Cool product: Shower Dome

I thought it would be fun to post about life-changing products and services that I really appreciate. Surprisingly, one of my favourite ones is not particularly high tech — a slab of plastic on top of our shower.

Shower Dome is a New Zealand product made in Tauranga. Since we had one installed a few years ago, I’ve never had to scrub mildew or mould off the walls or ceiling in our bathroom.

Our shower is in an ensuite adjoining our bedroom, and so steam from the shower used to cause problems. It would linger in the mornings, condense on the windows in cold days, and make the rooms feel damp.

Shower Domes work by preventing steam from being created while you have a shower…. Amazing, but true!

The steam of a shower is created when the warm air meets the cold air outside, usually out the top of the shower or around the door or curtain. With a dome on top of your shower, no cold air can enter — so you stay warmer inside the shower, and no steam forms.

It’s a really cool invention, and I like it because it’s simple, and it’s completely obvious once you understand the fundamentals of how steam forms. It’s truly one of those “Why did no one invent this before?” inventions.

With less mould and mildew in the house, we are living in a safer, more comfortable space.

It also has a measurable effect on electricity/gas consumption and therefore the environment. We use an instant gas hot water system, and once we had the Shower Dome I noticed we didn’t need the hot water temperature as high as before, because no cold air is coming into the shower. I’m not sure of the actual saving, but we turned our water temperature down 2 degrees, which means we are burning less gas.