How would you like to save 50% or more of the water you send down your drain? Everyone would but when it comes to saving water, electric or fuel it seems there is always someone telling you that you need to spend money to save. They say buy this thing for $50 and it will save you $100 over the next 30 years. About then the calculator comes out and you start factoring the cost vs the years until you see any benefit at all.
Well in this case you don’t have to worry about spending because everything you need is already installed. With a 30 second tune-up and some modification of how you approach your usage you can really save a lot of water.
Ok so what do we have to do you are asking…..
First go to your sink and wash your hands regularly.
Now while you are washing turn the water down 50% and see if you are still comfortable with the water flow. For most people you will be and if you have kids in the house you can expect that they will always use the faucet on full blast. Now get this right I am not saying turn the faucet to 50% I am saying start washing your hands or whatever and then cut the flow by half.. and then cut it in half again..
You might find you just have the faucet open a crack but thats not realistic.. the idea is to find a comfortable level by continuously reducing the water flow from what you normally use.
After you have done this for a day or so you can get use to what level of flow is right for you. I think you will probably find that turning down the water half way is comfortable… now comes the Tune-up part.
Under your sink you have a shutoff valve for hot and cold water it is a valve that is connected to the supply line. Although not all of these valves are exactly alike inside the basic deal is you turn the valve one way and more water flows through and turn it the opposite way and it shuts off all the water so you can service the faucet.
To tune your water flow adjust the flow at the faucet to the amount of water you are comfortable with. While the water is flowing fill a container like a large glass and count the seconds it takes to fill up. One, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the glass is full.
Now with the water still flowing reach under the sink and turn the water off at the valve so all water stops. Once the water is off Open your Faucet to 100% and no water should be coming out still ….
Now open the valve to the point where you have the same flow as before.. Remember instead of having your sink faucet turned to 50% where it was comfortable to use you now have it Wide Open and you are setting the flow at the valve below the sink.
Test the flow by filling your glass again and it should fill in the same number of seconds as before.
Now the flow rate is tuned to the amount of water that will work in most situations. After a few months of use you will find that you will not be opening the Sink Faucet 100% of the way any more and you will have trained yourself to use less water but you will feel no change in your every day life.
The reason this works is because most people always turn the faucet on too high and most of the water is wasted and not actually used for washing hands or brushing teeth or whatever. This really works great in the bathroom sink especially if you have kids or teens.
In the Kitchen you may not be able to Tune your water flow for one reason, Filling Pots for cooking things like Spaghetti. This is about the only time that you really need fast flow in the kitchen but if you use a water filter to filter the water you cook with you should be able to modify the flow rate and still have a good flow coming out of the filter. (I also suggest that everyone no matter where you get your water invests in a water filter for health reasons.)
In the kitchen you can do your best to reduce water by using the first method.
When you start using the sink for cleaning pots Turn the water down half way and see if you still have good results. For the most part you will see little difference other then the amount of water that you are sending directly down the drain.
And did you ever notice Faucets are positioned so the water flows right out of the faucet directly into the drain in the sink? A very skeptical friend of mine says thats because they get you coming and going … They make you pay for the clean water into the house and the waste water out of the house so they are just maximizing profits. Well I don’t know about that but I do wash my pots and pans every night and It really amazed me that I could turn the water down at least half way maybe 75% of the way and still have good cleaning.
I guess opening the faucet all the way is kinda like having a car that can go 125mph on the speedometer. We don’t usually drive that way because we know how fast that is but when it comes to using the sink we always press the peddle to the metal and floor it.
I hope you will try this trick and set your sink valves so you force yourself to not forget how much water you use to send right down the drain.