Best place to put timer on Shower

[jon]

I want to limit each instance of shower time to 5 minutes max, this is equivalent to 9 pence at the current off peak rate.

[Richard]

Stick something like this in the system for even tighter control:

:)

[Andy Burns]

I have childhood memories of showers in caravan site toilet blocks, token operated which switched to freeing cold when your time ran out ... seems they're still a thing ...

[alan_m]

What happens when , at the end of 5 minutes, the person taking the shower is still covered in soap?

All that will happen is people will re-trigger the timer again.

[Brian]

If you are serious, just buy a loud simple, kitchen timer- one of those you wind the dial to the required time is probably best.

Do you plan to get everyone to get up an shower during the night as well? That is when off peak hours are. If not and you don?t have a shower which runs off mains water, if you don?t turn of the water heater during peak times, as each person showers it will heat the replacement water at peak rates. If you do turn it off, the tank will cool down as each person uses the shower.

Alternately, you could put things in perspective. Those of use with daughters have experienced the teenage daughter 30min shower problem. ??.. I have three daughters, now adults.

[Brian]

A few campsites in Europe we?ve stayed on use those. They generally take tokens and give you enough for your stay or charge a small fee. They are a darn pain and I tend to be quick in the shower - I spent some time on ships where water was limited. I don?t recall seeing one here. The Dutch like them.

The ones where you have a push button which gives a minute or so of water but can be reset as often as you like are also a pain. They are common here and in Europe.

These days, campsite facilities are very good. We are picky about such things and, in over a decade, I only recall one site which was bad enough we wouldn?t go back. Some are old but still clean etc. some are almost luxury. One we like has a complete number of complete bathrooms in a block. You have it for your ?session? (not stay). Some have private bathrooms on each pitch. Of course, modern caravans and motorhomes have showers and toilets but we tend not to use our shower and only use the toilet at night, even on a full service pitch where we have mains water and grey water drainage.

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

jon explained on 19/04/2022 :

Wow 9p, last of the big spenders..

What price cleanliness.

[jon]

You can scoff all you like, but 5 minutes is enough for me to have a good shower.

[Fredxx]

Some of us have quick daily showers. Do you re-acquire your natural aroma on Saturdays?

[John Rumm]

What kind of shower?

Instant electric, or mixer? Power shower or pumped?

When you say "limit", limit in what way? e.g. cut off flow of water, stop prodiding hot water?

How is the limit "reset" for the next shower?

How much do you want to spend?

[Jon]

It is an intantaneous heater of the 8kW kind. I suppose fitting a resettable timer after the isolator.

[Clive Arthur]

Just use a cistern with a flush, and make sure it doesn't refill too quickly.

Oh, nearly forgot... ;-)

[Theo]

You can get boost timers, eg:

maybe one of those has a programmable time delay. You press the button before going into the shower which gives you whatever the programmed time is, and then cuts out. You'd have to locate the button somewhere inconvenient ;-)

However a shower is a fairly substantial load, so the boost timer couldn't drive it directly. You'd need a chunky contactor (ie relay) in the mains feed for the shower that's driven off the output of the boost timer.

Otherwise some showers (eg the 'digital' kind) have remote controls that might be externally controlled.

Theo

[alan_m]

Fit it in the shower area. They only get the shock when trying to operate it when they are wet :)

On a serious note some electric showers continue to run on for a few seconds after the manual off switch is pressed in order to pass cold water over the elements once they have been switched ofF, but this may not be an electrical controlled delay

[John Rumm]

If you are planning to switch the 8kW load, then you will probably need to use a contactor to do the switching, and drive that from some form of electronic switch. It would need to be a fairly serious one as well. So by the time you add an enclosure for it, and a time switch etc it would take quite a while to recoup the capital cost in electrical savings in a normal domestic setting.

You may be better off auto switching a playback device that can play the birdie song at high volume after the shower has been running for 5 mins! :-)

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

As do I, 2- 3 baths per week and none bath days a shower, the cost is hardly worthy of consideration, when compared to all of the other energy consumers in the home.

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

If it doesn't have that, it will have a solenoid valve to turn the flow of water on and off. That solenoid could be more easily operated by a low current timer. The low water pressure sensor with then switch the element off. No need for a clunky solenoid then.

[Tim+]

That doesn?t address the issue that many electric showers cool the element for a few seconds before shutting off the water to avoid boiling the water in the heater.

Tim

[Richard]

Trouble with that is others get subjected to the noise. OP would be better off promoting cold showers:

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

Tim+ laid this down on his screen :

That is why I said 'If it doesn't have that....'

Meaning if it doesn't have that cooling down feature, described in the quoted paragraph I included. :oÞ