Home owners are often unaware of how much money they can lose through their plumbing systems not working efficiently or by being outdated. We often forget that in many cases your plumbing and water systems can not only produce excessive consumption but also increase your electric and gas bill. This article will offer some tips on what you can look at to decide if your system is running efficiently and cost effectively for other utilities that it may depend on. If you water and power bills are on the high side it is recommended that you read this article to learn more.
You should always check your toilet for leaks of any size. Even minor leaks due to a flapper seating improperly will consume countless gallons of water during the day. This is one of the prime places to check for efficiency. The fact is that we often hear a leak, jiggle the handle and continue with our day. The toilet clearly has an issue that needs to be addressed as several gallons of water can be wasted from this issue. Repair kits are roughly 10 dollars, which is far less than the extra costs of increased water consumption that the water company will slap in your next bill. If you are saying to yourself you have a well, that type of system runs off of power and will run more often based on a leaking toilet thus handing you a higher electric bill at the end of the month.
One way to reduce your monthly expenses is by changing your shower heads. First off, many people have shower heads that drip when turned off losing a lot of water throughout the day. This means an internal gasket or washer is no longer functional and the head should be replaced as most are not designed for the home owner to repair. Another way to save money is by going with a low flow shower head. Most of our water waste is during bathing times and this will clearly reduce the amount of water consumed.
Most toilets today are designed to reduce water waste as the amount used per flush was reduced greatly many years ago. You can still take it one step further by addling a low consumption system in the tank. This will allow you to use less water during flushing and tank refill.
If you have a lawn watering system you need to make sure it is set up on a timer. This ensures less water usage as on/off times are more regulated. This is necessary at all times as we simply forget to move them around in exact periods of time, often let them run longer than necessary and many times forget to turn them off at all.
The key to reducing the risk of water consumption is simply realizing that when we see a problem, we need to address it. Where plumbing is concerned, a drip of water can add 10 to 20 dollars to a water bill in the course of a month and we seldom see it that way. In most cases, you can make the changes necessary for only a few dollars out of pocket and less than 15 minutes of time which is why maintaining your plumbing system is a must for every home owner.