Illuminating Shower Head - Color-coding the temperature...

"We can send a man to the moon, but we can't make showers that put out the right, consistent temperature." Sounds like a reasonable complaint to me - and one that at times can be scaldingly or frostily justified. But setting aside the engineering feat of actually accomplishing a consistent and correct temperature, here's something that'll help you know if you're about to be burned or frozen - an illuminating shower head which changes its light color to match the water temperature. I suppose it'd be handy to be able to watch the temperature rise, rather than having to sit there with one hand in the stream or keep checking periodically - and if this thing is responsive enough, it just might give you an extra split-second to jump out of harm's way as a flushing toilet threatens to dole out some punishment. Still, the better solution is probably just better-engineered plumbing and thermostat control! [via Gizmodo]

4 comments:

Pete Kazanjy said...

You know, this is a great idea: information visualization that clears up a serious user pain.

I agree that the better way to deal with this is with proper plumbing /thermostat control, but that recommednation kinda leaves the installed base hanging.

I'm thinking that the 80/20 here would be some sort of fitting that could sit between a standard shower head, and the incoming water pipe, which would make this information visual.

A full-on shower head is a little overkill in the $$$ department to solve this information transparency issue. It also unfortunately forces you to use their shower head / nozzle configuration, when you may have another shower head that you like just dandy. Lastly, THAT'S A LOT OF LIGHT!

Something that sat above the nozzle and changed color to tell me when it was "ready" would get this done for me. Or the user could just do some testing, and mark the proper setting on the wall, over the proper knob positions ; )

Dave Gustafson said...

As usual, Pete, you've hit the nail on the head - temperature feedback is a good thing, but a whole custom showerhead pumping out oodles of light is just inefficient. As for just marking the wall, I don't know if I've just grown up around some unpredictable plumbing, but in my experience that's a moving target...

Rafael Morgan said...

It´s cool but...
I don´t think that it´s so cool bathe in a "hellish" red bathroom! It might cause hallucinations or something...

Dave Gustafson said...

Rafael, good to hear from you again! Though I agree that a red shower might seem a bit fire-and-brimstone, I also think it's be psychologically "warm" - better than a blue ("heavenly?") shower, for sure!