There is very little that is worse than the slow drip of a leaky faucet. If you are a penny pincher, you should know that every drip into the sink is like listening to money being wasted. In fact, for every drip per second can lead to a wasted 3,000 gallons in a single year, according to the EPA. Do not plug up your faucets in panic! But if you are not concerned, this might change your mind.
The Obvious First Step
Fixing the leak is first and foremost the most important method of stopping the leak. There are plenty of options for plumbing services, if you can’t do it. It is a sign of something worse to come if it is not dealt with. Water main breaks happen all the time in America at the rate of around 700 on a normal day. This is, in part, due to a third of America’s water infrastructure being middle aged, around 40 years, to an old age of 80 years. Americans that have avoided fixing leaky pipes, or may not know they are leaky to begin with, contribute to the 1 trillion gallons of water from faucets, bad sprinkler systems, malfunctioning toilets, etc., on a yearly basis.
Avoiding the leak will only lead to more wasted water, a higher bill, and another bill when you call for an emergency plumber. Your house is not a plant that is going to grow if it is watered. Every year that goes by your house could be wasting 10,000 gallons of water and you would not even know it, nearly 28 gallons a day, according to the EPA. If that water had stayed around, it could have been used for 270 loads of laundry.
Fixing the leak may cost a pretty penny now, but is only a fraction of water you would be paying by letting the issue simmer. In fact, 10 percent of your water bill can be save, according the EPA reports, if only you fix the water leak correctly.
How Is Your Water Heater?
It is one thing to get the water leak repaired or replaced and it is another to get your water heater repaired. Fixing the one might end up revealing that it was the other this whole time.
You might have heard from older generations that technology was “built better back then,” but quite frankly, that is not the case, nor did that argument have much to stand on. Technology makes advancements all the time in the departments of quality, longevity and efficiency. Water heaters are no exception. If your water heater is pushing a decade or so old, then it is time to forego the water heater repair and get it replaced instead.
Water heaters, like everything, is susceptible to entropy; no matter how many times you have that old water heater repaired, sooner or later it will draw its last breath. And really, it is for the better considering modern day water heaters are more efficient than before. In fact, simply installing water appliances, and fixtures, you can see a reduction in water by up to 20 percent, according to the EPA. Who does not want to reduce their water usage and in turn reduce their water bill? It is a return in investment that you do not see upfront, but rather, over time.
