Many homeowners open their water bill every month and sigh when they see how much they need to pay. Keeping an eye on the amount of water consumed is a great start to conserving water and lowering your monthly bill. Every plumbing fixture in your home can be targeted with a specific water saving strategies. Let’s take a look at each in turn and some interesting methods you can use to reduce your water usage.
The Kitchen Sink
Don’t scrub your pots and pans under a running tap to get them clean because this is hugely wasteful. Instead, soak your dishes in soapy hot water first to loosen debris and make them easier to clean.
Faucets can leak around the base, on the handles, and at the head, wasting a lot of water. Regularly inspect your faucets and replace any that develop a leak as required. Certain leaks may be very slow and hard to detect to take your time and look for evidence of drips or water deposits on dried surfaces.
Installing an aerator on every faucet is a great way to limit the flow of water. This will conserve your water usage with no loss of water pressure.
The Dishwasher
Only run your dishwasher when you have a full load of dishes and don’t overload the machine. If you run a half load, it is very wasteful in terms of both water and energy usage. If the dishwasher is overloaded the dishes will not be cleaned correctly and they may have to be rewashed.
A modern Energy Star dishwasher will be approximately 15% more water efficient compared to an older machine. They will also use less energy and run quieter so making a switch may be the right choice for your home.
The Washing Machine
When you do your laundry make an effort to measure the size of your load accurately and pick the correct load size. When you choose the wrong load size, the clothes may not be washed correctly, and you may waste water. A newer energy efficient washing machine may have a sensor installed that can work this out for you automatically.
Speaking of modern washing machines, a newer Energy Star model could use almost 40% less water. These machines can also spin clothes at a higher speed, and this will significantly reduce drying times.
If you can wash using the cold setting, you will use far less energy as there is no need to heat the water up to washing temperature. Obviously, this will be less effective for some laundry tasks and is best suited to delicate items or darker colored fabrics. Always check the washing instructions for the optimal washing settings for each item.
Taking these steps for your kitchen sink, dishwasher and washing machine, will undoubtedly help to reduce your water bill significantly. This is good news for your household finances, and it helps the environment at the same time. Always get your new fixtures
professionally installed by a local certified plumber and have any leaks repaired quickly.
By Giovanni Longo President Flood Brothers Plumbing
Giovanni Longo is a 3rd generation master plumber who has been practicing his craft and trade in the greater Los Angeles area for well over a decade and a half. A plumbing and hydraulics-engineering innovator, Giovanni’s particular world-class expertise focuses on dealing with challenging sewer system designs as well as resolving complex commercial and residential draining issues. As a certified Flood Mitigation expert, he is also well versed in a wide variety of water damage and remediation solution.
