Plumbing

Water Conservation

I know we have all heard it before, if you conserve you can save. Let’s discus simple ways to conserve. The first and most important is your toilets, check and make sure that they are 1.6 gal/flush or less. This is the industry standard now. If you have had your toilet replaced within the last 3 years you probably have a 1.6 gal/flush toilet already. If you have not had a plumber out to check on your plumbing in a while you might want to call one. The old toilets flushed 6 gallons of water that is a huge waste of your money, and in the long run you will be saving money by getting your toilet replaced.

The second water saving tip, check all your faucet to insure that they restrict the flow out of the spout. This is something simple, take off the aerator and make sure that there is a small plastic insert in it. That small plastic insert will be a disk usually white and have a small gage hole in it.

The third is doing the same to your show heads. This is a little more complicated to explain simply because every brand has a different limiter in it. First look and see if the head says any kind of flow rate on it. If there is no flow rate you may have to take the shower head off and check if there is the same plastic insert that is in faucets in your shower head. If you can’t find one either call a plumber to check it out or change your shower head.

There is also another way to reuse the water out of some of your fixtures. This will require you to hire a plumber and alter your water system to include gray water. This system will use the water from your washing machine, sinks excluding your kitchen, and bath water to flush your toilet. This is the best ways to reduce your water consumption. This system will be implemented in the near future simply because of how much water could be conserved.

The first step though is make sure you update your old 6 gal/flush toilets to the new 1.6 toilets. They are just as good at eliminating waste as the old ones and save you money. You can find decent toilets for around $100, don’t forget the wax ring, toilet seat, and the water supply tube.