You can easily reduce your water consumption by fitting a few low cost water saving devices yourself. You don't need any tools or experience to fit these affordable water saving devices listed below.
Reduce the amount of water used in your home with these simple steps. If you're on a water meter, you'll save money on your water bill but you'll also cut the cost of your heating bill.
If you've noticed an increase in your water bill, you could have a water leak. It's easy to check if there's a water leak in your home which could be wasting water and costing you money.
1. Check your water meter
Start by turning off any items in your home that could be using water: taps, showers, washing machines or dishwashers etc.
Take a meter reading, then don't use any water for long as possible (a few hours is ideal). When you come back to take a second reading, if the meter has moved, you have a leak somewhere in or outside your home.
2. Turn off the water
If your water meter moves with all items turned off, you should turn off the stop tap inside your house (this will usually be located under the kitchen sink).
If the meter still moves with the stop tap off, it's likely that you've got an underground leak somewhere between the meter and your stop tap. You should contact your water supplier for more information.
3. Isolate the leak
If the water meter stops moving after turning off the stop tap, you have a leak somewhere inside your home. The next step would be to find out what's leaking and try and turn off the water to this item.
4. Check for leaking toilets
Leaking toilets may have water running inside the bowl constantly. You could also purchase some leak detection tablets to add to your toilet cistern. These dye the water inside blue and make it much easier to spot any leaks.
5. Check for dripping taps
Look around your house for any taps that may be dripping slowly. You may be able to switch off the water to individual taps behind your sink which could help to rule out the source of any leaks.
6. Check any outside taps
Outside taps could be leaking from the tap from a split in the supply pipe. You may also be able to isolate any garden taps to rule them out.
7. Check for damp patches or mould
If you're still unable to find the source of a leak, you could look for any damp patches or mould around plumbing that could indicate a leak.
8. Contact a plumber
A meter that is moving despite no obvious leaks could indicate a hidden problem, for example under the floor boards. You should consider contacting a professional to get repairs made and prevent further damage to your property.
You can check for a water leak by turning off all items in your home that consume water and taking a meter reading. You should then wait a couple of hours and take another reading.
If your meter has moved, then you have a water leak and should take steps to fix it to avoid wasting water and prevent damage to your property.
If you're trying to save water and reduce your bills, you should start with the items that consume the most water first.
Reducing the amount of water used by your shower and toilet could save 1000s of litres per year and have the most dramatic impact on your bills quicker than any other items in your home.
Showers and toilets and the largest consumers of water in your home.
You can fit a range of cheap water saving devices to your shower and toilet that will have an instant impact on the amount of water you are using.
You can take a number of very simple steps to reduce the amount of water used in your kitchen:
Fitting a water butt is an easy way to cut down hose pipe use and recycle rainwater for use in your garden.
Using rainwater for garden can save 1000s of litres of water and cut down your bills.