How much water does a pressure washer use, and the impact on water meter bill

peewhyeff

I am considering changing over to a water meter. I have used the CCW template to assess usage but as I do maybe 15-20 hrs a year using the pressure washer (lots of hard-standing,loong paths and long flagged drive) I cannot find a way to estimate this. If I add '20 hours hose-pipe' it's astronomical........has anyone ever checked their water meter reading before and after, or maybe about to?  Any suggestions welcomed.

lohr500

What model of pressure washer do you have? The water consumption should be listed in the specifications.

A pressure washer won't use anything like the equivalent of 20 hours of hose pipe flow.

peewhyeff

It's a Titan.... all the booklet tells me is max rated flow 7.2 litres per minute.......but that sounds way too much also.

Merlin139

My Karcher K2 Pressure washer says it has a max flow rate of 360 Litres per hour, so 6 litres per minute.

Try turning on your pressure washer and fill up a bucket for 1 minute and see how much water you end up with in the bucket. When you see how little it is then it will become clearer.

peewhyeff

Merlin139 said:

My Karcher K2 Pressure washer says it has a max flow rate of 360 Litres per hour, so 6 litres per minute.

Try turning on your pressure washer and fill up a bucket for 1 minute and see how much water you end up with in the bucket. When you see how little it is then it will become clearer.

That sounds like a good idea.......when I next get it out I'll let you know.

macman

I suspect you are overthinking this. At that flow rate, even if on max for 20 hours, you would use 8,640 litres, or 8.64 cu m. On my tariff (TW) that would cost about £19.74 for usage and disposal charges.
For the average user, the annual saving on metered billing vs RV billing is much greater than £20. 

peewhyeff

macman said:

I suspect you are overthinking this. At that flow rate, even if on max for 20 hours, you would use 8,640 litres, or 8.64 cu m. On my tariff (TW) that would cost about £19.74 for usage and disposal charges.
For the average user, the annual saving on metered billing vs RV billing is much greater than £20. 

Thanks for explaining that. 8000+ litres sounds like an awful lot of water but cost-wise maybe it's not too bad. A water meter is sounding more attractive financially.

peewhyeff

Water meter fitted 15th March (was only a 2 week wait for a site visit/fitted on the day). Fitter said he had 25 to do that day.  Does make you wonder if so many electing to have a meter resulting in less revenue for WaterCompanies, whether at some point they will move the goalposts and hike-up their other charges.