Save money and the planet with this awesome sink cleaner: kitchen sink high efficiency swivel saves water and energy
Our company, Pono Home, has been retrofitting homes with energy and water efficiency upgrades for six years now (more than 13,000 homes strong). In that time, we’ve seen tremendous changes in the technology available, especially in terms of LEDs, but also in high efficiency water fixtures. This particular device has 100% customer satisfaction from our customers (our average is 97% for our products). EVERYONE loves this money-saving kitchen sink swivel head aerator.
The famous Seinfeld episode where “low flow” devices were installed throughout the apartment building where Kramer and Seinfeld lived was enough to scare people away from water efficiency measures for decades to come. And with good reason – the technology installed was a truly low flow device – back in those days, water efficiency meant inserting a flow restrictor into a pipe, but leaving the rest as it was. So a showerhead or faucet that was engineered to use 3 gallons per minute (GPM) now all of a sudden was only receiving 2…and with predictably wimpy results.
High efficiency water hardware, such as this high efficiency showerhead, these bathroom high efficiency faucet aerators, and now this swiveling kitchen sink fixture, are simply awesome. Instead of restricting the flow in the pipe, they instead are engineered to pressurize and release less water, but for the same effect in terms of user experience. More bang, less buck.
Check out the pressure of this sink fixture!
It has a flow or spray option, and swivels to make cleaning the sink easy, too! The flow option uses 1.5 GPM, and the needle spray uses 1.0 GPM. Both are less than the standard for most kitchen sinks, which is 2.2 or 2.5 GPM. And since you use a fair bit of hot water in your kitchen sink, this little device saves you on your energy, water, and wastewater bills!
How to install
Usually, this is a simple matter –
Step 1. unscrew the existing aerator (the fixture at the end, where the water comes out). This can usually be done with just enough force, but sometimes a tool is needed. We recommend channel lock pliers, with a rubber jar opener pad in between to keep from scratching the finish. If fingers don’t work, and even channel lock pliers don’t work, it’s possible the old aerator is simply crusted on. In this case, wrap a paper towel around the old aerator, and pour some white vinegar on it til it is damp throughout. Leave this on for about 5 minutes and try again…it should come right off. If not, re-wrap it and give it another 5. If that still doesn’t do the trick, then you might need a new sink!
Step 2. clean the innards and the outer threads of the sink pipe. Get all the gunk off and also remove any old rubber gaskets that are stuck in there (it happens a fair bit)
Step 3. screw the high efficiency swivel aerator into place, just finger tight – it’s not necessary to overdo it, and in fact, if you do overdo it, you may break something. So long as it’s finger tight and not leaking, you should be good to go.
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About the Author
Scott Cooney Scott Cooney is a serial eco-entrepreneur including being the solo founder of Pono Home, HomeEfficiency.com, and CleanTechnica; author of two books; former sustainability consultant with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Eastman Chemical, Wal-Mart, and Duke Energy; former Adjunct teaching the first course in sustainable business in the MBA program at UH Manoa; lover of local, healthy food and especially vegan nachos. Find Scott on Twitter
