Re: minimal-steaming bathshower design?

On May 22, 2005, at 1:39 AM, alanh_27 wrote:

> I wish to
> design/build/install a bathshower which is optimized for showering at
> (say for example) 104 F,while giving off the least possible amount of
> water vapor into the ambient air.

Probably this is the wrong list for you, but you're fiddling around the wrong end of the pipe. You should be going for the most efficient water heater, the cheapest fuel and minimum heat loss between the heater and the shower head. Remember to shower Navy style--spray first, shut off the water while you soap then rinse off real quick.

Evaporation rate is strictly a function of relative humidity, relative temperature and droplet surface area. You can't do much about humidity and temperature. You can minimize evaporation by not using a spray nozzle altogether. That will reduce the droplet surface area for evaporation, but of course it reduces the amount of hot water you'll rinse with. so you may have to run it longer. I've seen systems where solar heat is used in a pre-heater, or you might consider going to solar altogether, if your weather permits.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.

.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania