When Joe and I stay in a hotel, we have some criteria that help us decide how much we liked our visit. Cleanliness is a must, and having walls thick enough so you don’t hear your neighbors is a definite plus. They also get brownie points if the bed isn’t too high (hello, 4’6″ tall lady here; I don’t WANT to need a step stool to get into bed) and even though the trend for hotels is to not offer dressers (here’s why), we’re admittedly set in our ways and still prefer to have them than not.
Another biggie for us? That the bathroom has enough water pressure. I’m not talking about having toilets strong enough to flush ripped-up legal-sized papers down them. 😉 Nah, it’s just that I’d like to have enough water pressure in the shower so I don’t have to take extra minutes to get all of the shampoo out of my hair because the water is barely more than a trickle.
Of course, part of the reason why some hotel showers water flow is so bad isn’t so much because of the water pressure as hotels’ use of low-flow shower heads. Through the years, more and more hotels use these types of shower heads to save money on their water bills conserve water. There’s something you can do about that, but I’ll get to it in a minute.
But let’s say, for argument’s sake, the problem is that your hotel shower just doesn’t have enough water pressure to do the job. That may be happening because of, among other things:
- Gravity – Say you’re in a high floor of a multi-story hotel. The higher the elevation where water has to go, the lower the water pressure. On top of that, one gallon of water weighs roughly 8 pounds. If water travels upwards for several floors, gravity wants to send it down.
- Distance from the water source – If your hotel room is closer to the end of the water supply line, the flow of water might be significantly low by the time it gets to you.
But never fear… high-rise hotels have learned to get more water pressure to their upper floors by using something called a booster pump.
So a booster pump will help a high-rise hotel have better water pressure on its higher floors, despite the problems of gravity and distance from the source.
But even if the hotel is using booster pumps, remember that the further you are from them, the less your water pressure will be. So when you check in, ask to be placed in a room that’s on the same floor as one of the hotel’s booster pumps. The people at the check-in desk will undoubtedly look at you as if you have 3 heads, so ask them to call the hotel engineer; they’ll know. It’s not a guarantee to give you a shower like a fire hose, because other things may come into play (i.e. the hotel used narrow pipes because they were cheaper, the aforementioned low flow shower heads, etc.), but it might help.
Oh! And about those low flow shower heads – there IS a hack to “fix” that, although it’s something of a morally gray area because it is not so much “fixing” the shower head as breaking something inside it. But if you’re OK with the guilt, this video might help:
Unfortunately, chances are no one will ever notice that the shower has been altered. That means it’ll keep spewing out more water than the hotel intended. That’s a waste of the hotel’s money and the earth’s resources, especially in areas experiencing drought. So think twice about doing that one, OK?
Honestly, a less destructive way is to simply travel with a cheap shower head and just switch out your shower head for theirs. Switch them back before you check out. Problem solved.
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1 comment
In California, low flow shower heads are a legal requirement. There is a severe drought and, for all sorts of reasons, the state has decided that it’s easier to regulate than to improve the water infrastructure, so the drought won’t be going away except in exceptional years.
It therefore is the height of selfishness to swap the shower heads out. First of all, you are putting yourself ahead of, and to the detriment of, others (the definition of selfishness) and secondly you are putting the accommodation in breach of the law, a particularly vile act.