Abstract
Systematic experiments were conducted in order to obtain data for the proper design values of bath and shower equipments. The experiments were conducted mainly to determine the comfortable range of hot water temperature and flow rate based on the subjects' votes and were composed of three parts. In the first part, single use of shower was assumed and the experiments were conducted in case of the fixed overhead spray head. The second part was intended for the regular bathing, and the proper condition for the handheld shower during body washing and the optimum temperature of the bathtub before and after taking shower were considered. The last part was aiming at evaluating reheating systems which have been commercially available in the recent automatic bath heating systems, anb three typical systems, that is, the forced circulation system, the semi-forced circulating system and the high temperature supply system, were chosen and the comfortable conditions in each cases were tested. According to the shower experiments, the hot water temperature of 40℃ at the flow rate of 12l/min within the fluctuation ranging ±1.5℃ for the temperature and ±1.5l/min for the flow rate appeared recommendable for the most popular spray head type, although the flow rate value may be reduced to some extent if soaking in the bath before or after taking shower is assumed. The experiments concerning the reheating systems suggested that the current reheating systems are not completely sufficiant and should be improved because reheating during taking a bath can be a source of discomfort.
