Nearly 400 have donated to Sprav Water's Kickstarter campaign but pledged only about a fourth of what the start-up needs at the halfway point of the drive.
No tools needed to install this smart meter behind a shower head. CLEVELAND -- Nearly 400 people had pledged almost $22,000 by Friday to help student-created Sprav Water, LLC, begin manufacturing high-tech household shower meters.
But that's after 15 days, the halfway point of the time Sprav has to raise $80,000 in seed money.
In an effort to re-ignite their campaign and attract more prospective donors, Sprav this week began offering a simpler version of the meter in exchange for a donation of just $20.
The Sprav Element will not have Bluetooth capability to connect to a smart phone or tablet so users can store data about past showers.
But like its fancier siblings, it will tell users when to get out of the shower by flashing a red light. And it will begin making a noise, or in the words of Sprav, "an audible cue."
Here's how Sprav founders -- Case engineering seniors Craig Lewis and C.J Valle and Andrew Schad, an industrial designer and Cleveland Institute of Art graduate - describe their breakthrough less-costly model:
"Sprav Element works by measuring the average length of user's showers and giving visual feedback via an LED light. When the user has reached 80% of their average shower time, the light turns red. If the shower continues past 150% of the average time, the meter will give an audio cue. Every time the shower is used, the average time is updated such that over time, users will be encouraged to take shorter showers."
Using national utility pricing data, the students figure that in a home equipped with an electric water heater, Sprav owners who cut just a minute off their average shower time will save $50 in electric, water and sewer bills.
Rather than seeking government grants or funding from Wall Street types, Sprav is using Kickstarter, an Internet-based fundraiser that relies on pledges from the public, a phenomenon known as "crowdsourcing."
Sprav's Kickstarter campaign has accepted as little as $1, but has sought higher donations by offering donors the first production models next spring for a pledge as low as $39 to as much as $59 for one with a "brushed nickel finish."
To view Sprav's campaign, go to www.kickstarter and put "Sprav" in the search box. Or click here.