When you’re losing water in your home, you’re also losing money. But you don’t have to keep in your old habits. With these six water-saving tips, you can save on your water bills and feel better about your water usage footprint.
Our friendly plumbers at Plumbing by Jake discuss some of the most effective ways to save water in your home. Our plumbers are experienced in a variety of plumbing issues. If you’re experiencing a plumbing problem that’s causing you to pay more than you should for your water bill, we can help.
Fix Leaks in Your Home
A leaky faucet, toilet, water heater, or any home appliance can cause you to waste water in your home without even knowing it. Even the smallest leak can cost you a significant amount of money.
If you discover a leak in your home, it’s best to try to contain it or stop it if you can. If you are not able to, you should call a plumber. One of our friendly plumbing experts can get to your home quickly and fix the leak before it costs you any more money.
Get a Home Water Audit
If you look at your water bill and see that it seems to have slowly but surely increased over the past few months, a home water audit can help. A home water audit assesses how much water you use in your home monthly. A home water audit looks at sources of water such as:
- Faucets
- Toilets
- Showers
- Outdoor hoses
After your home water audit is complete, you’ll get the results, and you’ll be able to see what appliances or activities require the largest amount of water. From the report, you’ll be able to identify what areas of your home you can cut down on in water usage. By doing this, you’ll be saving gallons of water, so you don’t have to spend so much on your monthly water bill.
Turn Off the Faucet When You’re Not Using It
Growing up, your parents probably told you to turn off the faucet when you don’t need it, and they were right. Turning the water off when you’re doing a task that requires water but doesn’t need it to run continuously, can help conserve gallons of water. This practice can apply to many activities such as:
- Brushing your teeth
- Washing dishes by hand
- Shaving your face
Just turning off the water for a few seconds while brushing your teeth or washing dishes can help you save gallons of water and hundreds of dollars per year. When you see the reduction in your water usage and bill, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start turning off the faucet sooner.
Only Wash Full Loads of Laundry and Dishes
You can save thousands of gallons of water by only washing full loads of laundry in the washing machine and only running a full dishwasher. Even though a washing machine uses the same amount of water no matter the quantity of clothes, you’ll be doing fewer loads when you have a full load of laundry. In contrast, if you just wash your swimsuit and towel because you had a day at the pool, you’re doing an extra load of laundry.
When it comes to doing dishes, using the dishwasher is always more energy-efficient and saves water. Even though it may seem that the dishwasher uses many gallons of water, hand washing dishes actually uses more. Let’s say you can’t get a particular food stain off of a plate; you may scold it with hot water for a minute or two.
By having the faucet running for those two minutes means you’ve already wasted more water than a dishwasher would have. It’s best to load the dishwasher fully and let the soap work at that tough food stain instead.
Install a Water-Saving Showerhead
When you shower, you can use upward of 75 gallons of water! This is because the average showerhead uses 2.5 gallons of water per minute. However, there is a way to combat using many gallons but still maintain your shower time: a water-saving showerhead.
By installing a water-saving showerhead, you can save gallons of water when you shower. Water-saving showerheads work by combining water and air together to restrict the amount of water that is pushed out of the holes in the showerhead. And don’t worry, you won’t be losing water pressure when you make the switch.
The EPA also recommends searching for a showerhead that has the WaterSense label on its package. The WaterSense label guarantees that the showerhead does not use more than two gallons of water per minute, so you are saving water every time you shower.
Use a Rain Barrel
Rain barrels are a great way to save water and reduce your water bill. Rainwater barrels can collect water when it rains, and you can use the collected water for indoor plants or household cleaning.
Unlike other water-saving methods, you aren’t using any additional water in your home when collecting rainwater because it’s from the earth. Instead of using the hose to fill up a garden watering can, you can use the water from the rain bucket.
Get in Touch With One of Our Plumbers to Start Saving Water
We hope you find these water-saving tips helpful and use them to your advantage. If you have any questions or need help installing water-saving appliances in your home, our plumbers here at Plumbing by Jake are ready to help 24/7, and we’ll be on time.
If you need any installation assistance or would like to enroll in our plumbing maintenance plan, give us a call or schedule an appointment. One of our experienced plumbing professionals will arrive at your home at the scheduled time to perform your maintenance. We serve Kingman, Bullhead City, Golden Valley, Lake Havasu, and surrounding areas of Arizona.
