“Affordable Plumbing”? How to Save Water ….
Most people are always looking for ways to save money! How can you save water and thereby save money this year? One way to save money in your household is by conserving your water usage. This can be done in many ways without impacting your lifestyle. One way to reduce water usage in your household is to upgrade to energy-efficient and low flow appliances, faucets, toilets, and shower heads. Most of you might not agree with the low flow shower head idea, but you might be surprised. If you try using a low flow shower head, and you don’t like it, you can always go back to your original shower head. It’s worth a shot, right? How else can you save water?
Low Flow Plumbing Changes to Save Water
Low flow toilets alone can save up to 5+ gallons of water per flush when compared to your existing standard toilet. An American Water Works Association Research Foundation study indicates that the average person flushes a toilet 5 times per day. That means an average household of four most likely flushes the toilet about 20 times a day which means you could be saving up to 100 gallons of water per day, or about 3,000 gallons per month!
While the average price of water in the United States is a bargain at about $1.50 for 1,000 gallons, this additional $4 to $5 per month can add up, especially when combined with low flow faucets and low flow showers. For an average faucet, water comes out at a rate of 2.5 gallons per minute. And older shower heads can use as much as 5 gallons per minute. Newer low flow faucets and low flow shower heads can add up to substantial savings.
Also, many municipalities charge sewer rates based on your water usage as well; reduce your water usage and you also reduce your sewage bill.
Behaviors You Can Change to Save Water
Another way to save water is to simply look for those easy ways to save.
- Inspect for faucet, pipe, and toilet leaks on a regular basis, and fix any leaks as soon as you find them. Proudfoot can help with this. A pinhole-sized leak in a water pipe wastes 1,500 to 2,000 gallons of water (or more) each day.
- Take shorter showers.
- Turn off the taps when you’re washing your hands, brushing your teeth or washing dishes.
- Run the dishwasher only when it’s full.
- Use the right water settings for small, medium, and large laundry loads.
Along those lines, other ways to save water when doing your laundry are below:
First
Look for an ENERGY STAR washer the next time you’re in the market for a new one. According to ENERGY STAR, having a certified washer can save you $490 over the lifetime of an ENERGY STAR certified clothes washer. While that may not seem like a lot of money, again, every little bit helps.
Second
Another to save water is to use cold water when you’re washing clothes. Using hot water takes more energy to heat the water. You might want to still use hot water when you’re washing white clothes, but when you’re washing loads of dark or colored clothes, you won’t notice a difference. Using cold water in laundry loads could extend the lifetime of your clothes as well.
Third
Further more, one last way to save water is to make sure you always do a full load of laundry. Even if your washer is newer and has a built-in sensor to automate the filling of loads only partially with water, it still must run through a whole washing cycle. This means that while it is saving water with the partially water-filled load, you’re still running the washing machine for just as much time as if you had washed a full load. You’ll also likely still have another load of laundry to do later, which means just having to run it again anyway. It’s both easier for you and more efficient to wash full loads, and it saves more money in the long run.
By making these small changes to your laundry routine, you can save more on your utility bills.
Last Minute Facts
To sum up, take a look at some of the following facts on water usage.
- Leaving the water running while you brush your teeth can consume 3+ gallons of water each time that you could be saving.
- Running only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine can save 75-200 gallons of water per week.
- Water saving shower heads can save up to 1,000 gallons of water each month.
- A leaky faucet can waste 7+ gallons of water each day.
All is all when you add up all the water savings, it can certainly make a significant “dent” in helping to reduce your utility bills.
Need Help to Replace Old Plumbing or Fixing a Leak?
For further tips on plumbing, please give us a call at (412 461 2198) or simply contact us. We’ll come out and take a look at things for you. And we’ll have the repair or replacement done quickly and with as little interference to your daily life as possible! As always, we’re more than happy to make recommendations. And we would be glad to offer our services and to help you with any of your plumbing problems!
Image Credit – Adobe Stock
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References:
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Simple-Dollar/2010/0420/Do-You-Really-Save-Money-By-Not-Always-Flushing
www.affordableplumbingaz.com/learn-world-water-day-march-22/
www.watercalculator.org/
