Small U.S. Showerhead Manufacturer Wants to Revolutionize the Institutional Plumbing Trade

Nov. 15, 2011 - PRLog -- The owner and inventor of the High Sierra Showerhead claims his new nozzle technology can virtually eliminate showerhead maintenance cost and provide a high quality, secure showering experience for prison inmates—without incurring the eye-popping costs of retrofit or construction typically charged by the major plumbing and engineering firms.

The company just announced it's ability to retrofit the nozzle for a popular Powers brand prison showerhead mount. The company’s unique nozzle was adapted previously to other commercial-institutional showerhead mounts such as those manufactured by Acorn and Willoughby.

“We’re a small company with a big solution,” says owner David Malcolm. “We have a patented showerhead nozzle that was designed from the ground up to deliver a comfortable, drenching spray of 1.5 gpm at almost any water pressure. Using this new technology, we have created a line of commercial showerheads that are vandal resistant and can be installed easily and inexpensively on most prison showerhead mounts.”

Typical payback on the cost of a retrofit with High Sierra showerhead nozzles is very short.  A case study conducted last year with the facilities staff at the Federal Correctional Institute in Herlong, California showed a one-year water savings of 3.5 million gallons.  The savings in energy was $52,500. The payback period for the prison’s $10,000 investment in 225 showerheads was just three months.

The type of low flow showerheads used in prisons often have a flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, which is achieved by forcing the water through tiny holes in the nozzle, or through a flow restrictor somewhere within the system, Malcolm said. This tends to make them plug up and often produces a miserly flow—prompting inmates to tamper with the devices. “Our showerheads don’t plug, and officers are telling us that they hear few complaints from inmates,” he said.

Though still in its growing phase (it recently sold its 12,000 unit), the company is carving out a reputation among large institutions.  It has retrofitted thousands of showerheads in state, federal, and local prison facilities­—and the water saving devices are installed in the student dormitories of well known universities such as Penn State and Savannah College of Art and Design.

“We know what prison officials are up against when it comes to budgets and bureaucracy,” Malcolm said, “and we’ve learned a lot about how we can help.”

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We are a manufacturer of high efficiency, low flow shower heads located in the Sierra foothills of California. We sell our showerheads to correctional institutions, facilities managers at colleges, campgrounds, gyms, and homeowners. Our showerheads are made in the USA and are all-metal.

Our patented nozzle delivers a steady, 1.5 gpm flow at a wide range of water pressures. The spray is delightfully full and rinses well. Our showerheads do not clog.