Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Besides turning off the tap while brushing my teeth or fixing any leaks, do you have any recommendations on water systems that I can install in my home to conserve water?
Low flow systems are basically those that restrict water flow by using more narrow pipes & apertures. Cf- the Seinfeld episode about the low flow shower head. You can do the same thing yourself without changing any plumbing by not opening the tap any further than you need to or letting it run needlessly.
Maybe a better question is "do I need to conserve water?" If you're in the desert SW, then you probably ought to. But for those of us here in WI where we have 40 in of rainfall/yr and we're still drying out from the last glaciation, saving a gallon of water doesn't help those in the SW at all. The problem is strictly one of locality.
Water conservation is basically a matter of personal habits. The Navy endorses "Navy showers" where you rinse, shut off the water, soap down, rinse. There are also modifications you can make to your plumbing system to use "gray water" for non-potable applications and at the higher end (expense) you can rig a rainwater/cistern system for non-potable water too.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,741 posts, read 81,656,775 times
Reputation: 58110
Drip irrigation for any plants that need watering in summer
Tankless water heater
Gutter/downspout rainwater catchment system
Replace lawn with gravel or bark
Replace dishwasher and washing machine with new, high efficiency models
This will only save water if the heater can be placed nearer the water outlet thus preventing running water to get it hot. If you installed one for each faucet you could conserve a lot of water and energy but that's an expensive route...
If installed as single unit to serve the whole house they can save you energy because there is no heat loss for standby time but the more water you use the less they will save. If you have tank system make sure both the inlet and outlet pipe have 4 plus feet of insulation. Insulating the hot water pipe end to end can be quite beneficial in either a tank system or on demand, this will conserve the already heated water and freshly heated water will lose less heat to the pipes when you turn the faucet on.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can do the same thing yourself without changing any plumbing by not opening the tap any further than you need to or letting it run needlessly.
