Taking showers with heaters is always a hit and miss for me, sometimes learning my lesson the hard way. There have been several times that a cold blast hit me so I’ve learned to not go under yet and wait for the water to turn hot. However, that also means that we’re wasting a lot of water if that happens every day. Apparently, an average person wastes 4000 liters and 110 kilowatt-hours of energy every year, according to startup Heau.
Designer: Heau
The patented Heau system says they’re the world’s first shower with instant hot water. This way it helps you save on the water that’s wasted as you wait for it to heat up while still enjoying the comfort of hot water instantly as soon as you turn on the shower. Most people wait for around 1 minute after they turn on the shower since that’s when the water becomes comfortably hot. What they came up with is a two-compartment system that is able to store the heat from your previous shower so it’s already hot when you turn on your current shower.
The hot water from the end of a shower is stored in a vacuum chamber and keeps it hot up to three days because of a special insulation. When you take your next shower, the system detects the cold water and sends it to the left compartment which then applies pressure through a flexible membrane. It is sent to the mixing valve so you get your instant hot water. When the water in the pipes is already hot, the system is able to shut off the hot water inlet and can recharge it since it sends the water to the right hand compartment.
The installation of the system is similar to the water storage for hanging toilets and it can work with any type of shower. Heau is still currently in the startup stage but they’re targeting the shower system to be available by 2025.
