Why you should choose rain shower heads and how to make the most of them

Rain showers provide a warm, rain-like water coverage when you are showering, giving you a tropical raindrop sensation when you’re rinsing like underneath a waterfall, some call them rainfall shower heads or water fall shower heads. The heavy droplets of rainfall massage away the worries of the day and give you a perfect pick-me-up to begin or end your day with. Now you can get that rain shower feeling without the need to spend thousands of dollars with the Oasense Reva shower head. Reva indulges your senses while also making cost-effective water and energy savings for your home.

What is a rain shower head?

A rain shower is commonly accepted as being wider in size and larger in dimension than a standard shower head. Although there is no strict definition of how large a rain shower head needs to be, they are generally 5” or larger, and can be as large as 18”. Rain showers are usually seen as luxury showering experiences which can often be found in high-end Hotels and Spas as they provide an indulgent experience for the body and mind. This head-to-toe immersive showering experience is one of the many reasons why, despite the higher costs, rain showers are becoming immensely popular

What are typical Rain showers' flow rates and pressure like?

Rain showers can come as a stand-alone shower head or as a rain shower system, depending on the bathroom design. The shower will follow the same flow rate regulation as their peers' normal shower heads with the greatest flow rate allowed being 2.5 gpm nationwide, and the lowest flow rate depending upon different state or city regulations.[link] In the WaterSense certification program, rain shower heads are exempted from the center spray force mandate, which requested that shower heads have a minimum spray force at the center of 0.56 newtons at 20 psi to ensure shower quality.

It is not difficult to understand the reasoning behind this exemption. Once the shower head water coverage goes to 8” or above, the water flow is separated evenly into all the individual nozzles and which causes the water power to spread out. This results in weaker pressure on each nozzle, which is in contrast to smaller-sized shower heads where they can concentrate all the water out in a minimum amount of streams. However, since there are a lot more nozzles on a rain shower head than on a low-flow shower head, the water coverage is much higher.

Here we can see where the challenge in balancing the water coverage and spray force when there are flow rate limitations. Once the flow rate is limited, water coverage has to decrease in to get the same amount of pressure, or the product's water pressure will drop.

In the case of rain shower heads, they commonly rely on nature's gift, gravity, to compensate for the lower pressure. With a longer traveling distance and time from water droplet to body as rain showers are sometimes mounted higher, causing gravity to accelerate the water droplets that create the heavy rain sensation associated with rain showers.

If you’re looking to have a higher pressure rain shower, then it's probably best to look for a higher flow rate, smaller dimensions like 6” or 8”, or shower heads with different spray patterns if they are available. We recommend a 6” model like the Oasense Reva, which can act like a cross-over from shower heads and rain showers. as Oasense Reva is one of the higher pressure showers that pass the WaterSense spray force criteria and has enough coverage to be used as a rain shower. You can expect better water pressure than common rain showers from Reva.

Also read:

Highest flow-rate shower head possible in your area

Smart shower heads and the secret behind their functionalities.

How do I get the highest pressure shower and still save water?

Types of rain shower heads

Depending on the setup in your bathroom, the most common ways of mounting rain shower sets are as follows.

Ceiling mount

If you are remodeling a bathroom, plumbers can install a rain shower ceiling mount that has a water connection directly from the ceiling. This typically allows for a higher rainfall distance to achieve that drastic rainfall feeling.

Wall mount

A wall-mounted rain shower arm is an alternative to the high ceiling type. One can remove the old shower arm and install one of the rain head shower arms that has a 90-degree angle pointing downwards. Removing an old shower arm can be done by yourself. You just need to take more care at the joint because it's sometimes located behind the wall and hard to spot the leak. Take a tongue & groove plier, or self-adjusting plier, or “robogrip”, and carefully hold the base of the old shower arm, and rotate counterclockwise to remove the old shower arm and replace them with the rain shower style.

Rack, rain shower system

Some called this a European-style shower. For some older or non-wall mount-style plumbing systems, this type of shower system is sometimes used. A typical setup with an exposed vertical pipe can be found around the world, albeit less seen in the US. This also creates a rain shower sensation, and some models come with a handheld shower head with a hose and diverter so you can switch between a rain shower or a hand-held shower.

How to install a rain shower head

You can install rain showers pretty much the same as you would install a normal shower head. The only difference is that it is slightly bigger, and sometimes mounted slightly higher up, so be careful if you’re using a ladder. Make sure to pay attention to the pipe threads. Commonly in the US and North America, the products use 1/2” NPT, if the rain shower is imported sometimes they come with G threads.

How high should the rain shower head be?

There isn’t a hard set rule, but generally, people install 80” or so. The taller the rain head the heavier the drop because the gravity accelerates the droplet more, yet the water gets a bit colder because of the longer travel time in colder air that will cool it down. Installing the rain shower higher up would also make it slightly harder to clean because of the difficulty in being able to reach it.

Style, finishes, and design

Current shower head trends include; chrome, matte black, brushed nickel, polished nickel, aged gold, and countless others. These processes can be done by post-processing plastic parts or coated if the particular rain shower is made of metal. Metal shower heads are typically made of brass for the ease of machining. This makes it easier to make an oil-bronze finish. Size-wise, a rounded, square, or oval shower head can be found in the market. A well-crafted, well-designed rain shower can easily cost more than a thousand dollars and sometimes many thousands of dollars if they are designed by famous industrial designers and use top materials.

Reasons why rain shower heads or big shower heads are more expensive and why they are worth it.

Rain shower presents a luxurious, lavishing showering experience is the main reason why people are triggered by its higher price. Aside from the luxurious design and sensation that a rain shower is delivering, there are also more practical reasons why rain showers cost more.

Rain shower head uses more material

Whether it is plastic with chrome coating, or a full metal or mix of materials, a rain shower is typically a lot more expensive than their common or even low-flow counterparts. We may wonder why it costs so much more when functionally it isn’t doing a lot more.

Production efficiency is lower

The cost of manufacturing larger parts is significantly more than making smart parts. In injection molding, the cost of making large toolings for 6” or 10” parts can be 3 times or more expensive than tiny 2-inch heads, and the manufacturing efficiency can be 10 times worse. The same injection machine to make one 10” parts can probably produce 16 2” parts in the same amount of time.

The yield is lower for bigger parts

Yield is another factor that is not very obvious to people outside of the manufacturing world. It is a lot easier to produce perfect small parts than one perfect huge part. In the case of shower heads, let’s take chrome plating as an example. Assuming every chrome plating process has the same defect density/occurrence per process step, processing 1 10” shower head at a time versus 8 2” shower head at a time and one coating defect would occur. The yield would be 0% vs 87.5%, as this one defect would 100% occur on the 10” shower head, but this same defect would only impact maybe one 2” shower head. This is a considerable production difference. This is the same principle for why full-frame camera sensors or bigger screens TVs are A LOT more expensive than small ones.

Logistics are more expensive

Shipping is also a concern, in logistics, the volume weight adds up relatively quickly, even though a 10” shower head isn't necessarily 5 times heavier than the 2” shower head, because of the size, it takes up more space in the container and the shelf, hence a lot more expensive in shipping and storage.

All these reasons are why some of the costs are passed down to us consumers. So next time when you see the price tag of a big shower head, you wouldn't be that surprised.

Modern rain showers

Some rain showers offer different spray settings, while it is less used because they are mounted higher and harder to adjust, you can still set them ever so often, maybe use a ladder. Nevertheless, in 2022 we have a lot more functionality added to the rain shower.

LED rain shower heads

Some rain showers come with LED, and although it doesn't provide any practical function, if picked carefully, it can enhance the showering experience or the entire bathroom design.

Sensor rain shower heads and system.

Shower heads like Oasense Reva or Bath select provide the extra feature of motion activation. The tech-integrated rain shower heads can help reduce greenhouse gas, water usage, and energy cost by saving the water when rinsing is not acquired, so you enjoy the sensation of both lavishing water rinse and doing good for the planet. A win-win.

Get the most out of your rain shower with a smart rain shower head

The Oasense Reva shower head provides the characteristics of the rain shower coverage, but at a more reasonable price point with some additional benefits. It has a full metal casing to match your luxurious style, and the bonus point is that It can save 50% of water with ease and maintain the high pressure rinsing sensation.

A clever sensing mechanism is integrated so that when you are not underneath the water stream, the water flow will be minimized automatically. It also has a warm-up detection feature so we don’t have to time or test the water temperature at the beginning of the shower. Start the valve and relax, the water flow will be minimized once the temperature is reached, signaling to you that the water is ready. Step in and enjoy the Reva Rain, as our crafted nozzles spray out the droplet warm and heavy on your skin, step back when you need soap up, and let the water saving pay for your investment. This rainfall - type shower head also comes with LED light integrated as an indicator for status.

Oasense Reva doesn’t require a battery as it is powered by water, and is also it installed the same way as every other shower head thanks to our all-in-one design.

Reva has top-notch designs and is recognized by the prestigious Reddot Design Award in Germany, also the winner of the CES innovation award.

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