much as possible to control water consumption. Taking a bath will use the same amount of water, regardless of how long it takes to fill.
While in the shower, reducing the flow rate creates very nice savings (both water and money!!). However, for this to be truly effective, you also need to ensure that the water pressure and dispersion are optimal. Imagine, we reduce the water flow, but this forces you to take a shower 10x longer... We agree, this is not sustainable in the long term, and it is definitely not how we can save the environment (or your wallet.)
In short, this is where Watersense comes in.
To be Watersense certified, a product must pass various tests. A sink faucet must meet three requirements:
A life cycle test: the faucet must continue to operate normally after 500,000 cycles.
Lead-free: Check that the faucet is lead-free.
Minimum Water Flow: Water flow must be sufficient (more than 0.8 gpm at 20 psi*) to meet typical usage needs.
Wondering what 0.8gpm at 20psi means? That's a flow rate of 0.8 gallons per minute at a pressure of 20 pounds per square inch—you can really learn something new every day!
For the shower, the tests are a little different.
It all comes down to the shower head, or the shower head, depending on the model you have.
- The first test is the water flow rate. It must also be sufficient for typical needs, but this is calculated a little differently than for a sink faucet. The minimum water flow rate, at a pressure of 20 psi, must not be lower than 60% of the maximum water flow rate. For a water flow rate tested at a pressure of 45 psi and 80 psi, it must not be lower than 75% of the maximum water flow rate.
- The second test involves assessing the force of the water jet – its pressure. This must be sufficient to provide user satisfaction.
- The third test assesses water dispersion. In short, it ensures that the showerer receives good water distribution. Even more important than water quantity, dispersion and pressure are the keys to a satisfying shower.
In short, the tests, for both shower and sink faucets, serve to ensure that even if the water flow is reduced, the faucet itself is as or more efficient than standard products on the market.
Choosing a Watersense-certified product ensures you'll save water and money, but not quality. On the contrary, you'll get a high-performance, economical, and environmentally friendly product.
At Bélanger, our products generally allow for a greater flow reduction than required by Watersense certification, and so we created our own "certification," called ecologiq.
Well, that's all well and good, but in practice, what does it mean?
How does Watersense work?
Let's take a look at our lovely KIT-AXO120VTMB , but let's focus mainly on its shower head, the FCSPS2037 (we're showing it to you in a polished chrome finish this time).
So, we're reducing the water flow rate – for this handheld shower, we're talking about a flow rate of 6.8 L/min, or 1.8 gpm. Those who are good at math will have already figured out that we're talking about a 25% reduction in water flow rate (great for LEED points!) compared to a traditional flow rate.
But now, how do we ensure our product meets Watersense requirements and gives you the pressure and comfort you crave?
The secret to a comfortable Watersense shower
In order for the AXO shower head to be Watersense certified, we had to have it tested in a lab. See the image below? So, at a certain height and angle, the shower head's jet had to have enough force to hit the center point of the target in the first image.
Once again, you're thinking: yes, yes, okay, we get it, your shower head has good pressure, but... why?
The water flow has been reduced, right?
Yes.
Can I ask you a question?
Have you ever played with a garden hose?
In the style: putting your thumb in front of the water outlet to increase the pressure?
Well, it's the same concept for your shower head. It's all about the nozzles.
What's a nozzle again, you ask? It's the little flexible thing that water flows through... Plus, ours are easy to clean!
Basically, the smaller the nozzle diameter, the greater the pressure. For example, we went from a 1mm nozzle to a 0.7mm nozzle , and the difference is really noticeable. This is what ensures that even though the water flow is restricted, the pressure remains comfortable. This is what allows even the hairiest among you to be able to wash your hair easily, quickly and without hassle.
It also works for your furry friends. It's already difficult for some to keep them in the tub long enough to clean them, imagine if you also had to struggle with insufficient pressure... With Watersense-certified products, this problem doesn't exist.
The second Watersense test evaluates water dispersion in the shower. Once again, it's our friends, the nozzles, who come into play. Depending on how they're positioned on the handheld shower, you can increase dispersion without having to increase the flow rate.
Watersense products are often much more effective than their traditional counterparts, because innovation is necessary to increase the performance of a product while minimizing its ecological footprint.