Typical water usage

GingerBob_3

Being non-metered myself, I was at a loss to explain to a mate how much water he might use in his new property, so I suggested he read the meter and then read it again 24 hours later to get an initial rough estimate. His readings:


00066760, then 24 hrs later 00066968.


I asked how many, if any, of the rightmost digits were coloured red - he couldn't remember.


Any advice? What's the unit - cu ft. or cu m, or something else? I'm guessing at least one digit is a decimal place, probably two, and we're talking cu m. A bit vague, I know; sorry.

D_M_E

As it is probably a new build, the meter will be metric and measure in cubic meters - I don't think there are any domestic water meters left that measure in cubic feet.

Even if it's not a new build, the meter is most likely to be measuring cubic meters.

The first 4 digits will be whole units and the last 3 digits will be fractions of a cubic meter - from the two readings shown, it looks to me as though your mate will be a high volume user and his metered water will cost him a fortune.

Edit - a cubic meter is about 222 gallons, so from the readings listed he has used about 60 gallons in one day. At that rate I would suspect a leak somewhere.

BobQ

At that rate I would suspect he has mis-read the meter.

Did he spend the day watering the garden? Is it connected to a sprinkler system?

Does he have lots of children?

GingerBob_3

Two occupants, former council house. I looked on a few websites and it seems like the last three digits are decimal parts of a cubic metre readout, so he's gone from 66.76 to 66.97 cubic metres in a day, i.e. 46 gallons. That's a bit excessive under the circumstances, I'm thinking.

Cardew

GingerBob wrote: »

Two occupants, former council house. I looked on a few websites and it seems like the last three digits are decimal parts of a cubic metre readout, so he's gone from 66.76 to 66.97 cubic metres in a day, i.e. 46 gallons. That's a bit excessive under the circumstances, I'm thinking.

The average for two people is around 110 cubic metres a year.

It would appear they have used 0.2 cubic metres(200 litres) in 24 hours. So 365 x 0.2 is 73 cubic meters a year - so below average.

One of the biggest items of consumption is flushing the toilet. The old style toilets could use 13 litres per flush(latest models use half that amount)

BobQ

Cardew wrote: »

The average for two people is around 110 cubic metres a year.

It would appear they have used 0.2 cubic metres(200 litres) in 24 hours. So 365 x 0.2 is 73 cubic meters a year - so below average.

One of the biggest items of consumption is flushing the toilet. The old style toilets could use 13 litres per flush(latest models use half that amount)

I agree. One of things people need to remember when they move from unmetered supply to metered supply is they need to change their behaviours. For example:

Standing at the sink shaving with the tap running is wasteful,
So is flushing the loo more than is necessary,with an old cistern you can insert a space filler into it to save water
Hosepipes left on and unattended,get a water butt and collect rain
Long power showers several times a day,
Washing vegetables with the tap running (use a bowl)
Use a full load in the washing machine and dishwasher
Get leaky taps repaired

[Deleted User]

I use about 30 cubic metres a year.

Proxima_Centauri

Probably not much immediate help, but I've found that our water company sends a half-yearly statement showing how much water you use, and also compares it to the average household use. Over the past couple of years we've managed to get our bill down by about £7 a month so far.

MerlinMags

I've been monitoring our water meter reading since it was installed. We use between 13 and 14 cubic metres every month. It seems very constant all year round.

There are 5 of us living here. 3 have showers every day. We don't water the garden. The washing machine runs every other day.

Johnhowell

Same here, I take meter readings (Elec (Hi & Low), Gas and Water) quite frequently. Enter numbers into a spreadsheet and analyse to my heart's content ;-)

Why, you may ask... When the two water companies state that the monthly payments needs to be increased, I can check the yearly usage and ask them to justify their calculation. Every time, they can not justify the increase, therefore, Direct Debits remain the same... Or even reduce - like todays bill.

Anyway, our usage: 2 adults, 3 bed detached - mainly showers, occasional luxurious, lazy baths, flushing central heating several times (don't ask), watering garden plants (no lawn) over the summer, washing machine (whites, lights, darks each week), dish washer 2-3 times a week, etc...
= 73 m³ a year (200 litres a day) SD = 3 m³
Over the last 2½ years here the rolling 12 months usage varies between 66 m³ to 77 m³.