Do you run water during the shower?

[Callate]

If my home's water heater was way closer to the shower than it is, maybe a 15-second device like your Belgian hostel had would be practical. As it is, I'd better keep the water running if I want an actual hot shower. No, I've never heard of anyone close to me using a stop-start-stop-start approach to taking a shower.

 

[pearcinator]

At home I just use the shower...in fact if the sink is running it affects the temperature of the water in the shower (sink takes priority)

but at my Grandparents farmhouse you have to have the cold water running in the sink to get any hot water in the shower. So it all depends on the system I guess.

 

[trollnystan]

At the moment hot water is included in the rent so I usually leave it running. Not always though; if I'm using my sugar-and-olive-oil body scrub I'll turn it off until I need to wash it off for example. And if I ever move into a place that charged for water usage separately then I'd be turning it off more often.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

I turn it off to soap, unless i'm lazy. That should never be the case in the shower though.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I turn off the water when I'm lathering. Otherwise the water washes the all the soap off my spongy thing. I used to just step out of the water stream while I scrubbed, but then I took to turning it off because that's a huge waste of water. Reading some of the responses here you'd think people didn't pay for the water they use.

I don't.
Not until next year, anyway.

OP: I always leave the water running.
I like to have really long showers so a lot of the time I just end up standing there for a while.

It's probably not the most efficient way but I love doing it.

 

[suitepee7]

i always leave it running, because i fucking love being warm when in the shower. my dad is in the navy, and so is used to - and tried making me do this when i still lived at home - taking 'submariner showers', which is as you described, short bursts of water inbetween lathering up. i tried it for half of a shower and bailed

 

[AnnaIME]

It seems none of you are homeowners.

We don't have any water shortages where I live, but we still have to pay for it. Heating the water costs a lot more, though, and both water treatment and energy production cost environmental resources.

There is also the aspect of not using all the hot water before the other three family members take their showers.

My in-laws have some kind of water limiting shower head, so instead of getting proper flowing water you get a fine mist. Rinsing my long thick hair takes ages and I never quite get all the schampoo out. We chose another solution. We have a dead mans grip on our shower head. Water only runs when I need it.

 

[wulfy42]

If you hike and use campgrounds etc, then turning off the water so you don't waste the very limited amount of warm/hot water is often a good idea, especially if you are loading it yourself. Eons ago, back when dinosaurs walked the earth and I still mountain climbed, went white water rafting etc, I would run into situations where it made sense to do that (especially when there was a group of us all using a limited supply of water, let alone warm water!!).

I've been domesticated for years (Read married) and so I, like pretty much everyone else, leave the water running the whole time I shower, stepping back to lather etc. Sometimes when showering with my wife (doesn't happen much anymore), we turn the water off so it doesn't get in one of our eyes....but that is the only reason. I too usually turn the water on before stepping in, usually for a minute before so the water has a chance to warm all the way up (only way to prevent getting scalded as our water can get VERY hot if you turn the nob just a tiny bit too far).


Actually, to be honest it's been 20+ years, they may not even have many places with self filled water for showers anymore. I'm sure SOME out of the way places still do, but it may be far more rare. Sure beats washing off in a freezing cold lake halfway up a mountain though (Although that sure is refreshing as well hehe).

God I miss being young

 

[wulfy42]

It seems none of you are homeowners.

We don't have any water shortages where I live, but we still have to pay for it. Heating the water costs a lot more, though, and both water treatment and energy production cost environmental resources.

There is also the aspect of not using all the hot water before the other three family members take their showers.

My in-laws have some kind of water limiting shower head, so instead of getting proper flowing water you get a fine mist. Rinsing my long thick hair takes ages and I never quite get all the schampoo out. We chose another solution. We have a dead mans grip on our shower head. Water only runs when I need it.

Lol, you make me feel bad!! Actually, we have a water shortage here in the bay area (in california) right now....and I have not even thought about limiting my shower usage. I actually take long showers (15-20 minutes minimum and sometimes like 30+)....I love the feel of the warm water on my head/shoulders and I get migranes often in the morning which I fight with ibuprophen + warm shower + tea.

The cost in water/heating is not really noted. We have solar panels so the only time we pay anything for electric is 1 or 2 months in the summer due to air conditioning (we never need heat here). Gas is like...$15-20 a month, so yeah...not noticing the cost at all for heating the water.

That being said, I should limit my shower use until we get more rain here. I have seen like 20 news reports about limiting water usage, but never thought of the showers...just watering yards etc.

Then again, we only drink bottled water...so I probably use way less water then other people who drink it all day. We go through a 5 gallon jug of water a day just about between all of us...but thinking about it, that is probably like 1 minute of water in the shower.

Wow, I'm a water hog!!

Here is hoping we have more rain so I don't have to take shorter showers!!

 

[michael87cn]

Okay so.. I went through some financially hard times about 2-3 years back, and couldn't afford the $300 initial fee for the gas water heating at this one apartment place I was living at in florida. I could afford the monthly gas bill of about $30-50ish fine, but not that huge $300 payment they initially wanted. So I had to go without hot water.

FREEZING cold showers.... they get old really really fast, and you have to resort to doing weird things to bathe. Like boiling water and letting it cool for a few minutes and lathering yourself with it, and then RINSING with the cold water, or boiling two pans of water and rinsing with the other... (not very much water to rinse with...)

This led me to looking into other ways to heat my water, and I found, there really are none. There's something farmers use to heat a trough up in winter, but purchasing one for my apartment wasn't feasible. This also lead me to learning about bath water... and how western countries mostly enjoy this luxury. Many places do not have running hot water that you can just waste... many people lather up then rinse off with a bucket or so of water.

The old american way of sharing a bath tub of water, I would say, was not clean...

Anyway, so here I am today in a different apartment in a different state, and I have gas heated water now, however... it isn't quite enough. I often times run out of hot water within about 5 minutes, so sometimes I'll lather up with the water off, and then rinse off with that sweet, sweet hot water.

By the way, I have a bad cold atm and I can't sleep because of post nasal drip and this is making me want to take a shower really badly... even though it's 1:37 AM and I have to be at work tomorrow!

 

[The Lugz]

i usually get the water warm, rinse, stop to soap then rinse again, i honestly find it hard to figure out where i've gotten the soap otherwise, i like to get a lather going before i rinse all the soap away..

but all methods are valid so long as they work i guess.

 

[Murais]

Nah. I mostly bathe in blood. Water's too expensive.


(Of course I leave the water running. Shower time is special time. I use it to wake up, to feel better about myself, and to meditate. It's my happy-place.)

 

[List]

I turn it off when showering or lathering soap, then again i live in the tropics so getting cold while the shower is off is not a problem here.

 

[Blacklight28]

If I turned it off before I was done I'd probably waste more water trying to get the temperature right again than if I were simply to keep it running the whole time.

 

[MetalMagpie]

The 15-second thing is to ensure that you don't just turn the water on and then leave. Some places get pissed off when you do that.

But that wouldn't apply to just the shower though. Any tap could be turned on and left on.

So, for what you're saying to be the correct reason, EVERY tap would need to have a 15-second timer on it, not just the shower.

Most public toilets in the UK have taps that only release water in a timed burst for exactly the same reason. And all the public showers I've been in have been the same. Similarly, hand-dryers in public facilities pretty much always work on a timer.

People can be terrible for leaving things running when its not their water/electricity that they're wasting.

 

[Auron225]

Mine is on 24/7. I go in there when I need to wash myself and then leave when I'm done; water just running on and on. Saves time with all that turning it on/off nonsense.

I'm getting a little freaked out by you these days Escapist; why must you know all my showering habits? o.0

 

[Victim of Progress]

Well, count me into the weirdo department. Because I only turn on the shower in little bursts. Usually after I have made sure its warm, when I soaped myself up and when I'm washing my hair. That's about it. Having it constantly running gives me that uncomfortable feeling that I'm wasting waaay too water and heating, not to mention being sloppy.

 

[chimeracreator]

I tend to go for long hot showers. I live in an apartment and have payed my own bills for years, but that said apartment living means much larger reserves of hot water than what most homeowners have access to.

 

[Mobax]

My shower water flow is as follows: turn water on, wait a moment for it to get hot, enter shower, shower, reach for towel and simultaneously turn water off.

 

[Scarim Coral]

My shower water flow is as follows: turn water on, wait a moment for it to get hot, enter shower, shower, reach for towel and simultaneously turn water off.

Same here especially when I hate the cold feeling I get from the shower (it happened a few time at the accomedation I was in Uni as the shower there suck).