Can you learn to love the rod on your faucet that saves water?

All over the net you can read the claim that 80% of water used to wash hands, brush teeth and shave goes down the drain.   While the amount wasted this way is dwarfed by the amount wasted on carpet grass, the amount is significant enough that restrooms in commercial facilities all over our region use automatic sensor faucets.

These automatic faucets require power and a change in fixtures.  The fixtures can cost hundreds of dollars. But there is a mechanical alternative for less than $20 per faucet.   The Smart Faucet and  Automatic Faucet Control feature a replacement for the screw in aerator which all modern US faucets have.   A rod extends from the replacement aerator.  The valves on the faucet are set open.   When the rod on the aerator is pushed, water is released.  When pressure on the rod is removed the water stops.

While the devices look unusual and have not been designed with beauty in mind, the low cost and water savings may let you learn to love them.   In addition to saving water the devices prevent cross contamination and make it faster and easier to wash up. It also benefits those with grasping, twisting, turning and gripping difficulties. Because the devices allow the faucet valves to be left in an on position the sellers claim that the faucet valves will last longer.

Waterpik 1.5 gallon per minute EcoFlow hand held shower head saves water and delivers a satisfying shower

A marketer for Waterpik sent me an EcoFlow 1.5 gallon per minute 5 mode hand held shower head to review.  After using it a few days I can report that their design delivers a very nice shower.  I think my wife and I are every bit as clean as we are when we use our 2.5 gallon per minute shower head.

The exterior of the shower head is largely chrome colored plastic rather than metal.  If it were metal  the head would weigh much more than the twelve ounces that it does.  In my experience such plastic stands up much better than chrome or stainless steel especially since bleach is commonly used to clean showers, and bleach does nasty things to stainless.  In addition the plastic doesn't transfer heat like metal would so the handle stays comfortable to the touch.

On this model a specially designed water restricting and pipe debris filtering pivot ball is installed between the shower arm and the shower hose.  Without it in place the unit won't work.   I think that means it is harder for contractors and plumbers to turn it from a water sipper to a water hog.

This unit comes with a "pause control" but it doesn't stop the flow of water. The pause control reduces water flow.  This prevents the changes in water temperature that happen in my house where we use a shower head that completely shuts of the water.  Many people wouldn't put up with the momentary temperature changes so the Waterpik design works better for them than a full stop pause control would.

The five foot hose which is included is short enough so that the shower head won't hit the floor if it is dropped.

The model I tested has  five water settings, ten if you count that water continues to flow when the pause control is used.  One of the settings concentrates water in a small area which allowed me to clean my multi-blade razor reasonably well.  There is also a setting that atomizes the water completely into a gentle cloud of water.  Of course, the kinetic settings where water goes on and off like the fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas fascinate many people.  The designers were pretty clever in figuring out configurations for such a reduced flow of water.  

The unit can be hung from a hook and used as a stationary shower head, though my wife who is only 5 feet tall reminded me that she can't reach the shower arm from the floor of the shower.  To remove it from the hook she had to stand on the shower ledge.

I would feel much better about the EcoFlow if every component could be disassembled completely to allow removal of the pipe debris, but to my knowledge no hand held massaging shower head can be taken apart completely and reassembled.

Only time will tell if it is easily clogged and easy to clean.  I suspect that because the outlets on the head are tiny that they may lime up and that debris from the corroding 85 year old plumbing in our house will clog things up. If it does then the filtering, water restricting pivot ball will have to be removed and cleaned in addition to detaching the head from the hose.  Removing the pivot ball requires the use of a special plastic wrench which is included with the shower head. 

For more information you can view a pdf of the instruction manual online and be sure to look at their website at http://www.waterpikecoflow.com/.

Here's an inexpensive, easily maintained 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute) low flow hand held shower head that's also extra versitile

 I've used hand held shower heads for 25 years. I've done quite a bit of thinking about them and experimenting with different models. Why? Because I am a nut and cheap that's why!

My favorite is the one I use now. It is by far the cheapest, most useful, lightest and most easily maintained. The only cheaper model I've used was a piece of rubber tubing which I squeezed over the spout of a claw foot tub back in the low rent days but it wasn't low flow and didn't have a cut off valve unless you count my thumb pressed over the end.

My favorite hand held shower head isn't found with the other hand held units because it is actually a low flow economy shower head (the cheap ones sold at Big Lots and bargain stores) mounted to a shower arm (the pipe that screws into the pipe in the wall) which is attached to a shower hose which is then screwed into the shower arm that goes into the wall.

LED lighting explored in BOING BOING piece by Maggie Koerth-Baker

The website, Boing Boing has a great article "LEDs: Throwing Some Light on the Hype" by Maggie Koerth-Baker who says she has spent quite a bit of time covering the LED lighting business for a trade publication.  She takes a sober and brief look at the state of LED lighting today.

She writes:

The LED industry is kind of in this awkward teenage phase right now, where it's doing the business equivalent of tagging public buildings and sneaking cigarettes out behind the barn. There's a lot of misrepresentation and a lot of flat-out lies, and just because a box says something that doesn't mean you can believe it (more so than boxes of other things).

What she says can apply to a lot of emerging green and natural technology.  You really do have to be careful when listening to a salesperson or reading a product claim.  Some claims are really conditional though they don't sound like it.  Some claims are based on the limited experience or knowledge of the person making the claim. 

Many times a salesman or inventor, who is justifiably proud of his product, has been shocked at our San Antonio Sustainable Living meetings to be asked to address the specific weaknesses and drawbacks of his device or building system.  That kind of tough informed questioning just doesn't happen at the home show. 

It pays to be informed, to investigate claims and to draw your own conclusions.

Considering a new water heating system? SEISCO VP says their tankless electrics offer surprising advantages

If you want to improve the efficiency or performance of your hot water heating system be sure to talk to a SEISCO tankless electric water heater representative before you make your purchase.   Ron Kraemer, Sr. VP of SEISCO gave a talk at our September San Antonio Sustainable Living meeting and it was an eye opener.

Ron right away addressed the major question of electrical supply and hot water production capacity.  A SEISCO five gallon per minute unit requires 150 amp service, which has been the electrical standard since at least 1968.    A modern house with its increased power supply (150 t0 200 amps) can handle a oversized SEISCO unit.

He presented a National Association of Home Builders study which showed that even in a high water usage household a tankless heater that provided 3 gallons per minute of hot water would meet household needs 98.5% of the time.  A single tankless unit can provide hot water for an entire house.

Although a tank water heater can provide 50 gallons of hot water as fast as the water can flow through the pipes, once it is depleted it can't provide any hot water for a period of time.  In contrast a SEISCO tankless unit can provide continuous hot water as long as you remain within its capacity.

Honeywell branded Windtronics home wind turbine displayed at Renewable Energy Roundup 2009 (Updated Dec 2010)

2009 Windtronics windmill

Some of us got our first look up close at the Windtronics home wind turbine that is being sold under the Honeywell name. Windbucks a Fredericksburg company that intends to become a certified installer had the turbine on display.


It looks like a giant bicycle wheel with small pieces of plastic to catch the wind and make it spin. There are some magnets mounted at the top of the white fender-like frame. As the wheel spins past the magnets electricity is produced.
A notice on the booth said that the installed cost for the turbine would be $5,200 after tax rebates.


Residential Wind Turbines can qualify for a tax credit of 30% (including labor and materials with no maximum.) Of course talk to a trusted tax adviser before you make any purchase based on an expected tax credit.

June 26 post on Honeywell turbine.
 

December 2010 update
This post continues to get lots of hits.  I've been meaning to do another one based on my conversations with the folks at Windbucks at the 2010 Renewable Roundup but since folks are still coming to this post I think I just zip out a few paragraphs here.

According to the guys at Windbucks, the white model was not ever made available for sale.  It didn't pass muster somehow.  

The 2010 Windtronics Windmill 

The new model (the black one) has passed muster though and Windbucks folks will do a turn key installation on it.


As best I can  tell it is a bit larger than the previous model.

I believe the specs on it are a bit different as are the suggested uses.  It is still able to generate power with a light breeze and it has the same basic design principles as the 2009 model but it seems stronger and more substantial in 2010. 

How to make your fridge even more efficient than a chest freezer: Use a chest freezer as a fridge.

Sometimes when you hear a solution to a problem it seems so obvious you wonder why you hadn't thought of it. This is one of those solutions.

Refrigerators either use a lot of energy or like a SunFrost cost a lot of money. Plus in a building that is largely soundproof to outside noise such as buildings built of Compressed Earth Block, SIP, ICF or SCIP the whirling and rattling of a refrigerator can be really irritating and loud.

On the other hand a chest freezer is quiet (because it doesn't need to run very long) , very energy efficient and cheap.

The solution from Tom Chalko of MtBest.net is to use a chest freezer as a chest refrigerator by modifying the chest freezer so that it cools to between 35 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit degrees rather than the 5 degrees Fahrenheit proper for a chest freezer. He even designed and built thermostats to do it and published an article on it in 2005, which was picked up by Treehugger and BuilditSolar.com back then.

Apparently homebrewers and keg drinkers have been modifying chest freezers for their needs for some time, but the idea comes to this blog of Boing Boing which published on it today and linked to the 2005 pdf of an article by Tom Chalko of MtBest.net on builditsolar.com.

On Mt. Best.net Australia you'll find these items by Tom concerning freezer to fridge conversion: Chest Fridge, an essay putting out some reasons that energy saving chest fridges ought to replace uprights, Freezer to Fridge Conversion, which shows a kit for making a freezer to fridge thermostat and assembled thermostats both of which are for sale, a pdf of two articles by Tom Chalko explaining and diagramming his thermostat and a pdf of a parts list for building the Tom Chalko freezer/fridge thermostat. (I don't know enough about electricity to say whether these would work as is on freezers made for the USA market.).

In the USA chest refrigerators are available but since they are made for the commercial market or for patio kitchens they are not cheap.

Composting Collecting Toilets: the affordable no waste-water, no black-water solution to your back end waste problem

To handle your humanure you can use low flow toilets, you can use an artificial wetlands, a Watson Wick, an aerobic or an anaerobic system but these all use water. If you have lots of money you can buy a clivus multrum. Or you could take the leap into the world of Joseph Jenkins and compost it all and practically eliminate your water use to handle your elimination.

Yes, according to Joseph Jenkins there are two kinds of people: those that deposit their body waste into drinking water and those that do not and we in the USA are mostly in the first group. But it doesn't have to be that way. A composting collecting toilet system as described in The Humanure Handbook is a sanitary, water free and inexpensive way to handle this basic human need.

You can read Joseph's book online for free, though if it takes hold of your imagination you will likely want to buy a copy for yourself. You can also watch humanure videos and see pictures of various composting collecting toilets. You can even buy kits if you don't want to design and build your own.

If you are like me, at first the idea seems a little extreme but then little by little the implications for your life might start occurring to you. That cabin in the woods might suddenly become affordable. That shed in the back yard might make a decent guest room with a gray water system for the solar heated shower and a composting toilet. Maybe that you can afford to make that inexpensive travel trailer a bit less costly to operate and a bit more inviting to travel in.

You might even find yourself trying to spread the word to skeptical friends and strangers. But you won't know unless you take a look at the book.

Solar Water Heater , PV and Solar Window Screen rebates offered by City Public Service

Thanks to Solar San Antonio for pointing out links to the CPS pages explaining their rebate programs for Solar Water Heaters, Window Solar Screens and films, Photovoltaics.

By following the links you'll find the applications and the detailed information you will need to qualify.

San Antonio has a number of fine companies offering these products. Tony Stephenson, a San Antonio Sustainable Living group member and owner of Solar Texas, sells and installs a variety of well tested solar water heater systems.

Berkey Water filters can be part of a rainwater treatment regimen or used for filtering any water supply

How to make rainwater safe for drinking is an issue that concerns our health officials and homeowners. Jody L. Grenga's affordable rainwater system includes a Berkey Light filtration system adapted for home use. Note, that is is just part of a much more complex system.

Berkey Water makes gravity fed filtration systems that are meant to filter out pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites as well as unhealthy chemical contaminates and impurities.

Although Jody Grenga utilizes them as part of her rainwater purifying regime, they are designed to stand alone.

Models include the Travel Berkey, the Sport Berkey backpack bottle, the Big Berkey, the Royal Berkey for large families, the Imperial Berkey for small to medium groups and the Crown Berkey for medium to large groups which will purify up to 6.5 gallons per hour.

Berkey Water (New Millenium Concepts Ltd.) is headquartered in Arlington, Texas.

Not necessarily passive but definitely worthwhile gadgets

Here are three green gadgets deemed list worthy by SASL member and Realtor Joe Barfield:

1) A Bed Fan from Tompkins Research. Says Joe, "I like covers on me when I sleep. This handy device blows fresh air gently under the covers. In essence, I can turn my thermostat up at night and still stay cool."

2) The Black and Decker TLD1000 Energy Series Thermal Leak Detector. "Sweet. This is a infrared thermometer with the added twist that this leak detector will flash a red light on the location of a hot air infiltration in the summer or blue for cold air in the winter."

3) The Black and Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor. "The B&D is the least expensive whole house energy monitor out there. Your kids will turn into detectives to figure out what is using the most energy & money."

Joe previously published this material in a different form on Amazon. It is published here with his permission.

Classic Australian Hills Hoists Clothelines now available in the USA

The Hills Hoist rotary clothes line is a icon of Australian life. Though often imitated, the Hills Hoist has the reputation as the very best in outdoor rotary clothes lines. But they have only been available in the USA on a very limited basis, until now.

The hoist features a geared cranked lift that raises the unit so that your clothes can catch the breeze. It is also designed to allow you to remove the unit from the ground so that your yard is not permanently graced with a spinning clothesline.

Currently they are available on line from breezedryer.com and from other purveyors reached through the official US site linedryit.com.

Here are some reasons to give line drying a try: (Provided by Hills)

• Line Drying Saves Energy: Second to the refrigerator, the electric dryer is the second biggest household user of electricity. According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, as of 2005 there were 88 million dryers in the United States. Each of these consumes approximately 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household, emitting 2,224 pounds of carbon dioxide. Every individual who chooses to do one less dryer load makes a difference.
• Clothes typically last longer without the duress of a machine dryer.
• Exposure to sunlight is the best natural bleach for your clothes.
  
• Line Drying kills germs: The sun's ultraviolet rays are an antiseptic and kill bacteria.
• Line Drying is perfect for things that can't go in the dyer- rubber backed throw rugs, car mats, extra large blankets.
• Line Drying inside on a retractable or folding clothesline is a great humidifier for your plants, skin and hair.

Line drying tips:

• Shake out clothing before hanging to diminish wrinkles.
• Hang shirts and tops from the hem or tail so clothespin marks don’t show.
• Add vinegar to the rinse water (1/2 cup per load) to prevent any drying stiffness. Vinegar removes soap residues that cause stiffness and, as the clothing dries, the odor disappears so you don’t have to worry about smelling like a pickle!