How to Cut Your Bathroom Running Costs
At a time when everyone is looking at how they can save money when it comes to their utility bills, we have provided some top tips on how to save water in the bathroom…
Lydia Luxford, our technical and customer services manager, said: “With the rising cost of energy, people are looking at ways to save money on running their homes, but water is something that is often overlooked. But, it takes electricity or gas to heat water, so it’s a good opportunity to review your water consumption.
“The average four-person household consumes 165 cubic meters of water, costing £597 per year and £49 per month. However, the cost of heating a water tank for a 4 bedroom home works out at £3,243 per year. Combined, that’s a total cost of £319 per month - and that’s without calculating the cost of heating the bathroom.”
Tap limiters
“Fitting a flow regulator is one of the easiest ways to reduce water consumption in the bathroom. A flow restrictor limits the amount of water flowing out of a tap or shower. Tap aerators mix air and water to control the amount of water that flows through the tap, without affecting the water pressure. These can reduce consumption from 20 litres per minute to 6.”
Saving water in the bath
“While showers use less water than baths – a 10-minute shower generally uses less than half of a bath – there are times when we want or need to use one. They are great for bathing children and also can help relax and switch off, which is important for mental health.
“If you do want to use a bath, fill it up only halfway. This way, it will be the same as taking a shower. You can also purchase baths that don’t have pre-drilled overflows so you can drill them lower so that you can’t fill the bath as much.”
Running a small bath (100 litres) costs around 93p. If the water is reused or children are bathed together, it can be an economical way to wash. The average bath in the UK has a capacity of 160 litres, so by drilling the overflow lower, it can mean families stick to the 100 litre limit.
Invest in a water-saving shower head
“Even though showers use less water than baths, it is still estimated that Britain wastes over 2,000,000,000 litres of water every day.
“A water-saving shower head can look just as good as any other shower head, but it works by restricting the volume of water that flows through it by as much as 50% of a standard shower head. And I promise you that it still gives you an enjoyable showering experience.
“However, one thing to note is that a water-saving shower head isn’t suitable if the water pressure is low or you have an electric shower.”
Water-saving shower heads use 50% less water, which cuts the cost of showering in half. An average 10 minute shower costs up to 91p, so you can expect a reduction down to 45p per shower.
Reduce your shower time
“The average shower lasts for 10 minutes and during that time, 120 litres of water will be used. Even if you reduced your shower time by one minute, it would deliver a 10% saving in water. While this might seem insignificant, the amount of water you save over a month or year is sizeable.
“A practical way to cut back your shower time is by setting a stopwatch timer on your Smartphone. Another important way to save water is to shut off the shower while soaping.”
From October, a 10 minute shower will cost between 60p to 91p. Over the course of the year, one shower per day will cost up to £332.15. Reducing your shower by just one minute could save £32.65, while reducing your shower to six minutes could save you £132.86.
Fix any leaking taps
“It may seem obvious, but leaks waste more water than you think. A dripping tap or shower head shouldn't take a moment to fix and most of the time, it can be done for free.”
The average dripping tap could add as much as £100 onto the cost of your water bill over the course of a year. Even a tap that drips slowly is losing over 180 litres a day, or 66,000 litres of water over the course of a year.
