Posted on 01/08/2017 9:18:48 PM PST by Lorianne
It’s a pretty astonishing fact, if you think about it. The government ruined our showers by truncating our personal rights to have a great shower even when we are willing to pay for one. Sure, you can hack your showerhead but each year this gets more difficult to do. Today it requires drills and hammers, whereas it used to just require a screwdriver.
The water pressure in our homes and apartments has been gradually getting worse for two decades. I had to laugh when Donald Trump made mention of this during the campaign. He was challenged to name an EPA regulation he didn’t like. And recall that he is in the hospitality business and knows a thing or two about this stuff.
“You have showers where I can’t wash my hair properly,” he said. “It’s a disaster. It’s true. They have restrictors put in. The problem is you stay under the shower for five times as long."
The pundit class made fun of him, but he was exactly right! This is a huge quality of life issue that affects every American, every day.
It’s not just about the showerhead. The water pressure in our homes and apartments has been gradually getting worse for two decades, thanks to EPA mandates on state and local governments. This has meant that even with a good showerhead, the shower is not as good as it might be. It also means that less water is running through our pipes, causing lines to clog and homes to stink just slightly like the sewer. This problem is much more difficult to fix, especially because plumbers are forbidden by law from hacking your water pressure.
As for the heat of the water, the obsession over “safety” has led to regulations that the top temperature is preset on most water heaters, at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which is only slightly hotter than the ideal temperature for growing yeast. Most are shipped at 110 degrees in order to stay safe with regulators. This is not going to get anything really clean; just the opposite. Water temperatures need to be 140 degrees to clean things. (Looking at the industry standard, 120 is the lowest-possible setting for cleaning but 170 degrees gives you the sure thing.)
The combination of poor pressure and lukewarm temperatures profoundly affects how well your dishwasher and washing machine work. Plus, these two machines have been severely regulated in how much energy they can consume and how much water they can use. Top-loading washing machines are a thing of the past, while dishwashers that grind up food and send it away are a relic. We are lucky now to pull out a glass without soap scum on it. As for clothing, what you are wearing is not clean by your grandmother’s standards. But I haven’t even mentioned what might be the biggest factor in why our clothes aren’t clean and our dishes are dirty. The government forced soap manufacturers to remove from soap the thing that makes them work for these purposes: phosphates. Phosphates, used in soap from the middle ages until the 1980s, break down the soap after it has done its work and allow the water to wash it away along with the dirt and oil it scrubbed out of the clothes.
Now, soaps lack this crucial ingredient. In order to add it back in, you have to go to the paint section of the hardware store and buy it in a box (TSP, the real stuff, not the artificial kind). Add a quarter cup to your wash. You would be amazed at the difference it makes. Things actually get more-or-less clean.
SNIP
Shower head restrictors come out in about 3 minutes, my well works fine, pressure is good, water is hot (you can change the thermostat very easily) and I have no chlorine, no fluoride, no chemicals. You can wash clothes in cold water so not sure what that’s about and dishwashers have heaters in them. I don’t pay for water (except the electricity for the pump), no sewage bills with a septic tank.
The writer guy seems to be lacking in knowledge.
Bookmarked. Thx
Bkmk
:)
My dishwashwer always has to be set to heavy duty/pots and pans; otherwise everything stays dirty.
I have a boiler system for heat and hot water. I set it for 190 degrees and our water pressure (mid-Maine) is just fine . As far as the shower heads are concerned I have an older one that needed a soaking and a washer...I love taking my showers and as far as dish washers go I still do mine by hand....and for whatever reason my quarterly water bill is always the same amount no matter how much or little I use , seems to be the way they do it to keep things functioning....Oh ya , you can actually drink it. I have never purchased bottled water , I learned water prep in the Army....very very simple stuff...find an military surplus store and seek chlorine tablets...while their look for fuel tabs...all kinds of things out their if you know what your looking for. Gonna be a great year fellow citizens , Trump is in in 11 days...lets get these corrupt bi___es and B____rds while the gettin’s good.
+1 on Speed Queen.
A couple of years ago the control panel on our "modern" washer stopped working. This was after several years of having gray underwear. I did a lot of research trying to find a washing machine that actually washed clothes. Of course, I went to Consumer Reports first. The user reviews of the Consumer Reports' recommended models almost universally panned those models because they did not wash clothes. At the bottom of the CR list, in the "Not Recommended" section, was a Speed Queen (model AWN542). The user reviews were glowing, the primary comment being that it actually washed clothes. I bought one and have been thrilled with it. It has a nice big tub with a huge agitator, mechanical rather than digital controls, and even has a way to increase the water level to whatever you want. It looks like they don't make this model anymore, but the Speed Queen commercial grade washers are worth checking out.
It was this experience that taught me that Consumer Reports has become a political arm of the EPA. They loved all the EPA controlled crap that didn't do the job and hated the one product that actually did do the job because it used too much water. I cancelled my Consumer Reports subscription shortly thereafter.
Not just laundry soap, even bath bar soap lack glycerine and doesn’t clean your body as well. I’ve gone to buying home made soaps. Then you have those awful powerful smelling liquid bath soaps, don’t clean well, just makes you smell of over used cologne. Now they are taking the antibacterial out of soap.
Takes 2 shampooing’s to get the old excess oils out of your hair. Body soap leaves your skin dried out. No glycerine in them to clean well.
Which is a perfect segue into the one-size-fits-all solutions at the EPA. What may work in NYC, or in a hard water area will not work in another part of the country with different water characteristics.
Think Flint MI verses southern Florida water systems.
The energy czars at the EPA are NOT trained in hygiene, and do not know or care that proper washing is an important part of the public health system.
We replaced the 14 yr old to small hot water tank with a tank-less large size, always have hot water now and for as long as we want it. Only issue is the length of water lines in the house still take time for the hot water to reach where it needs to go. Hubby has it set at 140. We pre run the kitchen water before turning on the dishwasher to get the water hot. And use vinegar as rinse agent.
When we moved the efficiency dishwasher in the new house took over an hour and a half, I had hubby exchange the high end crap with the old one from the other house works a lot better, shorter wash cycle.
Some of the shower head manufacturers have caught on to our using an 1/8” drill bit. They are making them now where it’s almost impossible to get at the orifice without breaking the housing.
Thanks, I’m going to try that.
Yea, I was afraid of that. You almost have to take the damn things apart to inspect them at Home Depot before buying.
Unfortunately, you can’t even get TSP at the local hardware store anymore.
I’m not much of a fan of tankless units, based on what I read in the past, but maybe they’ve improved. Glad you’re happy so far.
My wife is awed by the beautiful new washers and dryers - I tell her don’t be fooled, so we keep using our excellent 20 year old units. Eventually we’ll move out of state and get new ones - perhaps Trump’s people will end crap first - but that still requires the manufactures to also end this crap.
Good point about the shower head. I got thinking about my current shower head, one that is on a flex-hose that is quite old and puts out a very good stream of water last week. I’m planning on moving in a few months and realized that I might want to take it with me.
Also to note, lime-away keeps its little holes open and flowing nicely.
I have a top loading LG washer without the agitator. I can get more water by HOLDING the “EXTRA RINSE*Water Plus” button until it beeps twice, if you just push the button you will get the extra rinse. Works great. I learned this by reading reviews online, maybe Amazon. The salesperson at the Home Depot store didn’t know anything about this feature. I had to buy it to verify it, and it works. I am very happy with my LG washer for cleaning.
And low volume toilets that have to be flushed at least twice to prevent clogging.
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