How many times have you stood with your hand under the faucet waiting for the 'right temperature' or waiting for the hot water to start flowing? How many times have you been in the shower and had it go cold or hot because someone flushed a toilet or did some laundry?
I propose a thermometer and digitally controlled valves mounted upstream of the faucet. Once you get the water to the correct temperature, you could 'set it' in some sort of digital memory system (like a radio preset). Then in the future, you could 'recall' the temperature, and the faucet valves would auto adjust until the remembered temperature is reached, beeping to let you know the bath is ready. The system could monitor the temperature throughout your shower to keep it steady. Furthermore, if there's a sudden change in the temperature, the system could take evasive action to prevent any injury or discomfort, even shutting the water off completely if the temperature is dangerous.
Not only would this be helpful and time saving in your morning routine, or when running a safe bath for the baby or someone without the normal sensory abilities, but it would also save a lot of water because you would spend less time with your hand under the faucet and more time actually getting clean. In addition, if you've got several people in a household, the system could remember and reproduce multiple temperatures to suit each person.
Temperature controlled water for washing machines exists already, but I don't believe I've ever heard of the idea being applied to bathroom faucets.
--- Drew
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It depends on the hot water system. My shower in the UK has a temperature preset just like you mention, just that the water is heated right at the spout by electricity, and no hot water is kept in reserve. This is slightly less efficient in terms of heating water instantly, but much more energy conservative by not keeping water "hot" for no use. I think the problem in america is 110volts. Europe uses 220 volts which allows much more heat to be deliverable to electrics like at-the-faucet water heating... maybe i'm wrong on that, but i've only seen what you describe in europe... and it is quite nice agreed.
Likely the most effective way to get american life on the path towards living sustainably would be to set a per-person household energy/water consumption level... and every household exceeding that would be charged a whopping tax per unit over... Why make things more efficient when energy is cheap and nobody can be bothered. When your water heating bills cost 1000's, improvements suddently become worth looking in to.
In reply to sweetheart - the lack of "power showers" in the US may be due to the voltage.
However, you don't need to use electricity to get instant hot water. There are gas (which is more efficient than electric heating anyhow) boilers which give instant hot water. In fact I think all modern gas boilers work this way?
In reply to arothman: I saw a shower kit for sale with an "indicator" ring that you could set to show where the "right" temperature was for you. Imagine a clock face, where you set the hour hand to show the location of the right temp. and then you use the minute hand to control the water flow. When the hands aligned, you had the correct temp. This system (and most other kits for sale) have some sort of equal pressure valve to prevent fluxations in temperature. I guess a similar system could work when you have two taps controlling water supply, but it would be a little more complex.
In reply to the others: "On-demand" hot water systems are available in North America and supposedly do offer improved energy efficiency. I think it may just be inertia that's preventing these systems from becomming more common. As an aside, many of the houses/appartments I visited in India had similar on-demand systems. The major problem was that sometimes the power or water would go off! Made for some excitement if you're visiting, but a nuisance if you're living there.
You can already buy "balanced" shower faucets. I have had them installed for nearly 20 years.
It balances the flow of hot and cold so that the proportions stay the same no matter the pressure.
It does not sense temperature, but that is not a problem unless you drain your hot tank, in which case you are done anyway.
The settings are very predictable. You know where you like it and that position is always right for every shower.
I seen a rudimentary 70s era solenoid system, where the was a manifold of solenoid valves, some through flow reducing valves, leading to one pipe to the faucet (per faucet), with a set of buttons to choose the temperature and flow. It could be modernised with linear servo valves and computer control.
Electric instant water heaters are possible in North America, as the average home there gets as much or more power than a similar home elsewhere in the world, and yes, they do have 240V suitable for such water heaters.
Having an instant water heater close to the faucets doesn't guarantee the water will always be at the same temp. When I was living in an apt 20 years ago, the landlord installed one of these and the water temp was totally out of control, scalding hot one minute, then cold, then scalding hot again. It must be a thermostatically controlled heater, not one that turns on whenever the water is flowing. Maybe the technology has improved since then. These units run on 120V. Good thing, because although all residences in the U.S. have 240V available, it's usually a much shorter (and less expensive) cable run to supply 120V. We waste huge amounts of water and energy in the U.S. with the long pipe runs from the water heater to the faucets. Often more than 50 feet.
I had previously thought of this same idea. I have a rather primitive on-demand electric water-heater at my work. I thought that the best system would be to have two knobs at the faucet where you normally have the hot and cold valves. Instead of two valves, I would have one valve to control the rate of flow. The other knob would a temperature control. You could turn the knob to the temp you want before you turn on the water. With a properly engineered computerized thermostat, it should be able to give you exactly the temp you set it for in seconds. With experience you will learn what temps you like for your common uses.Actually, you would probably seldom have to change the temp set from your favorite temp.