Three Types Of Water-Saving Devices To Install In Your Home
In an average household, an individual will use between 80 and 100 gallons of water every single day between faucets, showers, toilets, and appliances. With this in mind, trying to save water can save you plenty of money through the year, and there are several ways you can cut out a few gallons from your daily use here and there. Here are three types of devices you can have installed to reduce your water use.
Faucet and Shower Heads
There are several devices available for most of the fixtures in your bathrooms and kitchens. The first, commonly installed on faucets, is an aerator. This regulates the flow of water by mixing it with air rather than letting a solid stream of water flow from the faucet, and gives water a cloudy or bubbly look. Despite reducing the amount of water coming out of the faucet, these devices cause little to no change in water pressure. Aerators are pretty cheap and can be installed on most existing faucets, so they're a worthwhile investment for every faucet in your home.
You can also have more efficient shower heads installed; these generally require replacing the entire shower head rather than adding a simple new part. Considering how much water is used during a shower, this is worth the purchase as well. Water-conserving replacements can save you up to half your usual water use depending on the age of your old showerhead, which can amount to savings of over a hundred dollars a year, and a plumber can have them installed in only a short time.
Low-Flow Toilets
Apart from showers, toilets are another major source of water use in your home. Toilets can use several gallons of water per flush, even if you don't have a very old toilet. Low-flow toilets use far less water than standard toilets, many cutting water use down to just over a gallon per flush. Replacing your old toilets with these low-flow models will be an investment that pays for itself long before you find yourself replacing toilets again.
Still, if replacing toilets isn't within your budget, you can use fill cycle diverters on your current toilets. This won't give you quite the difference a low-flow toilet will, but will still cut about half a gallon off each flush, which is still significant in its own right. These are also much cheaper than all-new toilets and are also less expensive to have installed.
High-Efficiency Appliances
Outside your bathrooms and sinks, plenty of appliances use water, and most have water-efficient alternatives. Two major examples are your washing machine and dishwasher. Water-efficient appliances like these will save you several gallons of water per use, whether by simply using less water than standard models or using sensing technology to determine how much water is necessary for each load.
Replacing an appliance can be a hefty up-front purchase, so if you opt to do something like this, make sure it's installed by a professional and that all of your peripheral components are checked at the same time, such as any hoses or fittings that may need to be replaced. Contact a plumber near you in order to learn more.
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