Rain Shower Flow Rate
When it comes to shower heads you ll typically find 2 5 gpm 2 0 gpm 1 8 gpm and 1 5 gpm.
Rain shower flow rate. When shopping for shower heads be sure to compare apples to apples a 2 0 gpm shower head simply will not reproduce the flow rate of your old 3 5 gpm shower head. For a typical user the shower flow consists of about 70 percent hot water. This means no more than 2 5 gallons of water should flow out each minute.
Since 1992 a maximum of 2 5 gpm is the federally mandated flow rate for new shower heads. Water flow regulations save billions of gallons of water. If your measured flow rate is any higher replace the showerhead.
In the united states of america you will see that the shower head high flow rate is 2 5 gallons. Since 1994 federal regulations have limited shower head manufacturers to a maximum flow rate of 2 5 gallons per minute gpm. The new unit will quickly pay for itself in water savings and more significantly in reduced water heating costs.
California has enacted its own legislation limiting the flow rate to 2 0 which will be reduced even further to 1 8 gpm in july 2018. It is a much drier state than most with very little rainfall. Differentiating between low flow and high flow shower heads if you re in the market for a new shower head and you do or do not want to have a low flow shower head make sure you double check the product specifications to see what flow rate it has.
The gpm flow rate for shower heads has decreased over time. Depending on where you live retailers may only sell shower heads with a maximum of 2 5 gpm 2 0 gpm or 1 8 gpm flow rate.