Acqua Tempus, shower timer with shut off for teens

[spitfire72]

Hi to all member
I want to post this product I bought some weeks ago in a website in GB, it is called Acqua Tempus
apparently it is very simple but it is not: it is a shower timer with shut off; it is programmable and has a lithium battery that gets charged with the passage of water, son I do not need to replace any battery; the solenoid valve is inside Acqua Tempus, so no plumbing is needed at all. At a first sight, this product has been developed wisely.

I have 2 daughters, 14 and 16, and they took never ending showers (no less than 20 or even 30 minutes each, an absolute nightmare) my wife and I had to do something to cut off such expense on water and gas and this device is just what we needed.
The installation is very easy and seems to be well built: it is tough and easy to programm.
there is this video in Youtube: shower timer
I just wanted to share it here in this forum, I am quite sure some members will find it very useful at home as it has been for us
I hope it helps
regards

 

[spitfire72]

BY the way, the only negative aspect about it is the price: about 350 sterlings
not cheap at all
hopefully, we will get it paid back in not more than 4 or 6 months

 

[rpm]

As it is installed within the shower can people not just press a button and continue showering?

 

[spitfire72]

As it is installed within the shower can people not just press a button and continue showering?

Hi, the answer is no; when the shower time is gone, AT goes into DELAY TIME that can be set by us, just like the shower time, so when the user runs out of shower time, the solenoid valve shuts it off and leaves it blocked during the delay time; we have set a delay time of 4 or 5 min as far as I can remember;
it is not viable for my daughters to stay in the bathtub without water for 4 minutes waiting for another shower; so they've had to learn how to take a shower in a maximum of 8 minutes, and off they go. Otherwise, they would run out of water being soaped, ...., not recommendable in my opinion.
hope it is clearer now

 

[rpm]

Haha, 8 minutes may be an average time set by the disease control prevention center but I wonder what that does to the mental health of an average 16yr old girl.

 

[Ben-gee]

What stops them unscrewing the hose of the unit and just reattaching the standard shower hose directly to the valve as normal?

 

[spitfire72]

What stops them unscrewing the hose of the unit and just reattaching the standard shower hose directly to the valve as normal?

It brings a security seal to be attached to tbe tap, so that the hose can't be switched back, but we have not installed it, to unscrew the hose, my daughters need a tool, it is not that easy.

 

[spitfire72]

 

[spitfire72]

Here is the security seal
Hope it clears up your query

 

[WC1]

Thanks for sharing your impartial review of the product, sound knowledge of the sequence of operation and access to the technical drawing pdfs.
Very comprehensive.

 

[spitfire72]

Thanks for sharing your impartial review of the product, sound knowledge of the sequence of operation and access to the technical drawing pdfs.
Very comprehensive.

thx for your words

 

[spitfire72]

some of you have sent me an email requesting about where to buy this shower timer; I live in the UK, here it is Leisure Controls Ltd who sells it. in the US or AU I have no idea at all, it is Spanish made so for those that wrote to me from abroad, you will have to find a local dealer in yor country or just write to Arelia and they will definitely let you know
just this so far

 

[Ric2013]

But does it simply shut the shower off totally?

Where I am currently I have a thermal store boiler (probably contains 30 litres hot water: enough for a 6 minute shower). You can actually have a decent shower with the boiler SWITCHED OFF as my Grohtherm mixer will maintain a set temperature to within 2 degrees of the hot water inlet temperature and the temperature then gradually tapers off to cold once the store is cooler than the desired temperature. Being a gradual drop, it allows you to finish rinsing your hair, but it is unlikely you'd want to spend 20 minutes under a cold shower. I can see a sudden stop in water flow altogether being quite impractical however, and, being extremely short sighted, I probably wouldn't be reading the digital display under a shower.

And what the heck is soaping time?

 

[WC1]

I'm not surprised users of this site have been deluging the op with emails clamouring after the product. If only my combi had a button that would cut off the hot water when needed.

 

[SimonG]

Lever valve on feed to shower. A fiver.

 

[Ric2013]

Lever valve on feed to shower. A fiver.

But then you have to be the bad guy.

 

[SimonG]

But then you have to be the bad guy.

Dont have that problem in our house. But fitted a 15mm lever valve in the airing cupboard for a customer. He used it to stop his daughter taking 45 minute showers.
Also an electrician who wired his kids bedrooms on separate circuits.

 

[spitfire72]

But does it simply shut the shower off totally?

Where I am currently I have a thermal store boiler (probably contains 30 litres hot water: enough for a 6 minute shower). You can actually have a decent shower with the boiler SWITCHED OFF as my Grohtherm mixer will maintain a set temperature to within 2 degrees of the hot water inlet temperature and the temperature then gradually tapers off to cold once the store is cooler than the desired temperature. Being a gradual drop, it allows you to finish rinsing your hair, but it is unlikely you'd want to spend 20 minutes under a cold shower. I can see a sudden stop in water flow altogether being quite impractical however, and, being extremely short sighted, I probably wouldn't be reading the digital display under a shower.

And what the heck is soaping time?

Hi there, with a 30 litre hot water tank you certainly do not need to install a shower timer with shut off but at home, we have a combi and my daughters know it; I considered installing what you have in my daughters' tub but it would have been too complex, expensive; Acqua Tempus is being a much better solution, and cheaper.
About the display , it is very easy to read and flashes when there is 30 seconds left warning it is coming to and end, so there is no problem running out of time when still being covered with soap or shampoo, and if there is, they will be more careful next time. We call this at home education.

 

[spitfire72]

And what the heck is soaping time?

soaping time is a parameter we did not understand and first;
it is the maximum time we have for soaping;
when the tap is running, you can see in the display time is counting down; but if you shut the tap for soaping, Acqua tempus turns into soaping time and does not take any shower time off, so when you reopen the tap, it goes back to shower time and the countdown starts when you left it.
and why did they introduce this parameter? the explanation they gave me was as follows: if I walk into the shower and have a really fast shower lets say 3 minutes, and I shut off the tap and walk off, there would be still 3 minutes left, so next person having a shower would oncly have 3 minutes left for the shower; but, as I walk out of the shower, it goes into soaping time and if it reaches cero, AT will presume that I have left the shower and it will reset all parameters and goes back to shower mode for the next user, this thinggy is very intelligent.
I hope I have been clear enough for your query

 

[WC1]

The product is indeed extremely intelligent.
Would it be able to determine if the user was doing something other than soaping during soaping time? I have 2 teenage sons in the house.

 

[spitfire72]

The product is indeed extremely intelligent.
Would it be able to determine if the user was doing something other than soaping during soaping time? I have 2 teenage sons in the house.

WOW!! that question can be a bit mean? naughty perhaps? what do u mean when you say "something other than soaping"?? having sex in the shower perhaps?
sorry about my assumption mate! ☺️☺️☺️☺️😉😉

 

[Ric2013]

I hope I have been clear enough for your query

Yes. And the device sounds very well thought out. As the main effect of the device is to save energy, it seems to make sense to encourage people to turn the tap on and off as required rather than leave it running.

The fact that there is a maximum inter-shower time is not something I would immediately have thought of myself, but as you explain it it makes perfect sense - otherwise the device would incentivise users to use the maximum allowed shower time in order to reset the module, which would encourage a bad habit.

 

[spitfire72]

Yes. And the device sounds very well thought out. As the main effect of the device is to save energy, it seems to make sense to encourage people to turn the tap on and off as required rather than leave it running.

The fact that there is a maximum inter-shower time is not something I would immediately have thought of myself, but as you explain it it makes perfect sense - otherwise the device would incentivise users to use the maximum allowed shower time in order to reset the module, which would encourage a bad habit.

yup!! that's it, just as you say
that's why we are 100% satisfied with this shower timer despite its price (it is not cheap at all)

 

[spitfire72]

Hi everyone
I have spotted this other shower timer with shut off Showerboss, apparently american made.
It is at first sight cheaper than Acqua Tempus, but going through it, it is not: it needs 12v power supply and the solenoid is not inside the timer, so it needs plumbing and an electrician and makes it far more expensive than AT. The AT is "plug and play", In add, the led display looks worse with less functions than AT.
Just this so far to compare with other products.

 

[KittyB]

Hi, I would like to know whether the device reduces the waterflow during the showering time. I've got quite a high flow and like to keep that, I just want to stop some family members having excessive long showers as I can't be bothered to watch the clock whenever anyone takes a shower.