Every Drop Shower Saver

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do I have to pay on the Internet?

A.
NO. You can pay by PHONE, by CHEQUE, or even IN PERSON at the Post Office!

After filling in the order form (so we have a delivery address), when you hit "CONTINUE" you'll see 8 easy ways to pay, (also emailed to you). These include payments over the phone, BPay, credit card, cheque, and even paying in person at Australia Post! To pay at your local Aussie post office follow the instructions CAREFULLY to download, SAVE & PRINT a PDF (barcoded tax invoice to show the Post Office or to mail with a Cheque). You need Adobe Acrobate (free) to view and print PDFs.

Print the PDF and take it to the post office. The Post Office will scan the barcode and tell us you paid. This PDF also has phone numbers for paying over the phone with credit card, BPay, and a mailing address to pay by cheque. StrataPay, who collect all of these payments are based in Queensland and are totally reliable & secure. (I'd pay on line if I were you - it's fast & safe.)

Q. We are currently renting so I would like to know, once this device is installed, how easy is it to remove and reinstall?

Extremely easy. Five turns with a spanner and it's off. Five turns the other way and the existing shower head is back on as before.

Q. Will it fit my shower? TRICKY INSTALLS

A. EDSS - Tricky Installs ** HOSE Install Tips ** Read carefully if yours is a hose style shower.

The Every Drop Shower Shower Saver® will fit most showers in Australia IF YOUR SUPPLY PIPE IS HORIZONTAL because all Aussie showers use the same size pipe. If your feed pipe is at an angle other than horizontal it can be tricky unless you are inventive. Send me a photo!

Hand held hose style showers can pose a challenge so please read this carefully before buying.

Hand-held hose type showers can have two small problems:

1) Either the hose comes straight out of the wall (horizontally) with the hose naturally falling down, potentially getting in the way of our paddle.
SOLUTION: Install EDSS with the valve rotated so the paddle sits at the 12 o'clock position. SOLVED.

2) The hose connects to a vertical thread. SOLUTION: you can either connect the EDSS onto the vertical thread and spin the valve to the most convenient angle of rotation to avoid the wall or shower brackets OR (if you look closely) you'll notice that the vertical thread is actually a short 90 degree angled pipe that connects to the horizontal pipe in your wall. The EDSS could insert here (up stream one connection) in the same way as solution #1.

In the case of the vertical install, you should check to see if gravity will cause the paddle to slowly fall down, switching the water back on. It can however be tightened by rotating the retaining ball seal slightly clockwise, found on the inside of the valve's female thread with a 10mm alan key or screwdriver.

Q. How much water can I expect to save?

A. Half !

However much water you currently use in the shower, regardless of the type of shower head, if you wish to save water, The Every Drop Shower Saver® enables you to easily prevent half of that water from going down the drain. If you like to waste water we can’t stop you, but if you like to save water there is almost no limit to the savings. For example, we’ve all heard how much water is wasted as we wait for the hot tap to warm up – right? Just for fun, I often take an entire shower by just using that water. I turn on the hot tap only – have a very quick 3 second rinse / flick OFF the water with the EDSS - soap up - flick it ON and rinse for another 4 secs - flick the EDSS OFF again while I soap some more. This enables me to take my time soaping and often finish the final rinse just as the water comes up to temperature. Most other folks would just begin their shower at the time I am finished, - all thanks to The Every Drop Shower Saver®. (Suggest you add some cold to the mix as it warms up.)

Q. How long to delivery?

A. You can expect delivery within two weeks of paying. They ship via normal Australia Post. We email you again once paid to assure you.

Q. I own a shop and would like to stock a few. What is your wholesale pricing?

Anyone ordering 10+ qualifies as a distributor and should contact us to receive a special price for bulk orders. When purchasing 10 or more you also get a poster to print and laminate for point of sale display. The Every Drop Shower Saver® comes in two styles of packaging: Enviro-pack and Shrink-wrap. The most popular method is to display one shrink-wrapped while handing the customer enviromentally packaged units.

Q.
How well does it work with Instant Gas Hot Water systems? The heater on our gas system turns on and off as the flow starts and stops, but I am unsure if the stop/start operation will cause variation in the temperature due to delays in the heater starting. Also is there a likelihood of greater wear and tear on the gas heater system?

A.
You can test the kind of temperature variations you might expect by turning you hot water on and off manually. If you wait 30 seconds, (the time it might take to shampoo your hair), does it cool down a tad, thus creating a drop in temperature for a moment? As for wear and tear, I would be happy to phone the manufacturer of your brand of gas heater system to discuss this very point IF you email me their phone number. Is the lifespan of your gas heater based on 'hours of use' or the number of times it turns on and off? If it's based on the hours of use then the Every Drop Shower Saver® could extend its lifetime.

When I spoke with Rinnai technical assistance (http://www.rinnai.com.au/) they said when you flip the water flow back ON the temperature would be near what it was, and then it will likely drop a bit as the cooling water runs through and the unit heats back up. As for life expectancy, they don't expect it would affect the life of the unit because the unit in their tea room has been turned on & off frequently over the past 10 years and still works perfectly. I'm happy to have a similar conversation with your particular manufacturer. The EDSS does not work with the Bosch Water Wizard 13P but works fine with many others, so worth checking.

Q. Any showers NOT RECOMMENDED for use?

Not recommended for use with some:

Instantaneous hot water systems. Ask the maker of yours.

Hand held hose style showers - see TRICKY INSTALLS above.

Gravity fed hot water systems. Ask your plumber.

If you've any doubts about technical issues with water flow or pressure, please ask your local plumber before buying. Every household is different and your plumber knows your situation better than us.

Q. I received two emails from you confirmin my order but I think I ordered only one.

Dont' worry if you see two invoices. This means that you accidentally placed two orders. We ignore them until paid. So long as you pay one with the correct shipping address you can do no wrong.

Q. How do I get the threads to be friends? The EDSS and my shower head, once tightened, face different directions.

Fortunately the solution is simple. You need to apply more plumbers tape. Each pipe thread (your outlet pipe and the EDSS thread need about 12 turns of standard (white floppy) plumbers tape to take up enough slack to provide a water tight seal with enough soft pressure that allows you to stop the rotation at any position. For example, We want the EDSS to sit with its shaft in the 6 o'clock position. If it doesn't get tight until it's in the 7 o'clock position than you need to wind more plumbers tape so that it gets tight in the 3 o'clock position and then tighten it a little more to end at 6 o'clock. If you install it with no plumbers tape the point where they stop rotation is a luck of the draw. It will be loose until the last moment where they become tight. Plumbers tape lets them get tight slowly over a larger range of rotation allowing it to stop over a much wider range. I found that 12 turns of plumbers tape on each thread gives enough tension to allow you to stop turning it at almost any angle while still firm enough to maintain its position and a water tight seal.

Q. Has there been any formal trial of this device and if so, what are the results?

If you refer to water savings The Every Drop Shower Saver® is a tool that gives the user more control over their water useage in the shower. This means that the savings is directly proportional to your desire to save water. For example if you do not intend to save water you won't. If you really want to save water you'll save more than with any other water saving device. Even moderate use will half your water consumption based on the principle that it takes longer to soap than to rinse, so by simply flicking it OFF while soaping you easily halve your water consumption. I sometimes play a little game. You know how wasteful it can be letting the shower just run while the hot warms up? By frugal use of the EDSS I am able to have a complete shower buy using only the water as it warms up! I turn on the hot tape (at this moment it's still cold). I give a quick rinse and flick it off. I take my time soaping and then have a quick 5 second rinse and flick it off once more. I soap some more, taking my time, perhaps shampoo or shave, and then flick The Every Drop Shower Saver® back on for a few more seconds to rinse off and finish just about the time warm water comes out. As you can see - the figures are as flexible as your water saving intentions. Stav

Q. Does it require water to be turned off to install?

A. Only your hot & cold taps in the shower - i.e., NOT the mains to your home.

Q. Is this device commercially available, who manufactures it, where is it available and what is the retail cost?

YES. It is available mostly from this website and a few local distributors. If you can't find it locally you can ALWAYS get quantities here www.showersaver.com.au. Flux Research designs and manufactures it - a wholly owned Australian company based here in Sydney. $48 plus p&h

Q. The shower head I have in our bathroom is only 10cm long, does this mean I have to pull the old one out of the shed?

A.
You can leave the old one in the shed. Yours is perfect because all you do is remove your existing one, that sits almost flush on the wall, and insert my valve & paddle. It pushes yours forward about two inches and everything works as normal. So long as you can reach your showers outlet pipe, you can reach the EDSS paddle.

Q. Is it true that flow restricting shower heads actually consume <more> water because it takes longer to desolve the soap?

A. Is it a conspiracy to make us use more water to increase the water bill? I don't think so. Water velocity is also a factor.

Q. Is it normal for the EDSS paddle to feel loose even though the screw is done up tight?

The Every Drop Shower Saver® is specially designed to flip effortlessly side to side to encourage frequent use. In doing so we discovered that a firmer fit increases friction and drag. It's normal for there to be about 2mm of vertical play at the extended end of the paddle. Tightening the paddle screw will not improve the wobble and over-tightening may weaken the valve spindle. A little wobble is normal & good.

Q. Does the EDSS come in other colours - brass, gold, pink or white?

No, but one customer pointed out that having a shiny chrome paddle encourages their kids to save water. Good point - a diamond necklace shouldn't be the same colour as your skin, so the EDSS paddle is chrome to attract your attention! Sorry, but to date the EDSS comes in CHROME.

Q. Why do I get a 'clunking noise when I turn the water off quickly?

This comes under the general heading of 'Water Hammer' which is a catch all name for any noises in pipe work. But this is about clunking as opposed to whistling or rattling. Water is supplied to your home from the street water main, at a particular 'static' pressure (determined by your water supplier, pipe size, how many other people are showering in your neighbourhood at the same time, whether there's a drought on, even how high you are up the hill you are! All of this is beyond your control). While running a tap/shower etc the pressure in your pipes reduces because its free to squirt out and head down the plug hole; the faster you run a tap, the more it reduces. (try running 6 taps simultaneously and you'll see what I mean!). When you turn the tap off the water pressure begins to increase back up to the static pressure again (it takes about 2 seconds). When you turn the tap off quickly is causes an expansion shock wave so the pipes momentarily shake and waggle around under floor/in the wall. Frequently, the pipes knock against a joist or floor board and 'clunk! There are 3 solutions to this 1/ Knock down all your walls, destroy the floors and clip all the pipes nice and tight like they should be (next life) 2/ move and build a new house watching Mr Plumber's every move. 3/ fit a pressure vessel. This is a metal balloon 50% full of air and 50% water with a rubber plate dividing them. The air inside is compressed by the shock wave so the pipes don’t waggle. Such devices are cheap ($20 ish) and fitting is easy peasy for any plumber or 1/2 decent handyman. It can go ANYWHERE on any convenient cold pipe AFTER your main stop cock ie., the one you MUST turn off before beginning this job. Simply turn off the mains supply where it enters the house, turn on the lowest and highest cold tap to drain off the residual water in the pipes (and also to confirm that you really have fully turned off the stop valve !!) wait till the water stops running out of the lowest tap. We'll leave the actual cutting and fitting to your licensed plumber, but you get the idea. The end result is no more clunks anywhere, also a lot less noise in the pipes due to any other plumbing probs including whistling or rattling and more beside. Thank you Alan for this insight, Stav

When I turn the shower water back on, it's too hot for a few seconds.

When you turn the water supply off, the pressure in your pipes increases. The hot water normally has a pressure vessel attached which 'accumulates' this extra pressure. If the system was installed by a good plumber, he will have ensured that this also happens to the cold water; this is called a balanced system. (If you already have a balanced system, your probably wasting your time reading this FAQ as you are most unlikely to be experiencing the problem.) The built up back pressure in the hot supply pressure vessel releases much more slowly than the pressure in an unbalanced cold pipe. This causes the hot water to be a higher pressure for a few extra seconds which allows the hot to push the lower pressure cold out of its way, and give you an unpleasant hot flush. The solution is to ensure you have a balanced hot/cold supply so that both hot and cold waters are always the identical pressures and neither one pushes the other out of the way. This isn’t something special, it’s simply the way proper plumbing is supposed to be done. If you haven’t got it already, then someone cut some corners in the past ! No - a plumber cutting corners? Impossible!

Q. Health Benefits - Is this compatible with shower heads that eliminate chlorine or does this eliminate chlorine as well?

A. The EDSS does not filter chlorine but it reduces it. By pausing the water you'd extend the life of expensive chlorine filters and if you don't have a filter it reduces your contact with chlorine while also reducing chlorine smell. Thanks for your brilliant question exposing health benefits of using the EDSS to reduce your family's exposure to effects of chlorine.