ShowerMinder

“How many of us know how long we’re in the shower?” says Todd Metlen of Ventura, California, designer of The ShowerMinder – a device that reminds users when it’s time to get out.

“It’s not a punishment device,” says Metlen. “We don’t turn off the water, we don’t make any loud noises or become obnoxious.” What we’re doing is trying to be a gentle reminder and a partner for people in conservation. People react very badly when they’re being told what to do. It they feel given a choice, then they actually do the right thing.”

Metlen says several major hotel chains are in the process of evaluating the ShowerMinder. To help potential hospitality industry companies test it, Metlen has developed a version of the unit without the lights. After a 30-day test of shower usage times with that version, then a working model goes in so a hotel can see the difference in the time guests use the shower when they have the information the ShowerMinder gives them.

“We have these models installed at a health club with 16 showers”, says Metlen. “The owners of the club called us, ecstatic, because they were immediately seeing not only people positively reacting, but they witnessed people taking shorter showers. Some of the kids were having games, trying to beat the lights — ‘I got out while it was still green.’”

Metlen says the ShowerMinder unit will last easily five years in a hotel environment before it needs replacing. The unit’s photovoltaic cells recharge its lights with energy from ambient room lighting.

The current all-metal edition of the product, Metlen says, is a unit that sells for some US$120 on a single buy. The product is far less when bought in large numbers, as for hotels. And a version is in the works, he says, made of plastic, primarily for home installations will sell for around US$39.

“We’ve been talking to universities for dorm rooms, to government installations, everywhere from corporate settings to individual homes and back to the hotels.