All about the Potamoi
Why?
We had the idea in 2015 thanks to our son who, perhaps like lots of teenagers, would stay up to 20 minutes in the shower.
Talking with friends and colleagues, we realised that other people around us were going through the same thing. After using a lot of patience and pedagogy to try to convince him to take shorter showers, we decided to be a little more radical and buy a device that would cut off the water. What we were looking for didn’t exist, so we thought that something that could control water consumption would be very useful to everyone and that’s how the adventure began.
Where does the name come from?
In Greek Mythology the Potamoi are the river gods personifying rivers and running water. They are the sons of the Ocean Titans and Tethys. They are also the brothers of the Oceanids.
The other reason we chose that name is that in French Potamoi (pote à moi) means ‘a pal of mine’.
How does it work?
The Potamoi is a device that is installed on the shower hose between the mixer tap and the shower head and fixed to the wall thanks to a simple but robust adhesive velcro. During the shower the screen displays the quantity of water still available. The Potamoi will turn off the water (yes, it’s a bit dramatic!) as soon as the initially programmed volume is reached. So that another shower cannot be taken immediately after the end of the first, a waiting time of 3 minutes is programmed in. After this time, water will be available again for another shower. Note that all water quantity and time parameters are adjustable.
Who is the Potamoi for?
- For anyone who is aware that water has become a scarce, precious resource and that it must be saved.
- For families with children and especially with teenagers who are not always aware of the value of water.
- For tourist accommodation : hotels, cottages, guest houses, AirBnB hosts, … and sports centres: gyms, sports halls, …
- It can also be mounted in motorhomes, tiny houses, mobile homes, boats (sail boats, canal boats, …) and wherever water management and regulation is important.
The advantages of the Potamoi
saves water and energy
You will have already saved the purchase price in less than a year in most cases
easy to install
no nails, no screws, no electricity, no plumbing
educational tool
it empowers in a playful way
re-set easily and modular
your guests will not be deprived of hot water
self-sufficient in energy
no need for electricity or batteries
A patented and award-winning solution
We filed the patent application in 2015 and it was granted in 2019. With this patent, we participated in the 2021 Concours Lépine Inventors’ competition in Paris and we obtained a silver medal. The 10 days of the Lépine contest were unforgettable. There were more than 300 inventors there and for each invention, we had the inventor and the story behind the invention. It was great! For 10 days we presented the Potamoi (which at the time was called Smart Green Shower) at least 100 times a day. The interest shown by visitors definitely motivated us to take the plunge and embark on the next steps, being the industrialisation and commercialisation of the device.
Distribution of water consumption
in a home in France
Source : www.cieau.com
Do you know how much drinkable water do you use during a shower?
An average shower in France is between 4 and 5 minutes and uses 60 to 80 liters of water. A standard shower head delivers between 12 and 20 litres of water per minute. If each user reduced their daily water usage by 30 to 40 litres per shower, the savings would be 11,000 to 14,500 litres of hot water, per year and per person ! That’s a saving of €110 to €150/person/year in France. By multiplying this number by the number of people in the household, you can estimate the savings they could make.
Who are we?
Christian
Sarah
Parents of 3 children, we live in the south west of France.
Christian is native to the High Pyrenees. Sarah, originally from the south west of England, moved to France in 1991.
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