1 · Outer copper tube

A vertical copper tube about the length of a riser pipe. Warm shower waste water flows down the inside, hugging the wall (gravity makes a thin film). The whole outside of this tube becomes warm as the waste passes.

2 · Inner copper coil

A thin copper coil is wrapped around the outside of the main tube in a tight spiral. Cold mains water flows up through this coil, picking up heat from the warm waste water inside. The cold water comes out about 17°C warmer than it went in.

3 · Counter-flow design

The key to high efficiency. Waste water flows down, cold water flows up — in opposite directions. This counter-flow arrangement extracts up to 70% of the available heat. Most cheaper drain-water heat-recovery units use simpler designs and only recover 30–50%.

4 · Standard plumbing connections

Top and bottom: 22 mm copper push-fit or compression fittings for the cold-water in and pre-warmed out. Side: 40 mm waste connection to the shower trap. No special pipework or fittings — uses standard UK plumbing parts.

5 · No moving parts

Nothing inside moves. No pumps, no valves, no electronics, no controls. Heat transfer is purely by conduction through the copper. No power needed. Nothing to break, nothing to maintain.

6 · Self-cleaning

The shower waste flow itself keeps the inside of the tube clean. No filter to change, no descaling needed. The unit operates the same on day 1 and day 7,300 (20 years).

7 · Mounting brackets

Heavy-duty steel brackets fix the unit to the wall in the vertical run between the shower waste and the soil stack. Needs about 1.5 m of vertical drain pipe height to work properly.

8 · CleverBloom can help

First-fix install is much simpler than retrofit — we’ll advise during the design phase whether your floor plan suits a Showersave (vertical drain run available) or whether a Recoup Easyfit is better.

5-year manufacturer warranty

Q-Blue B.V. (the manufacturer) warrants the unit for 5 years against defects. Real-world product life is far longer — copper plumbing typically lasts decades when fitted correctly.

No annual service

No filters, no electronics, no pumps to wear out. The only thing that can go wrong is a leak at one of the four connections, which would be obvious immediately during install testing.

Hidden, no homeowner action

Once installed, the unit lives in the floor void or riser cupboard. Homeowners never need to interact with it. It’s easy to forget it’s there — until the water bills come in.

No legionella risk

The cold and waste streams never mix — they are separated by a copper wall. Cold mains water passes through quickly with no stagnation, so no legionella risk. WRAS-approved (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme).

No water-quality issues

Showersave preheats your incoming cold water using a separate copper pipe — the water you shower in is fresh mains water, just warmer. No contamination, no taste, no smell.

UK technical support

UK distribution and technical support is from BPD Ltd, Unit 21 Avondale Business Park, Ballyclare BT39 9AU. Phone +44 28 9334 4488. CleverBloom handles design specification and project coordination.