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What’s Lurking in Your Showerhead
- thatfrenchguy 10y agoAmerican shower heads suck. Everyone in Europe have "hold in your hand" shower heads, which makes it much easier to clean it up. I wonder why this is not a thing in the US.
- cmdrfred 10y agoThose can be had for 10 bucks at home depot. They simply screw on with some plumber's tape.
- strictnein 10y agoNot sure why you're being buried, because this is absolutely true. Takes about 5-10 minutes to install, with most of that time spent cutting them out of the clamshell packaging.
- ciaranm 10y agoCan we stop with the 'everyone in Europe' thing? It's almost never true. I live in rented accommodation in London and have the same style of shower heads as in the article. Here's a fairly prominent seller of bathroom stuff in the UK, with a wide variety of different shower fittings: http://www.bathstore.com/products/showers/shower-fittings/shower-heads http://www.bathstore.com/products/showers/shower-fittings/sh...
- csydas 10y agoI think you are taking the statement too literally. The expression does is not meant as an authoritative statement that every single person does X but that in general X is the most common. I understand it is often used as an underhanded method of supporting ones argument, but the statement itself typically isn't literal. Likewise, in situations like this, counter points often fall prey to exception does not make the rule. Living abroad in Russia and traveling across Europe, the parent is true that handheld shower heads are by far more common. In Russian apartments at least I suspect it's because showers tend to be very small so the angle for a fixed shower head wouldn't be possible except for straight down, which is also not how most showers are installed to deal with. Again in Russia at least many building are renovated USSR built ones, and the apartments were built to last - redoing plumbing is a challenge, so it's easier to just attach a handheld shower head to the existing faucet than it is to add plumbing to concrete walls.
- TillE 10y agoThe UK is the exception to a lot of rules when talking about "Europe". The hand-held shower thing is by far the norm in Germany, Italy, etc. And yeah, it's great because it's so much more usable, and really easy to replace.
- arethuza 10y agoActually, I'd say that even in the UK the detachable shower heads that can be attached to a fitting are most common - at least in my experience. What you do get in nicer showers is both a large fixed shower head and a detachable shower head.
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoI have a good quality "water saving" type detachable showerhead. It's perfect for everything except filling the kids' plastic Ikea bathtub. So I installed (with a bit of hacking) the quick-connect system used on garden hoses on the shower head, and now we have the best of both worlds: using less hot water for showers, but quick filling of the bathtub. If any of you entrepreneuring types want to make a kit and throw it up on Kickstarter, the idea is all yours.
- arghIdontwantto 10y agoDon't know the name, but there is an amazing faucet ending that looks like a normal one (not that plastic/metal bulge) and then you just slide in and out the different tubes. I was living in a house that had a roof terrace but no water supply, so only way to clean/water the plants that was ok, was to use one of these on the bathroom sink, looks almost like the original one, but when we needed, we slided the water hose there easily. I can't find it now, don't remember the name, but I purchased it a couple years ago from Amazon, so I should be able to get the name if you are interested with a bit more time.
- joshontheweb 10y agoFunny. I have one of these in my home and never detach it.
- yoodenvranx 10y ago> I live in rented accommodation in London and have the same style of shower heads as in the article I live in Germany for 30+ years and I also have lived in the US for a year. I can tell you from my own experience that US-styled showerheads (ans those horrible temperature selection thingies) are virtually unheard of in Germany. Every single shower I have ever used here in Germany had a detachable shower head.
- Vendan 10y agoGenerally, everyone has a "hold in your hand" showerhead, except for hotels and rentals, cause the fixed ones are cheaper. I've got a "hold in your hand" one that I took from apartment to apartment, and is now sitting in my master bath, cause the one that was in the house was fixed as well!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- burkaman 10y agoIt is. Lots of people have them, anyone who wants one can easily get one.
- tunap 10y agoI have one and I only handle it when I am cleaning my shower. Coincidentally, I cleaned my shower head last month as more than a few ports had clogged up. I soaked it in vinegar for an hour, pushed a pin through the calcium encrusted ports and scrubbed it with an old, HARD bristled toothbrush. No crustaceans were observed. One note: Hard bristled toothbrushes(stiffer than 'Firm') are THE BEST for cleaning small parts. Not so good for brushing your teeth unless you don't like enamel.
- _JamesA_ 10y agoHow would a hold in your hand shower head be much easier to clean up since the gunk mentioned in the article was located in the interior? The same gunk would probably be present in the faucets as well.
- tzakrajs 10y agoAnd in the pipes too! I think we ought to take apart the entire plumbing and figure out how gross it all is. They wouldn't even believe how gross the sewers get.
- jdubs 10y agoWhere does it end?
- _JamesA_ 10y agoUrine in Portland reservoir: How dangerous is pee in drinking water? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609774
- engates 10y agoThe inside of pipes doesn't get exposed to the outside air like a shower head does. Less likely to grow the same kind of gunk.
- m_t 10y agoIt is easier to unscrew. That's not much, but it's a large step when it comes to cleaning something that get cleaned once every 5 years.
- to3m 10y agoTake your pick: 1. it's a ploy to out uppity Europeans 2. they would rather have a sucky showerhead than be like the French 3. it's to annoy you... you personally 4. They use US Customary Units... need I say more? 5. FREEDOM
- zeveb 10y agoIt's probably related to the reason American banking is so backwards: it wouldn't surprise me if we got showers first, before handheld showerheads were a thing, while Europeans were still taking baths (it's amazing when I travel in Europe how many places still are bath-only!). That said, I'd rather have a fixed showerhead than a handheld showerhead that I must pick up to use (i.e., some handhelds can be fixed in place): half the fun of a good shower is just standing there in the heat and steam, water running down one's head, not having to do anything. Waving a showerhead over oneself might clean better, but it's too much like work.
- DanBC 10y agoA common joke in the UK is the delicacy of turning the taps to achieve good shower temperature. Here's Eddie Izzard on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZO2RZua6kE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZO2RZua6kE
- jsight 10y agoApparently the answer is "gross stuff". I didn't see much more usable detail than that in the article?
- rudolf0 10y ago"Gross stuff which can maybe cause weird diseases."
- nugget 10y agoOr help boost our immune systems by exposure? I couldn't tell from the article.
- givinguflac 10y agoThat's the point of the article; they know almost nothing about it, so there are currently data collection efforts so they can get a big picture. From there they can ask the detailed questions like that.
- teod 10y agoGross stuff which is actually a collection of microorganisms. And reading further, there's the idea that our exposure to this gross stuff may be beneficial and one of the few ways we're still exposed to it. Or harmful. Very interesting stuff in my opinion. Have studies like this been made more accessible due to cheaper sequencing?
- plussed_reader 10y agoAnd seeing as our bodies are colonies of microorganisms...
- dec0dedab0de 10y agoOh, I thought it was going to be the flow regulators. I keep meaning to remove mine.
- drcross 10y agoA staggering number of people don't have access to clean drinking water and flushing toilets in the world, I refuse to start worrying about this sort of stuff so I won't be reading this article.
- cglouch 10y agoDo you also forego eating because a staggering number of people in the world don't have access to food? It's at least worth considering what it's in your showerhead since it could potentially cause a weird disease or something of the sort.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 10y agoOr, as the article points out, benefit your immune system by leaving yourself exposed to what's in there.
- givinguflac 10y agoIt's not meant to be something to scare you; the intent is to get people interested in helping with data collection efforts. It's very possible the results turns out to be that most of these organisms are beneficial to us in some way, but we just don't know without the data.
- misja111 10y ago“You may have worms,” Dunn told me. “There’s even some evidence in the Netherlands of little crustaceans.” Ok so I have been living in the Netherlands for 46 years and I have never heard about crustaceans in our showerheads :) I can't find any sources about this on the Internet. Has anybody ever heard about this or is this just nonsense?
- spiderfarmer 10y agoThe tap water in the Netherlands is in the top of the world so I really can't imagine crustaceans in my showerhead unless someone put them there.
- anthotny 10y agoThe presence of crustaceans has nothing to do with cleanliness. New York City also has famously good water, and it has crustaceans: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/nyregion/the-waters-fine-but-is-it-kosher.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/nyregion/the-waters-fine-b...
- ceejayoz 10y agoThat's pretty fascinating. Basically, no one has actually been able to keep true Kosher until the advent of water filters and microscopes.
- ars 10y ago> and microscopes All microscopic creates are kosher. It must be visible to the naked eye to be non-kosher. According to Kosher law you are supposed to check your water after drawing it, to make sure it has no insects in it. This is the backstory for the test in Judges 7 BTW. Now in modern times people expect drinking water to be clean. So it was quite a surprise to find visible insects in New York water.
- ceejayoz 10y ago> All microscopic creates are kosher. That seems like an after-the-fact retcon, given folks thousands of years ago being unaware of a microscopic world's existence.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- cylinder 10y agoWhy the focus on showerheads only and not water faucets which people drink much more water from rather than bathe?
- engates 10y agoIt's probably the fact that shower heads have so much more surface area for stuff to grow on and live in. One minute it's wet, and then it's drying for the rest of the day. A water faucet is less hospitable to growing gunk.
- gojomo 10y agoHmm; I could see it being the exact opposite. The shower head, by drying out after a single daily use, could be less hospitable to organisms that need moisture. Meanwhile a faucet, used several times throughout the day, has areas which never dry completely.
- 8fGTBjZxBcHq 10y agoThey're studying human microbiome, not the health impact of drinking different stuff. Anything living in your showerhead is going to get deposited on your skin every day, so it may be a reservoir for your personal microbes, or something that interferes with them.
- DanBC 10y agothere's an element of aerosolisation with showerheads, so you might be breathing this stuff in.
- module0000 10y agoClick bait or not, now I have to clean my shower head. Thanks a lot! :(
- ars 10y agoYou can (mostly) sterilize your showerhead if you want. Turn up your hot water tank to the highest setting (150F) and wait for it to finish heating, then just run straight hot water for about 10 minutes. It won't kill everything, but it'll kill most things.
- dashundchen 10y agoIt sounds obvious, but this is incredibly dangerous scalding risk if someone else turns on hot water expecting it to be a reasonable temperature while you're doing this. Even if Much easier to take your fixtures off and bleach/disinfect.
- ars 10y ago> Much easier to take your fixtures off and bleach/disinfect. You have a very different definition of "easier" than me. And I don't know about you, but hot water is HOT, and I never use it directly while expecting not to get burned - I always mix it with cold.
- gkya 10y ago"He suggested that the female reputation for making tastier bread may derive from the fact that the skin on women’s hands is more likely to be colonized by fermentation-friendly lactobacilli from their vaginas." This is the weirdest thing I've heard in a while and I wonder if there is even a slight possibility that this is true.
- mritterhoff 10y agoAs a homebrewer who consumes the end product of microorganism processes, an unexpected infection almost always yields off-flavors that are counted as defects in the beer. That said, there are some beer types that are "spontaneously fermented" by environmental yeasts, that end up with a sour taste as a desirable characteristic, and the rest of the beer flavor profile is crafted to harmonize with it. I think there is a slight possibility the claim is true, but only for sourdough breads.
- notadoc 10y ago> He suggested that the female reputation for making tastier bread may derive from the fact that the skin on women’s hands is more likely to be colonized by fermentation-friendly lactobacilli from their vaginas. Not really what you want to read while eating sourdough toast.