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The Invigorator - Alternating Hot/Cold Shower

For those looking for a new shower experience or just have a hard time getting going in the mornings.
  (+12)(+12)
(+12)
  [vote for,
against]

The usual shower configuration consists of a Hot tap and a Cold tap which allow the user to cause "X" amount of hot water and "Y" amount of cold water per second to be blended together to provide warm water. Functional, but oh so banal.

In the 70s pulsating shower heads enlivened up the shower scene considerably but it has been 40+ years since then for heaven's sake. Time for some innovation then.

My latest invention, "The Invigorator" (thanks [doc rem]) still allows the user to dial up their preferred amounts of "X" and "Y" amounts of hot and cold water over a given time - but just doesn't deliver them necessarily at the same instant. There is a third dial which sets the interval time between the alternating Hot and Cold delivery times, not unlike the similar function found on intermittent windshield wiper controls. A very fast interval time would be mostly indistinguishable from the current blended warm water method, but the slowest interval would provide a very different experience indeed. There would need to be some medical research done to eliminate the possibility of actual scalding - but most people would avoid the extreme Scald/Freeze end of the dial anyway.

Now, if you are having trouble becoming fully awake or are just seeking a new showering sensation, set the interval time as slow as you can stand and you're ready to go. This option would in no way interfere with the conventional use of the showers on normal days or for those traditionalists in the family.

AusCan531, Sep 16 2012

Annealing http://en.wikipedia...ng_%28metallurgy%29
Metal gets hot, metal gets cold, metal get hot... [neutrinos_shadow, Sep 17 2012]

[link]






       This is a really neat idea. Call it "the Invigorator" or something.
doctorremulac3, Sep 16 2012
  

       This form of Macho ism is already in situ in our house. I have strong suspicions but no proof. The memsahib takes hedonistic delight in using water faucets when I am in the shower.
Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 16 2012
  

       Some sort of replaceable cam arrangement perhaps: different programs you could drop in for different occasions, and occasional shots of too hot and too cold to liven things up.
FlyingToaster, Sep 16 2012
  

       Why not go the whole hog and provide a built in self flagellation birch twig device
Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 16 2012
  

       Excellent, it could be used to study repetive penis shrinkage as well.
leinypoo13, Sep 16 2012
  

       //possibility of actual scalding//   

       Just have the shower switch (at chosen intervals and for chosen durations) from the user's temperature setting to pure cold water.   

       [+]
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 16 2012
  

       It's a natural for high-tech control: add it in as an app for the bathroom mirror touchscreen (which already has a built in TV of course) ... [+] anyways.
FlyingToaster, Sep 16 2012
  

       For the ultimate wake-up call, wirelessly synch the Invigorator Shower's scald/freeze interval to the pulse frequency cycle of a 9v portable TENS unit.
Alterother, Sep 16 2012
  

       I used to have one of these but recently had it replaced with a regular shower that always provides exactly the right temperature, with a simple on button, I have never looked back.   

       Oh and [LSK] presumably the self flagellation devices would need a new name.   

       I would consider a simple "activity swimming pool" variation on this, in which a separate tap of cold water fills a tipping bucket, with a max capacity, and while you have a pretty good idea of when its going to happen you are never quite sure, and may even be tempted to glance up at it disconcertingly during your shower.
PainOCommonSense, Sep 17 2012
  

       [+] for the cold tipping bucket. Especially good when guests come to stay the night.
pocmloc, Sep 17 2012
  

       Yes that will teach them to use up all the Strawberry Jam at breakfast ! And they will be so quick, that there may even be some warm water left for the hosts (inbetween the invigorator of course)
PainOCommonSense, Sep 17 2012
  

       Basically, you're annealing yourself <linky>.
neutrinos_shadow, Sep 17 2012
  

       //Yes, that will teach them to eat all the strawberry jam at breakfast.// I was admonished for placing jam on Officer's breakfast tables. 'It's bloody uncivilized. shouted the Messing Officer. Only Yorkshire men take jam at breakfast." He probably ate HP sauce with his toast. Like wot I does.
Lesser Spotted Kiwi, Sep 18 2012
  

       I don't get this. Why is this good? Aren't you just artificially producing the effect of an infuriating plumbing malfunction? I HATE cold showers. I HATE being scalded immediately afterwards. Although I agree, this is likely to wake you up, I also don't want to be woken up in a blood-thirsty rage. Nay, a naked blood-thirsty rage.   

       Vote withheld for now, despite imagining myself in a crippling sodden fury.
theleopard, Sep 18 2012
  

       I don't like malfunctioning showers either [theleopard]. It is all a question of degrees (pun intended).   

       Imagine if the cycle time was very quick - there would be no discernible difference from having a normal, boring 'monotemp' shower. But as you sloooowly adjusted the cycle time to longer and longer intervals, your body would start to notice the difference but you would simply stop adjusting it before reaching the point of discomfort. "Invigoration without Infuriation"*. (*possible company slogan?)   

       If you've had those nasty fluctuating temperature showers, which you obviously have had, it briefly feels pretty darn nice when the temp goes from too hot to cold or from too cold back to hot - as long as it doesn't go too far or for too long of course. I certainly don't envisage cycle times greater than 1 second but mostly considerably quicker.   

       And who knows, there are masochists out there who might LIKE longer cycles - the same as some people like to jump from a steaming sauna into the snow or a frozen lake. That extreme just isn't for everybody, including me, but it is a market. Most of us would just adjust the cycle time to be enough to "put the body on alert without causing crippling, sodden fury"*. (*another possible company slogan?)
AusCan531, Sep 18 2012
  

       Reminds me of the Eddie Izzard sketch about needing to be a safe cracker to operate a shower. "Just a little bit to the left arrrgghh boiling hot, just a little bit to the right brrrrarrr icy cold."
PainOCommonSense, Sep 18 2012
  

       //Reminds me of the Eddie Izzard sketch//   

       "One nano-millimetre between fantastically hot!... And fuckin' freezing."   

       Fair enough [Aus], still not convinced mind, but neither am I against it so gonna stay neutral [ ]
theleopard, Sep 18 2012
  

       So, we will mark you down as lukewarm then.
AusCan531, Sep 18 2012
  

       Invigoratingly lukewarm.
theleopard, Sep 18 2012
  

       I used to drop the locker key into a plunge pool at a hotel before going to the sauna. This forced me to have to jump straight in head down into the cold water to get the key to get changed. (yes I am aware of the security risk but there was never much in the locker other than dry clothes)   

       So put me down for the Scald/Freeze setting.
PainOCommonSense, Sep 18 2012
  

       Challenge accepted.
rcarty, Sep 19 2012
  

       Just flush a toilet. Works every time.
RayfordSteele, Dec 10 2021
  
      
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