07/26/10, 02:32 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Dwelling in the state of Confusion - but just passing thru...
Posts: 8,092
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Large flow showerheads bone of contention for D.O.E.
Everyone needs a showhead like the Raindance Imperial 600 AIR. Selling for as much
as $5,457, it has a 24-inch spray face, 358 no-clog channels and a triple-massage option.
However, regulators with the Dept. of Energy are going after some of the luxury shower
fixtures that took off in the housing boom. Many have multiple nozzles, cost thousands
of dollars and emit as many as 12 gallons of water a minute.
In May, the DOE stunned the plumbing-products industry when it said it would adopt a strict
definition of the term "showerhead" in enforcing standards that have been on the books—
but largely unenforced—for nearly 20 years.
A 1992 federal law says a showerhead can deliver no more than 2.5 gallons
per minute at a flowing water pressure of 80 pounds per square inch. For years,
the term "showerhead" in federal regulations was understood by many manufacturers
to mean a device that directs water onto a bather. Each nozzle in a shower was considered
separate and in compliance if it delivered no more than the 2.5-gallon maximum.
But in May of this year, the DOE's general counsel, Scott Blake Harris, fined four
showerhead makers $165,104 in civil penalties, alleging they failed to demonstrate
compliance for some devices. The DOE also said a "showerhead" may incorporate
"one or more sprays, nozzles or openings." Under the new interpretation, all nozzles
would count as a single showerhead and be deemed noncompliant if, taken together,
they exceed the 2.5 gallons-a-minute maximum.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...luxury-showers
Industry response has been fast and furious. "It was not the legislative intent of
Congress to authorize DOE to regulate the bathing habits of Americans," wrote
Frederick Desborough, vice president of California Faucets, a Huntington Beach,
Calif., manufacturer, in a letter to the DOE in June.
The showdown is a challenge to President Barack Obama and his energy secretary,
Steven Chu, as they try to cajole—or compel—Americans to use water and energy more efficiently.
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Suddenly.......when I got to that last line (above), and saw that part about who
was going to "compel" us, I had an overwhelming feeling of being 'dirty' and needing
a very long, very hot, shower with one of those full-force showheads...... 
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