The Great Use Less Water Hunt

gromituk

Ken68 wrote:

Plus save water, as Lavender, use a bowl for personal washing and for the dishes, using filtered (then boiled) rainwater.

I don't think boiling water to wash with is a good idea. You have to raise the temperature to 100 degrees when you only need it at 50 degrees or so, which wastes an awful lot of energy.

lavender

I too am now on soLow with Anglian water and now my son has left I expect my water bill to plummet. He would run the mains heated shower for ages to get it hot while he was in his bedroom. When I shower I find it takes less than a bucketful of clean water before it is hot which of course I recycle and then I put the plug in to use the rest in the loo.
Often during the day I rinse my hands and realised that I would naturally go for the hot tap but never wait for the hot water to come through which is daft so now I use the cold tap as it is never that cold and I am not wasting water that was previously heated so I save electricity too. Now my son has gone I am not putting on the immersion heater (*Good Energy from wind turbines) unless needed but using kettles. After living in Ecuador with poor people I realised that you don't usually need hot water or washing up liquid to wash up unless things are greasy. The hand hot water will not exactly kill many bugs and washing up liquid is a con we have been indoctrinated into buying.
*Good Energy is a not the cheapest but what is the real long term cost of cheaper fossil fuel energy? :j

lavender

Gorgeous_George wrote:

"I think the answer is for water bills to be based on usage".

That is exactly what we have on SoLow with a water meter where we don't have a standing charge but pay a little more per litre. With all my 4 sons gone now I shall be rolling in money saved! :j :j :j :j

lavender

Yes Wales has lots of rain but the clouds have run out of water by the time they reach here in Norfolk, a mixed blessing!
Good for growing lavender though: Norfolk Lavender

Ken68

gromituk wrote:

I don't think boiling water to wash with is a good idea. You have to raise the temperature to 100 degrees when you only need it at 50 degrees or so, which wastes an awful lot of energy.

Good point, Grom...will half boil it...and add cold filtered rainwater anyway, but whether enough to wash in. Every little helps.

iainbs

Does a power shower use more or less water than a bath.
Use the KISS principle. Have a normal bath with as much water as you would usually use. When finished measure the depth of the water.
Have a power shower or even an ordinary shower with the bath plug in place and then when finished your normal shower measure the depth of water.
If they are the same use the one you prefer, if the bath water is deeper than the shower water and you want to reduce your water use.
Use the shower.
But remember don't change the bath between tests.

George_Bray

I installed a new loo recently and failed to get the cistern to flush properly. It has two buttons, for either a low volume or full cistern flush, in a design attempt to save water. But neither work. The flush doesn't 'hold'.

This turned out to be good news, so I would not now want the cistern 'repaired' or set up to work 'properly'. Instead I just hold one button down for a split second when water flows for as long as I want it to, e.g. anything from 1 pint up to the full cistern of several litres. For most cases, a pint or so seems adequate.

Tip: disable your cistern for full manual control.

Regards
George

Mikeyorks

Gorgeous_George wrote:

My local pub has had a dripping tap (about 2 drips per second) for at least 4 years. The landlord ignores my gentle hints. I guess he's not metered.
GG

It probably goes straight down to the barrels in the cellar?? Hence his lack of concern .. and why he smiles at you when you mention it;)

Mikeyorks

iainbs wrote:

But remember don't change the bath between tests.

Or try this at home ..... if you've got a separate shower cubicle!:rolleyes:

ralph_wilson

Its dead easy. Put the plug in, turn on the shower, have your shower when its hot enough, (might be a bit cold around the feet, but hey, you only need to do this once and its all in the name of science - and think of the planet!), turn off the shower when done, step out and see how high the water is in the bath. If its lower than your normal bath level then the shower is the better water saver.