Tankless Water Heater; Analog VS Digital

Let's set the scope of the water heater in the bathroom only. And with that factor, we can divide the water heater into the two main groups in term of usability.

- Analog system

- Digital system

For each one, the one big different point that you can see in the water heater interface is the different way of interact with water heater. The analog water heater will give the safety feeling more than the digital water heater which have the small button that make the user feel uncomfortable to interact with.



Talk about the temperature indicators, there were three types of temperature indicators which I've seen so far; the level indicator, digital number indicator, and symbolic indicator. The level indicator will have the level of temperature like a thermometer, and in the first time, user will have the problem with this type of indicator when they try to set the suitable temperature because of the indicator give the feeling of thermometer that hard to read the number so the indicator will always come with the level bar which make people easy to recognize. Once the users can grab the feeling of indicator, they can use this type easily.

The digital indicator tell the number of temperature which the user can modify it accurately. And easy to understand how hot of the water.

The symbolic indicator is the one that less accuracy and cannot grab the feeling by the number but by the symbol itselves. And this type is the easiest way to communicate the user while interact with temperature twisted knob.







http://www.blogger.com/www.palomatankless.com/.../tank_tankless.html

Shower Knob

The shower "knob"

From my research in the mainstream bathroom products, there are two types of shower knob (not include the hi-tech button system) which are twisted knob and lever knob. They were used in most kind of water systems, the normal plumbing and the tank-type water heating system(in western living, the tank-type water heaters are popular in most house and hotel buisiness).



Let's see the differences.



For the twisted knob, the main different point is how to open the shower. The users must twist by using their wrist in many times, more times, more water. And that will make fatigue to the users wrist if the knob is too hard when connected to the system. Most of the low cost knob made from plastic and always add some elements which make the knob have the friction for the hand. And with this kind of knob, if it was hard to twist, it would make the users hand hurt. But in the normal situation, this twisted knob use less force than the lever knob which I will show you why...



For the lever knob, the way to open the water system is; the user must use the whole arm, begin with their shoulder make the force to move the lever which the users must use more force to open the water system. But the benefit things are; the lever knobs don't hurt the user hand and have more fit to the hand to apply the knob.



From I've seen so far, I noticed that there are no plastic lever knob for the mainstream market. The reason should be the properties of material and the usage. The lever knob have more parts to take the forces than the twisted knob. And those parts should be strong, so the manufacturer decide to make the lever knob to be the metal knob only.

http://www.moen.com/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LDJUQQ/ref=nosim/?tag=dealtime-tools-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=B000LDJUQQ&linkCode=asn

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LEHCDS/ref=nosim/?tag=dealtime-tools-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=B000LEHCDS&linkCode=asn

Handsets Shower

Product category analyze

The handsets shower usually have the various kind of products but mainly there are 2 different material to divide the hand held showerhead apart; plastic and metal.



The main parts of the handsets are;

- showerhead

- hose

- holder

The showerhead which made from plastic will have lower durability than the metal showerhead because of material. This part will always apply from the users and always get damage the most. One point that make this category different from the wall mounted showerhead is the usability, hand held showerhead can use as the wall mounted showerhead and sometimes, in the blind spots of the body, they can reach those spots without any problems by holding it. Also, this kind of showerhead can add more function to the head than the wall mounted, because the user can apply the showerhead to the body. The example product such as the showerhead which have the massage nozzle on the head.

The hose makes the benefit of the blind spots that I mention before. But sometimes it can be messy and annoyed things, especially the hoses those are longer than standard. And it's hard to clean especially the metal hose which have the small space between the pieces of metal tube.

Talk about some more con point, if the hose damaged, it means.....the whole product broke! And that is the another point why the wall mounted showerhead have the higher durability than handsets.

The showerhead holder is the one function of handsets shower. It give the showerhead act like the wall mounted showerhead that you don't need to hold it all the time. And some of holder have the riser rails which can adjust the height of the shower depend on users. Most of the low cost product will set the holder in only one angle which mean you cannot adjust the compatible angle for the specific users, such as, the child, handicap, very long and short people, etc.

http://www.shower-guide.com/shower-handsets-and-accessories.htm

http://www.waterpik.com/products/SpecDisplay.do?prdNbr=125

http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Held-Shampoo-Spray-White/dp/B00002N99I/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5918188-0830035?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1185986425&sr=1-1

KOHLER : mounted showerhead

type: the wall mounted showerhead

Specific information;

-The sleek contemporary styling of this three-way showerhead. A MasterClean(technology) sprayface offers wide coverage, a soothing aerated spray and a revitalizing massage spray and resists hard water buildup. Showerhead, arm and flange included.
Sleek, contemporary styling complements Purist suite
Features three unique spray settings
-wide, warm coverage spray (full flow, water come out all of the nozzles)
-soothing aerated spray (water come out only the center area, hard and high pressure water)
-revitalizing massage spray ( water come out only the outer area, soft and low pressure water)

Product Analysis

The wall mounted showerhead use the brass to make the body and seems to be save for the small bathroom. This kind of showerhead will always have the high durabilty because most of the users will apply the wall mounted showerhead slightly. Things they apply such as, adjust the angle for themselves, or only clean the showerhead. But there is the common problem for this showerhead; in the low cost product, there is always has the minerals stick together at the front of the nozzles. But Kohler solve this problem by use the technology from the trademark called," Master Clean" which will make the hard water build up and make it easier to clean.

For the usage of this kind of showerhead, the users will have more postures when compare to the hand held showerhead, imagine like you dance in the bathroom while the water falling down to your head and you have to raise your hands or legs to clean the blind spots. And that will cause the problem for the old man and handicap users that more of them have the weak body( I mean they cannot do some posture to clean themselves).

The spray patterns take some actions to make the users feel good in they clean themselves, and sometimes the spray patterns will make the user convince that they have the good cleaning for thier body, and some patterns make users clean themselves fast because of the high pressure spraying which make the users convince in their bathing. And for the low pressure spraying will make the user relax for their bathing

I've seen the wall mounted showerhead come out the ideas of water saving those are interesting in term of environmental concern which the hand held showerhead have only a few.

For this Kohler showerhead, they didn't show the water flow rate, so I'll show you guys in this case of products next time.

http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?from=thumb&frm=&module=Custom+Components&item=8607702&prod_num=14425§ion=2&category=11