Have long showers!

Hey all - we saw this shower at the Sydney Home Show earlier in the year:

http://www.quenchshowers.com/

Basically - you wash yourself with soap, shampoo etc. Then once clean - press a button and the base of the shower collects 4L of water which it then re-circulates and heats (when needed). So, for a 9L/min shower - spend 3 min washing and then spend as much time in the shower as you like while using only 31L of water.

Sounds very enticing as I love a long hot shower. It does consume some power to recirculate the water and keep it at the correct temperature - but the website doesn't provide details on how much electricity is consumed. Will have to check that out before we make a decision.

The Q2 unit is the base and tower for the shower - they also sell a free standing unit of base & walls. The cost is $2k + installation by your builder.

What do people think - a good idea?

Well the concept sounds good - ie saving water - but as you say - how much power does it also consume. ?

I've sent them off an email asking about the power usage - will be interesting to see what they say.

'clean' water after first soap and shampoo may stil not be 'clean' and prone to grow bugs in between showers (remember our skins have a thick population of bugs at microscopic level) that doesnt just wash with soap and water..
Ok if you are the only user and perhaps there's a means to disinfect the water recirculating elements.

After you finish the shower you press a button that "sanitises" the shower using some sort of solution. I'd better check how much it would cost for that solution over a year too!

Sounds too fiddly and you're trading one environmentally sensitive resource (water) for another (energy).

Pump power, recirculating water that may not be absolutely clean, disinfectant... all sounds too much. Just cut your rinse phase from 3 minutes to 1 minute and you'll have more time on your hand and will have used prisitne water.

Not for me.