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The toilet is the worst water
waster of all. Flush the toilet and wait until it supposedly
shuts off, then listen at the tank for a hissing or trickling
sound, if you hear a noise here's what to do, check the rubber
tank ball or flapper in the middle of the toilet tank at the
bottom. If the ball is old and has lost its shape, replace it.
Also using a fine steel wool pad, clean off the seat under the
ball till it is smooth. If the noise is from the ballcock valve
on the left side of the tank and is the type with the quarter
inch rod with a metal or plastic float ball, lift up on the rod,
if the noise stops, then starts again after you let go, chances
are your ballcock valve is bad and needs replaced. If when you
are holding the quarter inch rod up and the water leaks out of
the tank, and you have already replaced the rubber ball or the
flapper, check the lift wire or the chain from the ball to the
handle, and make sure it is not dropping the ball wrong, or is
on a bind.
WHEN YOU FLUSH YOUR TOILET AT
ANY TIME, ALWAYS WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE SURE IT SHUTS OFF, ESPECIALLY
IF YOU ARE LEAVING THE HOUSE. IF YOU ARE LEAVING YOUR HOUSE FOR
A VACATION OR ONLY A COUPLE DAYS ITS A GOOD IDEA TO SHUT YOUR
MAIN WATER VALVE OFF. IT MIGHT SAVE A GREAT WATER LOSS, AS WELL
AS A LOT OF DAMAGE TO YOUR HOME. HERE'S WHY:
I had a plumbing call to a home
where the people had gone on a vacation for two weeks. The last
person to leave the home flushed the toilet and did not wait
to be sure it shut off before leaving.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:
The toilet stopped up when the
last person flushed it. The rubber ball did not drop back straight
and the water ran over the toilet bowl for two weeks.
HERES WHAT THEY FOUND WHEN THEY
RETURNED HOME AFTER TWO WEEKS:
- The bathroom and the kitchen
floors had warped.
- The tile and the carpet was
ruined.
- The plaster ceiling in the
kitchen had fallen.
- The woodwork and the doors
were all warped.
- The formica counter tops in
the kitchen had lifted.
- Below the kitchen in the basement,
the father and son's very expensive car and train set were severely
damaged.
NOW this was in the winter time,
and the furnace was left on to keep the water pipes from freezing.
The water went down from the first floor and leaked onto the
furnace which made steam, the steam went into every room in the
house and caused the wallpaper to fall off the walls in every
room.
LOOK AT THE WATER WASTED HERE
AS WELL AS THE $ COST
- When using your bathroom or
kitchen sink, don't leave the water run when you don't need to.
- Take shorter showers.
- Turn off the shower when you
are lathering up.
- When using your washing machine,
and only washing a small amount of clothes, set the water level
for less water.
TRY THIS:
Take the quarter inch refill
tube that goes from the toilet ballcock valve into the overflow
pipe in the toilet tank, and fasten it so the water from it goes
into the tank and helps to fill it faster. You can only do this
if when your toilet is flushed and retraps itself.
While the toilet is refilling
after being flushed, it doesn't take as much water as is put
into the bowl from the refill tube. Every little bit helps.
HERE IS A GOOD WATER SAVER
If the water pressure in your
home is more than you need. DO THIS.
Close your main water valve
until your pressure slows down some, but is still enough for
your needs. Or do this to the smaller valves under your kitchen
and bathroom sin. A lot of homes have a lot more pressure than
they need.
UNDERGROUND WATER LEAKS
Sometimes there are water leaks
underground between your home, the street, or your outside water
supply.
These go undetected for years.
Here's one way you can check your line for a leak. Put your ear
on the water meter in your home and put your finger in your other
ear. If you hear a hissing sound like pressure releasing you
probably have a leak in your line, be sure no one is running
water in the house when doing this. Most of the time a leak underground
will eventually come to the top of the ground, but I have had
some leaks that I found had worked their way into the sewer line
under it, and had been leaking for years.
To check this, remove the clean
out plug on your sewer line to the street. Put your ear at that
point and listen, if you have a leak you will be able to hear
it in the sewer line. Again be sure no one is running water...
HERE ARE SOME OF THE WAYS A
CITY COULD SAVE WATER
In areas where the water pressure
is greater than needed, the city water deptartment could install
a pressure regulator valve at the water meter in these homes
to control the amount water used.
Another good water saver would
be to require in new home construction that a small spring valved
wall hung urinal be installed in all bathrooms .
A TOILET WHEN FLUSHED USES ABOUT
SIX GALLONS OF WATER.
A SMALL WALL HUNG SPRING VALVED
URINAL USES LESS THAN ONE GALLON.
LOOK AT THE WATER THAT COULD
BE SAVED HERE.
HERE IS A TWENTY FIVE YEAR WATER
LEAK...
I worked as a maintenance plumber
in one of the larger hospitals in the area. Here's what I found
one day.
The kitchen of the hospital
had a tile floor, and at one area the tile floor was always hot,
so much so the workers were always complaining of being too warm.
One day while working on the
water piping, we had to turn off the water for a long time.
I later happened to kneel down
on the floor where it was always hot. It had cooled down. When
we turned the water back on we found a water line leaking under
the floor where it was always hot. We repaired the hot water
pipe, turned the water back on, and the floor stayed cool...
I then began to explain to the
kitchen supervisor what we had found. She said she had worked
here for twenty five years and the tile floor in that are had
always been hot...
A twenty five year water leak.
Can you believe the water loss here. I bet if we checked all
over the country we could find some water being wasted. |
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