How Much of Your Money Is Going down the Drain?

Control Water Bills

Have your water bills gone up quite a bit? If your utility hasn’t raised rates and your household has not increased in size, then it’s probably due to one or more slow leaks in a toilet, faucet or showerhead. These leaks may be so subtle you are not even aware of them. Or you may think a slow drip is so inconsequential it’s not worth calling a plumber to fix it.

Think again. A faucet that leaks at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 2,000 gallons per year. That’s enough water to flush your toilet more than 1,300 times! If your toilet is running constantly, you could be wasting 200 gallons of water or more every day! Multiply your per-gallon water rate to find out how much it’s costing you to send all that fresh water uselessly down the drain.

According to the EPA, leaks account for, on average, 10,000 gallons of water wasted in the home every year, which is enough to fill a backyard swimming pool. EPA studies also have found that 10% of homes have leaks that waste more than 90 gallons per day, which comes to almost 33,000 gallons a year.

Almost every day at least one of Dutton Plumbing’s plumbers will find a barely noticeable leak in a toilet flapper, faucet or showerhead. These leaks are easily fixed and in most cases, the money saved by fixing them will pay for our service call within a few months, maybe even weeks.

More serious are leaks in pressurized water pipes or sewer lines under a home’s concrete slab foundation. These pipes can deteriorate over time (especially copper piping in acidic soil).

Slab leaks can be hard to detect. Symptoms may include a sudden spike in your water bill; a drop in water pressure; constant sound of water running; damp carpeting or other flooring; foundation cracks or settling; and mildew on walls or in a basement. It’s important to find and fix slab leaks as soon as possible.

In addition to leaks, our plumbers often work in homes with old toilets that use more than twice as much water as modern high-efficiency models. Replacing them can save more than 16,000 gallons per year. More savings can be obtained from reduced flow faucets and showerheads.

You can identify unseen leaks by several methods.

• One is to check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.
• A way to find out if you have a toilet leak is to place a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl within 15 minutes without flushing, you have a leak.
• If you notice a sharp increase in your utility bill, you may have a water leak.

Got better things to do with your time? Give us a call and ask about our money-saving Family Service Plan. These will assure a periodic inspection/maintenance visit from one of our plumbing pros, as well as discounts on emergency services.

Yours truly,

YFP

P.S. Don’t forget to take advantage of our various daily discount coupons available on this website.