PHAM NEWS | NOVEMBER 2026 Taps & Showers


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Why hot water demand should be recognised in SAP


A new report from Triton Showers concludes that hot water could account for more than half of the energy demand in future homes, yet opportunities to reduce household water consumption continue to be overlooked.


P


roperties built under the Future Homes Standard (FHS) could meet regulatory requirements without being fully optimised for real-world water and energy


consumption, according to a UK shower manufacturer Triton Showers. The company is urging the government and industry to place greater emphasis on reducing hot water demand, claiming that current assessment methods focus heavily on how efficiently hot water is generated rather than how much is actually used. The warning comes as the company’s


latest research reveals a disconnect between regulatory requirements and actual building performance. The report, ‘Recognising Domestic Hot


Water Demand Reduction in SAP 10.3’, suggests that as homes become better insulated, hot water will account for a much larger proportion of domestic energy demand – more than half of household energy demand in FHS-compliant homes, compared with 35% previously. Much of the policy debate, however, continues to focus on heating systems, building fabric and onsite generation, even though space-


heating demand could drop from around 58% to 41% as building fabric improves. It also highlights that showers and baths


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are responsible for more than half (55%) of domestic hot water demand, making them one of the most significant energy consumers in the home. Yet current Standard Assessment


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Procedure (SAP) 10.3 calculations may enable developers to meet FHS targets through a combination of heat pumps, solar panels and batteries, even where little effort has been made to reduce underlying hot water demand.


Reducing demand Paul Ravnbo-West, market development manager at Triton, comments: “The Future Homes Standard is a hugely important step forward for the industry, and we fully support its ambition to deliver lower-carbon homes. Yet there is a growing risk that we’re focusing too much on how efficiently hot water is heated and not enough on how much hot water homes actually need in the first place. “If we are serious about reducing bills


and improving resource efficiency, we need compliance frameworks that recognise technologies capable of eliminating demand at source, rather than simply producing hot water more efficiently.” Paul also highlights an area of SAP 10.3


that requires greater attention. “SAP is primarily an energy assessment


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tool and does not account for the financial cost of mains water supply or wastewater


disposal. This omission is becoming increasingly significant as water bills rise. In some cases, it can even represent as much as, or more than, the energy cost of providing a shower. “By overlooking these costs, SAP


does not provide homeowners with a complete picture of the potential running costs associated with different water technologies. Greater recognition of hot water demand alongside energy demand would provide a more holistic assessment of household resource use and running costs.”


Potential savings As part of its research, Triton has compared a conventional mixer shower supplied by a heat pump and hot water cylinder with a high-efficiency shower system designed to work with wastewater heat recovery technology. The latter approach cut: • Annual shower-related energy use


from 649 kWh to 421 kWh • Annual water use from 43,796 litres


to 25,566 litres • Carbon emissions from 109 kgCO2e


to 69 kgCO2e • Combined annual water and energy


costs from £357 to £220 The study also found that a typical


mixer shower operating at the minimum flow rate recognised by SAP uses around 60 litres of water during a seven-and-a- half-minute shower. By comparison, the high-efficiency shower used just 35 litres over the same duration.


Further reading Triton has identified several opportunities that would help SAP 10.3 and the future Home Energy Model (HEM) to better recognise domestic hot water demand-reduction technologies. To read the research in full, use the online reader link below. ◼ phamnews.co.uk/1126/48


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