On Sunday, January 12, 2014 9:21:08 AM UTC-7, sms wrote:
I have a problem with certain family members and exceedingly long

showers. Pleading and screaming has no effect. The water bills and the

gas bills are outrageous.



I've seen some commercial products that control long showers but they

are poorly reviewed and expensive.



I was thinking of a solenoid controlled valve on the hot water line of

the shower. I'd plumb in a bypass to keep a tiny amount of hot water

going in, but cut off the bulk of the hot water with a valve like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESZPUR6/ (rated to 80�C).



To trigger the micro-controller that controls the valve I'd use a flow

sensor such as http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HG7F9SS (rated to 100�C). A

dishwasher valve would also work.



So basically it would be a flow sensor and a solenoid controlled valve

in series with the hot water line, and a bypass with a manual valve.

I had one daughter who hogged the shower and I solved this by going
down to the basement and slowly closed the hot water valve to the
bathroom. When the screaming stopped as the cold water hit, I
opened the valve a bit. She soon learned to play fair and allow others their turn in the bathroom.
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