Cost of Flushing 24 June 2022 at 5:55PM edited 27 June 2022 at 8:51AM in Old style MoneySaving 18 replies 1.7K views

happyhacker

I just worked out that it cost me £0.02 per litre (£2/m3 for me in Dorset). So a partial flush (4Ltr) of our Loos is £0.08p. We normally would do that about 10 times a day so that's £0.80p/day. So doing 'if its yellow let it mellow' I can reduce that to 4 flushes a day at £0.32. A good saving £0.48p. In a qtr that would be a saving of £0.48 x 90 = £43. That's off my previous bills of about £230 (last bill was £180). Pleased with that.

If anyone cares to add more ideas to saving on water would appreciate. Cheers.

tastyhog

Got your sums wrong, there's 1000 litres in a cubic meter, so a flush using your figures is £0.008 or 8p a day for 10 flushes

Misslayed

I've worked out we save about £45/year by doing this - but it's not just about moneysaving, it's using a precious resource as economically as possible. A WaterAid ad many years ago featured a photo of a small wide eyed brown child saying "You poop in drinking water? Why?" That has stayed with me. 

ragz_2

We have always done 'let it mellow' - we have really hard water and it's ruined the toilets! They were pretty bad when we moved in (original ones, I'm sure!) and we rent so not hugely fussed, but they do all look awful now.
To be honest, for 0.8p a flush I am happy to pay a few quid a month to flush my toilets but mostly I do it because I hate the water waste, I grew up with composting toilets... 

Devongardener

We take a bucket into the shower cubicle and collect as much water as possible with every shower, also have small bowl in the washbasin,  this water is then used to flush the loo.  It might sound extreme but as the sewage charge per litre is far more than actual water used it saves a lot.  Our monthly water charge is £18.

JIL

I really dont understand why there isnt something that collects shower/bath/ washing machine water and then directs this to flushing toilets.
 Homes are full of gadgets and systems, why haven't we seen some thing like this for the 3 bedroom house.

OrkneyStar

Our water is a set fixed amount charge, so saving water doesn't save us money directly. I still try my best not to waste water though.

Gers

I mellow too - not for water charges, like OS, we pay a fixed amount via council tax - my reason is to do with not only saving water but we have a septic tank. It doesn't appreciate too much water as it (I think) dilutes the bacterium which deals with solid waste.

The downstairs toilet mellows during the day and the upstairs one overnight.

cornishchick

mellow upstairs, downstairs is for visitors only lol  
I think some new builds do have gray water tanks, but would be brilliant if there was a reto fit solution for other buildings. 

edwink

We added a rainwater harvesting system at our house a year or so after moving in. It was done by getting 2 x 1000 litre tanks which collects the rainwater that falls on our house.  Inside the first tank, we have a Well pump that when either of our toilets is flushed pumps water into the house/cistern of the toilet that has been used.  Besides the rainwater that goes into these tanks, we have the shower, basin, and bath connected to these tanks to collect that wastewater. The tanks have been joined together at the bottom so when one fills up the other one does too. From time to time we add a large bottle of bleach, mainly in the hotter months, to one of the tanks just to make the wastewater fresher. We've had this system installed for 10 years now and it has worked very well.

To disguise the tanks we built a low type shed around them with doors at the front and a large roof which has 2 lift-up service hatch doors on it, That way we can check either of the tanks for water levels, etc. So the water we use is rainwater and/or wastewater so that doesn't cost us anything but the flushing would in theory but we also installed solar panels which takes care of that. When it is dark outside we don't flush and just do it when the solar panels wake up the following morning. 

We are metered for water here so it has certainly saved us money over the years but is not for everyone because the 2 tanks are really huge but having a very large garden we have managed to hide them quite well. It is hard to explain but we have a recess outside at the front right next to our downstairs cloakroom so that made pipe connecting easier for that cistern. Also, our bathroom is at the front upstairs so connecting that wasn't too bad either, just more work and extra pipe/connectors, etc. The internal pipework is mostly hidden for our bathroom as goes through and up our staircase cupboard and the section of wall it does travel up we had a tiny false panel fitted in front of the pipe to disguise it. The electricity cable that runs the Well pump is plugged into a socket in the living room which is also at the front. 

For us, the decision to install this system wasn't about the cost of flushing the toilets but the fact that in some countries people do not have access to clean running water, and therefore we didn't want to use clean running water to flush either of our toilets. As said the system isn't for everyone because of the size of the tanks etc, But, if someone has a garage they don't mind using for the tanks or a basement it can be done obviously with consideration of where the toilets are in a house first.

Actually thinking back there is a guy on MSE that used his basement space for rainwater storage. Can't remember his user name now, I'll have a think. 

Edwink

Coffeekup

Have a pee in the garden, it'll feed your plants, lawn or veg. Note: don't do this if your on med's