Hamwells e-Shower Connects to Internet of Things, Saves 90% of Water

Taking a shower and saving water at the same time? Even a couple of days ago the idea seemed impossible! But today we are talking about the e-Shower presented yesterday by Hamwells, a Dutch startup.

The innovation looks like an ordinary shower but with incredible ability – it can recycle water. Every day we read numerous articles about the necessity of water saving and finally we’ve got a real possibility to do it. E-Shower soaks up the used water, filters it and prepares for the second utilization. The system contains a UV filter that is to kill any lingering bacteria and other such aqueous nasties.

Hamwells’s CEO Rob Chömpff shares the calculation: “A traditional 10-minute shower requires 100 liters of warm, clean water. With e-Shower each droplet will be cycled through up to seven times before being discarded, with only 15 liters of fresh hot water being added to each cycle. That translates to an 80 percent reduction in gas or electricity use and a 90 percent reduction in the amount of water used.”

E-Shower doesn’t require complex service. You will only need to rinse out the filter at the bottom of the tray from time to time and once a year to run a bottle of diluted vinegar through the pipes once a year to clean out any accumulated limescale.

Hamswells’s shower can be connected to a smartphone or tablet in keeping with the best traditions of the Internet of Things. Thus it enables “combining business with pleasure” – you can listen to music or track the amount of water you use while taking a regular shower.

So far everything sounded too perfect. It’s time to know the only drawback of the new shower – its price. E-Shower will cost you €2,950 ($3,190). However Hamwells promises that the purchase will pay for itself within five years due to the water and energy you will save. E-Shower will be available for purchase in the beginning of June 2016.

Rob Chömpff explains the very idea of creation of clever shower: “We wanted to make our homes all electric and energy-neutral in order to join the worldwide drive towards sustainability and decarbonization, but we quickly discovered that the infrastructure of a house and hotel was sized upon the demands of the traditional shower.Requiring 10 liters of warm water a minute for a sustained period, the traditional shower demands huge investments in solar panels, electric boilers and the like. It was the linchpin blocking the sustainable energy neutral buildings of the future.”