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Does Shower head cause heat loss ?

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Hey folks,

I have a 200L solar geyser that is controlled by a geyserwise unit. I also boost this geyser with PV during the day to get it to 65c and through grid power in the mornings.

I have a strange phenomenon which I'm hoping you can help with.

In the main bedroom I have a big shower with a 50 sq cm ceiling mounted rain shower head which also has a built in hand shower.

In winter, even with the geyserwise showing water temp at 65 - 70c, the water coming out of the big shower head feels Luke warm at best but this problem doesn't seem to be an issue in the smaller showers with regular sized shower heads. The water temperature from the hand shower attached to the big shower head also feels several degrees warmer than the big shower head.

is there something inherent to larger shower heads that may be causing this ?

Does water loose that much temp as it falls from the shower head (which is about 1 m above my head) ?

in summer this doesn't seem to be a problem although there would still be a notable difference in water temp between the Shower head and attached hand shower.

2 hours ago, King_M said:

Hey folks,

I have a 200L solar geyser that is controlled by a geyserwise unit. I also boost this geyser with PV during the day to get it to 65c and through grid power in the mornings.

I have a strange phenomenon which I'm hoping you can help with.

In the main bedroom I have a big shower with a 50 sq cm ceiling mounted rain shower head which also has a built in hand shower.

In winter, even with the geyserwise showing water temp at 65 - 70c, the water coming out of the big shower head feels Luke warm at best but this problem doesn't seem to be an issue in the smaller showers with regular sized shower heads. The water temperature from the hand shower attached to the big shower head also feels several degrees warmer than the big shower head.

is there something inherent to larger shower heads that may be causing this ?

Does water loose that much temp as it falls from the shower head (which is about 1 m above my head) ?

in summer this doesn't seem to be a problem although there would still be a notable difference in water temp between the Shower head and attached hand shower.

A measurable amount, BUT! It depends on the flow rate, the height of the shower head to the measurement point (your head, your shoulders, your bottom, your feet.) the size of each bubble (droplet) of water coming out of the shower head (compared to the mixed temperature of the water coming as a steady stream from the faucet.) So, if the mix of water from the faucet is 40–50 degrees C, then a very light stream of small tiny droplets will lose 2–3 degrees at your head, 5–6 degrees when it hits your bottom, and 6–8 degrees at the floor of the shower. A heavy stream would cut these losses in half, principally because the ratio of the water droplet mass (its volume) increases by the radius cubed, but the surface area by the radius squared. So each water droplet loses heat faster the smaller the droplet.

Edited by Derek3

I don't have all the scientific facts like the previous poster, but I would still say any shower head 1m above your head will lose a very noticeable amount of heat.  That's how cooling towers at power stations work.  My shower head at about 200mm above my head has a noticeable temp difference between it and my head.  I would definitely try to put an extension on yours to try lower it a lot.  Just my real world experience

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