EcoRenovator - View Single Post - Niagara Conservation Earth low flow showerhead (1.5gpm) review

Daox · 02-20-14, 10:38 AM

Niagara Earth Massage Handheld - 1.5gpm

As mentioned, I recently ordered two of these showerheads. I got one for a couple at church who was going through some rough times financially and I went and gave them some financial advise and went through their budget. With the low price of this showerhead, I know it will pay for itself in about a month just based off the hot water savings. Anyway, I also ordered one for myself to try out too.

My current showerhead is the Niagara Conservation Earth Massage 1.25 gpm showerhead. It is a fixed head (it rotates as shown above, but is not handheld), and I absolutely love it. The handheld model is a 1.5 gpm showerhead. Unfortunately, my current on demand electric water heater can not handle the extra .15 gpm (it is supposed to be a point of use, not whole house water heater) and still get my water as warm as I would like it (until the solar hot water setup is in)... So, I decided to give it away.

I took it over to my future in law's house and did a sneak showerhead swap on them. Last Saturday I was over there and I took a shower, but before doing so, I swapped the showerheads. Their old model was a 2.5 gpm unit that had a similar spray pattern to the Niagara Conservation showerhead. However, the streams of water were larger and it really lacked pressure. The 1.5 gpm handheld showerhead was a nice improvement over the 2.5 gpm showerhead they had. And, of course, it uses 40% less hot water.

To compare it to the 1.25 gpm Niagara Conservation showerhead, it is fairly similar. The water streams are a bit larger and it has slightly less pressure. In all honesty, I do like the 1.25 gpm a bit better. I wish they made it in a handheld because the fiancee likes the handheld units. As mentioned above, I did contact Niagara Conservation and ask if there was a 1.25 gpm handheld on the horizon and they said no. I also looked if it would be easy to switch the guts from the 1.25 into the 1.5 handheld and I'm pretty sure I'd destroy one or both showerheads doing so...

Anyway, ever since Saturday I've been waiting to hear something from them. Well, a couple days ago I called them up to tell them something and I got some feedback. They thought it worked really nice, and they like it better than their old one. I also informed them that it'll probably save them around $20 per month in hot water alone. How can that not make you happy?

Anyway, I want to also qualify that number and show why its actually saving that much money.

My hot water heater uses about 9600W when its running. My showers are roughly 10 minutes long, so I use about 1.6 kWh per shower with my 1.25 gpm showerhead. A 1.5 gpm showerhead will use 10% more, so they'll use 1.76 kWh. Our electricity costs about .17 per kWh after fees, so a shower costs $0.30. They have 5 people in the house. They don't take showers every day, but I am guessing 2.5/day is average. 2.5/day for 31 days a month is 77.5 showers times .28 equals $23.19. If we run the same calculations for a 2.5 gpm showerhead, we get $0.54 cents per shower, and $42.00 spent on showers. That brings the monthly savings to $18.81! The showerhead only costs $18 plus shipping from amazon! So your ROI is right around one month. That is pretty hard to beat for a install that literally takes about 1 minute.

For you gas hot water heater guys, last time I checked, gas for me was about 1/3rd the running cost of electric, so you have a 3 month ROI. That is still amazingly good and well worth it.

02-20-14, 10:38 AM	#5
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Niagara Earth Massage Handheld - 1.5gpm As mentioned, I recently ordered two of these showerheads. I got one for a couple at church who was going through some rough times financially and I went and gave them some financial advise and went through their budget. With the low price of this showerhead, I know it will pay for itself in about a month just based off the hot water savings. Anyway, I also ordered one for myself to try out too. My current showerhead is the Niagara Conservation Earth Massage 1.25 gpm showerhead. It is a fixed head (it rotates as shown above, but is not handheld), and I absolutely love it. The handheld model is a 1.5 gpm showerhead. Unfortunately, my current on demand electric water heater can not handle the extra .15 gpm (it is supposed to be a point of use, not whole house water heater) and still get my water as warm as I would like it (until the solar hot water setup is in)... So, I decided to give it away. I took it over to my future in law's house and did a sneak showerhead swap on them. Last Saturday I was over there and I took a shower, but before doing so, I swapped the showerheads. Their old model was a 2.5 gpm unit that had a similar spray pattern to the Niagara Conservation showerhead. However, the streams of water were larger and it really lacked pressure. The 1.5 gpm handheld showerhead was a nice improvement over the 2.5 gpm showerhead they had. And, of course, it uses 40% less hot water. To compare it to the 1.25 gpm Niagara Conservation showerhead, it is fairly similar. The water streams are a bit larger and it has slightly less pressure. In all honesty, I do like the 1.25 gpm a bit better. I wish they made it in a handheld because the fiancee likes the handheld units. As mentioned above, I did contact Niagara Conservation and ask if there was a 1.25 gpm handheld on the horizon and they said no. I also looked if it would be easy to switch the guts from the 1.25 into the 1.5 handheld and I'm pretty sure I'd destroy one or both showerheads doing so... Anyway, ever since Saturday I've been waiting to hear something from them. Well, a couple days ago I called them up to tell them something and I got some feedback. They thought it worked really nice, and they like it better than their old one. I also informed them that it'll probably save them around $20 per month in hot water alone. How can that not make you happy? Anyway, I want to also qualify that number and show why its actually saving that much money. My hot water heater uses about 9600W when its running. My showers are roughly 10 minutes long, so I use about 1.6 kWh per shower with my 1.25 gpm showerhead. A 1.5 gpm showerhead will use 10% more, so they'll use 1.76 kWh. Our electricity costs about .17 per kWh after fees, so a shower costs $0.30. They have 5 people in the house. They don't take showers every day, but I am guessing 2.5/day is average. 2.5/day for 31 days a month is 77.5 showers times .28 equals $23.19. If we run the same calculations for a 2.5 gpm showerhead, we get $0.54 cents per shower, and $42.00 spent on showers. That brings the monthly savings to $18.81! The showerhead only costs $18 plus shipping from amazon! So your ROI is right around one month. That is pretty hard to beat for a install that literally takes about 1 minute. For you gas hot water heater guys, last time I checked, gas for me was about 1/3rd the running cost of electric, so you have a 3 month ROI. That is still amazingly good and well worth it. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Daox; 02-20-14 at 10:47 AM..