Project Detail

INCLUDE CONTENT		PRINT OPTIONS
Summary Step by Step	User Comments Select Comments	Print Images	« Return

INCLUDE CONTENT		PRINT OPTIONS
User Comments		Print Images
Select Comments

Lower Your Water Bill by Conserving Water

Replace your old water-wasting appliances with ones that have higher water efficiency.

Save money on water use by stopping plumbing leaks first. Then move on to replace low cost items like showerheads and toilets with lower water use types. And choose a front load clothes washer when your old washer is worn out.

By the DIY experts of The Family Handyman Magazine:July / August 2010

Step 1: Fix plumbing leaks

1 of 1

Preventative toilet maintenance keeps water bills low

Replace the flapper and beveled washer every year to keep your toilet leak-free.

If you’ve noticed that your water bill has been steadily climbing, it may be time to start thinking about ways to save and conserve water. However, buying appliances that are more water efficient is one of the last places to start cutting water usage. The No. 1 cause of a rising water/sewer bill is a leak somewhere in the house (10 percent of all homes have a leak of at least 90 gallons per day). And the No. 1 culprit is a running toilet. Toilet parts usually start leaking slowly and get worse over time. So by the time you notice it, months may have passed. When you consider that a leaking toilet can cost you almost $45 per month for water and sewer, it makes sense to fix any leaky toilets in your house before anything else.

Leaking flappers and deteriorated beveled washers are the most common failure points. The parts are cheap (less than $5), so the payback is enormous. Replace them all annually to eliminate a very real water-wasting potential leak.

Step 2: Replace the toilet

Even if your toilet isn’t leaking, it’s probably still wasting water. Consider these water-wasting facts: If your house was built before 1980, the original toilet is wasting $170 every year. If it’s newer (1980–1994), it’s wasting $99 a year. A new WaterSense–rated toilet costs as little as $100. So that’s the fixture to replace first because the payback is huge! Some utilities are even offering rebates to sweeten the deal. Visit http://epa.gov/watersense/rebate_finder_saving_money_water.html to find rebates in your area.

Step 3: Install water-saving showerheads

1 of 1

Get a vigorous shower with less water

Twist off your old water-wasting showerhead and spin on a super-efficient 1.5 gpm model. It sucks air into the head to build volume and pressure.

Next on the fast payback list is a water-saving showerhead. Many older (pre-1992) showerheads had a flow rate of as much as 5.5 gallons per minute. A WaterSense–rated head must use no more than 2.0 gpm. But you can buy super-efficient showerheads that provide a vigorous shower using only 1.5 gpm. The Oxygenics 630-XLF15 is one model (about $26 from ). The showerhead sucks in air from around the spray nozzle and uses it to pressurize the shower stream. The water and energy savings make this a one-month payback.

Step 4: Buy a front-loading clothes washer

I purposely left out new front-loading clothes washers, even though they use half the water of older top-loaders. They’re a great choice if you’re in the market for a new washer. But don’t buy a new efficient washer until you’ve replaced your toilets and showerheads. The payback on a front-loading washer is a lengthy 5.8 years.

Water meter

Photo courtesy of assuredautomation.com

Money-Saving Tip: Reduce Sewer Charges

Few know this, but you pay twice for water—once when it enters your house and again when it goes down the sewer. The water meter doesn’t know that the water you use for irrigating never goes down the sewer. Ask your water/sewer utility if it has a “deduct” program for lawn sprinkling. If so, you can track the amount of water you use for irrigation and deduct that volume from your sewer bill. You’ll still have to pay for the water. But since it doesn’t go down the drain, it can save you a bundle on the sewer portion of the bill. Of course, you’ll have to replumb your hose bibs and water sprinkler system through a separate meter to prove your deduction. Water meters are a bit of work to install, but they’re cheap (the meter shown, the WM75, costs about $77 at assuredautomation.com).

Tools & Materials List

Required Tools for this Project

Have the necessary tools for this DIY project lined up before you start—you’ll save time and frustration.

Required Materials for this Project

Avoid last-minute shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of time. Here's a list.


	« Return