Water Usage - How Low Do You Go?

[vgrund]

FWIW, I just looked it up. My tax rate is $18.83 per thousand of assessed value. Assessed value can deviate from market in many places, but NH does assessments very frequently (sometimes even with mandatory inside inspections) and I believe my 2006 assessment is very close to market value. I feel for those who are paying even more!

 

[velvetfoot]

The house we've been in for a year also is on a well. Did you install a water meter or did it come with the place? I'd have a tough time justifying the cost (what with all the other knick-knacks I've been getting of late )

 

[CountryGal]

We replaced our toilet with a Flushmate equipped toilet and no more jiggling the handle and wasting water. And, the powerful flush solves the low water toilet multiple flush situation...and it keeps the toilet much cleaner.

I never understood how you saved water with a low volume water toilet when many times you had to flush more than once.

You can go to their website (flushmate.com) and find a dealer and they are in several manufacturer's toilets. We got the Gerber.

 

[wahoowad]

I have two elderly (95+) aunts, each has a funny little sign in their bathrooms saying "Save water, shower with a friend."

No, Dylan, I never took them up on it

 

[struggle]

We replaced our toilet with a Flushmate equipped toilet and no more jiggling the handle and wasting water. And, the powerful flush solves the low water toilet multiple flush situation...and it keeps the toilet much cleaner.

I never understood how you saved water with a low volume water toilet when many times you had to flush more than once.

You can go to their website (flushmate.com) and find a dealer and they are in several manufacturer's toilets. We got the Gerber.

I have one of those power flush toliets in the basement(not the uplifting one but the normal type). YOu do not want to have any loose clothing on you when you tip that handle. It might take you in!

The draw back to it is it is loud. I replaced the master bath one with a Kohler toliet and have been very happy with how it operates for low flow. Never have had to two flush it and no noise. The newer toliets are much better than they were a few years ago.

AS for taxes we have a 100x150 corner lot about 1,500 sq ft in a small town, sewer,curbs, local school and our taxes are $2,100.

Our water usage this last month was 129 gallons per day for a family of four.

 

[vgrund]

The house we've been in for a year also is on a well. Did you install a water meter or did it come with the place? I'd have a tough time justifying the cost (what with all the other knick-knacks I've been getting of late )

I installed it in the form of a demand-based water softener (meter determines how much water has been used and when to regenerate). It has a statistics feature on the panel that displays daily, average daily, and weekly water usage. Our outside water bypasses the softener, so I can't track that. Out of curiosity I did explore adding a meter so I could get an idea of how many gallons go outside in summer. It was a considerable expense so I rejected that idea.

Victor

 

[vgrund]

I have two elderly (95+) aunts, each has a funny little sign in their bathrooms saying "Save water, shower with a friend."

No, Dylan, I never took them up on it

That is Standard Operating Procedure in our master bath. Hey, we all have to do our part to conserve!

Victor

 

[vgrund]

We replaced our toilet with a Flushmate equipped toilet and no more jiggling the handle and wasting water. And, the powerful flush solves the low water toilet multiple flush situation...and it keeps the toilet much cleaner.

I never understood how you saved water with a low volume water toilet when many times you had to flush more than once.

You can go to their website (flushmate.com) and find a dealer and they are in several manufacturer's toilets. We got the Gerber.

I have one of those power flush toliets in the basement(not the uplifting one but the normal type). YOu do not want to have any loose clothing on you when you tip that handle. It might take you in!

The draw back to it is it is loud. I replaced the master bath one with a Kohler toliet and have been very happy with how it operates for low flow. Never have had to two flush it and no noise. The newer toliets are much better than they were a few years ago.

AS for taxes we have a 100x150 corner lot about 1,500 sq ft in a small town, sewer,curbs, local school and our taxes are $2,100.

Our water usage this last month was 129 gallons per day for a family of four.

I agree. My last house had absolutely awful toilets. Luckily my current house has great ones that actually work (and they are still low-flow). Some of the newest toilets work great without "power flush" features that will suck the eyes out of a parrot and make a lot of noise. It has to do with the shape and coating of the drain. My toilets are like this.

Those flush-against-gravity toilets scare me. They seem like a problem waiting to happen. A very messy, stinky problem.

There's something about most homes in New England (that I've seen - limited experience so chime in guys). The main drain is usually chest level in the basement. I don't get that. It means the furnace and AC need a condensate pump (which require maintenance and will eventually fail) and it means floor drains are out of the question.

Victor

 

[DavidV]

I have no idea. 3 kids 2 adults. animals, butt load of laundrey. ....only thing positive is that my pool almost never requires water. I think we didn't put 1000 gallons in it each of the last two years. Usually I'm putting water out of it.

 

[begreen]

edit - duped somehow

 

[begreen]

Our water comes from a small water system that has tiered usage pricing. Use a lot, pay a lot. We invested right away in low flow shower heads, a water-conserving toilet and a new, front-load washer. As a family of four we averaged 115/day. In the summertime, when the gardens are cranking away, it's double that amount. Some of this is lifestyle, we take quick showers, wear clothes for one more day, recycle water when possible and let it mellow if it's yellow.

Do you at least turn your underwear inside out on day 2?

Underwear? What's that? We just run around naked all day.

 

[smirnov3]

WE use 88 gal a day (two adults, 2 kids). We have the old-fashioned toilets that flush like the Niagra falls, but we put (empty) pickle jars in the tank to reduce the amount of water used, and, like BeGreen, we let it mellow if it's yellow (my wife grew up in California during the drought)

 

[kevinmoelk]

Not sure how much water I use. Domestic water is on a well and no meter. I do pay for irrigation. That's $89 a year for my one acre. Lots of orchards around here, and I don't know if they pay the same per share as I do, but there's one orchard company with 3000 acres here... that would be 267,000 a year! Glad not to have that water bill.


-Kevin

 

[bruce56bb]

212 per day for our family of 5.

 

[velvetfoot]

vgrund,
I didn't think about checking the water softener.
I don't think it's as sophisticated as yours, but I think it does count gallons.
I'll have to check it out. Thanks.

 

[vgrund]

[

Do you at least turn your underwear inside out on day 2?

Underwear? What's that? We just run around naked all day.

BeGreen,

You might want to follow this line of research. http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/070105_nanofabric.html

LOL.

Victor

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

we arent as carfull as we should be, we pay a flat rate for water. We also have a RO filter that rejects about 75% of the water going through it.

 

[begreen]

[

Do you at least turn your underwear inside out on day 2?

Underwear? What's that? We just run around naked all day.

BeGreen,

You might want to follow this line of research. http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/070105_nanofabric.html

LOL.

Victor

That's funny! :lol: