If you’ve recently gotten a higher-than-usual water bill, it can be attributed to a myriad of things. It could be extra water use during the summer, or washing clothes more often due to sports games and practices.
However, it could also be linked to problems within your bathroom. At True Plumbers & AC, we can help you assess your bathroom and see if there are any issues contributing to a higher water bill. Here are some ways your bathroom could be costing you money and how we can help you if you’re located in central Florida areas such as Lakeland, Plant City, and Winter Haven.
Your Showerhead is Older or Not Made to Save Water
Have you ever gone to turn off the shower and noticed that water is still dripping out of it moments later? That’s probably a sign that there’s a leak somewhere. First, try to tighten the showerhead to see if that stops the dripping. If not, then you may need assistance from a professional to help figure out where the leak is coming from. A shower that drips long after the valve is closed usually has a worn cartridge, and that is a shower and faucet repair rather than a new showerhead.
There are also showerheads made to help conserve water. If yours isn’t made that way, then you could be using up a lot of extra water while you shower. Check for WaterSense labels when you’re looking at new showerheads and replace your existing ones with those. Standard showerheads use about 2.5 gallons of water per minute, while WaterSense showerheads can only use 2 gallons per minute.
Showering uses up 1.2 trillion gallons of water per year in the United States, according to the EPA.
Hard water works against you here too. Scale narrows the spray holes, and people respond by running the shower longer. Clearing it is one thing, but the ways to remove hard water stains from shower glass treat the symptom, while a whole home water softener treats the cause.
Older Toilets Can Waste up to 6 Gallons of Water During Each Flush
If your home has older toilets, you could be wasting a lot of water. The federal standard is 1.6 gallons per flush, while older inefficient models can use as much as 6. The EPA puts the swap at nearly 13,000 gallons saved per year for a household that replaces its old toilets with WaterSense models. Whether that pencils out for you depends on your water rates, and we work through it in does a water saving toilet really help save money. If you decide to replace, our guide to the types of toilets and which to buy covers the options.
Leaky toilets can also cause a lot of water waste. Getting this looked at and fixed can also reduce the amount of your water bill. It’s more than likely an old, worn-out flapper. Flappers are rubber and tend to get deposits of minerals over time that cause them to break down. A flapper is a few dollars and a few minutes, and it is one of the most common items on a toilet repair call. Mineral scale inside the tank shortens their life, which is part of why cleaning the toilet tank is worth doing.
Leaky Sinks May Lose About 3,000 Gallons of Water Per Year
Ever awakened at 3:00 AM to hear a dripping sink? No one likes to hear that sound. Leaking sinks can cause a spike in your monthly water bill, on top of just making an annoying sound. The EPA puts a number on it: a faucet dripping once per second wastes more than 3,000 gallons a year. Your faucet may need a replacement, especially if it’s older. Again, look for WaterSense products when choosing faucet upgrades, and if you are shopping anyway, touchless bathroom faucets cut the water that runs while you are not using it.
The leaks you cannot hear are the expensive ones. If the bill jumped and every fixture looks dry, read the signs you may have a water leak, then bring in leak detection equipment that finds it without opening walls. Under a slab foundation, that shows up as a warm spot on the floor or the sound of running water with everything off, and it needs slab leak repair rather than a fixture swap.
Are you wondering why your water bill is so high? Call us to help.
At True Plumbers & AC, we help fix bathroom issues all the time. Our expert plumbers can come to your home, assess your water usage, and help you find a solution that works for you and your family. For the rest of the house, our guide on decreasing water usage at home picks up where the bathroom leaves off. If the plumbing behind the walls is original to an older house and keeps springing pinhole leaks, repiping is the fix that ends the pattern.
If you’re in central Florida, give us a call at (863) 667-6364.
