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Do you realize that we are living in a world where you can get on an airliner and disembark cleaner than when you got on?

Video: Shower in A380 First Class

This just blows my mind.

How much water does the Emirates A380 carry in order to provide onboard showers?

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2 Answers 2

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570 litres, apparently:

To cater for the showers, the airline's 489-seat A380s are fitted with two optional auxiliary potable water tanks installed in the centre wingbox, which increases capacity from the standard 1,700 litres (450USgal) capacity in six tanks to 2,270 litres - ie around 2.3t.

That's assuming that the 570 litre increase is entirely allocated to the showers, which may not be literally true.

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In addition to Pondlife's answer, I am contributing some more details.

Airbus 380 has room (see page 250) for potable water tanks which can be added to existing on-board water capacity for showers etc.

As we know, the showers aren't available for everyone but only for first class, which is probably less than 5% of the total number of passengers, so the water usage is not tremendously huge.

Waster consumption and shower duration is also controlled. Franke makes the showers for Emirates and states:

Low water consumption of less than 5 litres per minute

When 75% of the allowed shower duration is consumed, it shuts down and you have to turn it on again for the remaining 75 seconds.

Here is a first hand account (including video) of a passenger enjoying the spa.

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    $\begingroup$ to conclude, 5 minutes at 5 liters per minute per 14 first class seats makes a required amount of 5*5*14 = 350 liters. Add something to have a spare and for the cleaning in-between-showers. (comment updated with correct figures) $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Dec 13, 2014 at 15:15
  • $\begingroup$ @Federico Wow. Fourteen people showering once each is equivalent to one person showering daily for two weeks. So each of us uses a third of a ton of water every two weeks just having showers. $\endgroup$
    – David Richerby
    Dec 13, 2014 at 19:42
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    $\begingroup$ @DavidRicherby assuming everyone makes showers that are 5 minutes long or less. $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Dec 14, 2014 at 14:06
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    $\begingroup$ @DavidRicherby And assuming that our usual landside showers have a similar water consumption. My flow-through heater has 18 kW and should be able to heat roughly 18 ltr/min, which would make me consume around 180 ltr. (and 3 kWh) on my usual 10-minute shower, which is more than a ton per week. I have heard that others bought a 24 kW heater, since their 18 kW model did not have enough power. That was a real WTF moment... $\endgroup$
    – Alexander
    Jul 30, 2015 at 13:58

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