Southern California is currently experiencing a severe drought, and this has placed focus on the importance of water conservation in homes. There are many ways to save water on a daily basis, but one of the best long-term solutions that will benefit both the environment and your utility bills is to arrange for the installation of low-flow fixtures in your home: toilets, faucets, showerheads.
WaterSense, a partnership with the U.S. EPA, certifies fixtures that make major reductions in water use while still maintaining high performance levels. When you arrange for a plumber to replace your old fixtures with WaterSense or other low-flow models, you can significantly lower your water use without needing to make sacrifices in comfort. Call the plumbing specialists at My Drain Company today to learn more about the benefits of these low-flow fixtures and how you can have them installed.
How Much Water Do These Low-Flow Models Save?
The amount of water you conserve using a low-flow plumbing fixture depends on how much water your current fixtures use. For example, toilets build before 1980 wasted an enormous amount of water with each flush: 6 to 7 gallons. Current models have lowered this to 2.2 gallons, a huge improvement. But WaterSense pressure-assisted low-flow toilets use only 1.6 gallons per flush, a 20% reduction from current models and a 75% reduction from older models. Thanks to the air-pressure in these toilets, they do not lose any flushing power along with water reduction. Because toilets account for approximately a third of all indoor water use, replacing them with water-conserving models can mean around $2,000 off your yearly utility bills.
A standard bathroom sink faucets allow 2.2 gallons of water to flow through them a minute. A WaterSense faucet lowers that amount to 1.5 gallons per minute, and again there is no noticeable loss in performance. Using these low-flow faucets, and average family of 5 can conserve 700 gallons a water a year, which is equal to 40 showers. You can save water in the shower as well with WaterSense showerheads, which can save that same family of five 2,900 gallons of water a year.
There’s another way that you’ll save money with low-flow installations: less stress on your water heater. With less hot water used in showers and for washing, your hot water heater will need to work less, and you’ll receive savings on your power bills as well.
Low-flow installation costs more than standard plumbing fixtures, but as you can tell from the above information, you will soon make back the extra costs and can expect to keep saving money for many years. Call My Drain Company to talk about how we can set up your home with water-conserving and money-saving low-flow fixtures. If you need the services of a plumber in Glendale, CA, call us.
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