Water

Thrifty tips, ideas, news & experiences on anything around the home to shopping to re-cycling etc.
Post Reply
Milzy241
Lively Laner
Posts: 68
Joined: 07 Jan 2012, 12:38
Gender: Male
Location: Lincoln

Water

Post by Milzy241 »

Hi, how can I save water at home, ie when I turn the hot tap on and wait for it to 'warm up' all that water goes down the plug hole...........wasted. Also when I let the bath water out, surely I can use that but don't really want to dip a bucket in and start carting it to the plants outside. Any ideas.

Thanks

Milzy
User avatar
lancashire lass
Legendary Laner
Posts: 6528
Joined: 28 Jun 2007, 15:17

Re: Water

Post by lancashire lass »

Hi Mitzy - I have a combi boiler so more or less have the same problem of waiting for the water to warm up. It depends on what I'm going to use the water for - if I just want a small amount of hot water, I'll actually fill the kettle and boil that up than waste gas and water. If it is for washing/bathing, then yes there will be some water wastage at first but then I put the plug in the sink/bath and any cold water that comes out will cool the hot water that follows.

As for waste water (from your sinks, bath), there's a simple device that attaches to your outside down pipe like THIS ONE which diverts water to a water butt (or plural) that you can then use for watering plants or washing the car. Also, as the link shows, rainwater )t' You might be able to get it and some water butts much cheaper from your water supplier (have a mosey round their website - Severn Trent Water have free water saving devices, so I'm sure yours should have similar products)
User avatar
Meanqueen
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7617
Joined: 19 Jan 2008, 19:49

Re: Water

Post by Meanqueen »

Hi Milzy. My water is heated in a tank in the bedroom. I only put it on when I want a bath. When I want hot water for washing up, or washing hair in the kitchen sink, or any small cleaning jobs that require a bowlful of hot water, I heat it in a pan on the top of the gas stove. I only heat the amount I want to use, so I don't have the problem of the water running cold before it gets hot.

I have a downstairs loo as well as one upstairs in the bathroom. I do literally carry the bath water downstairs. Some of it I deposit in a large bucket next to the downstairs loo, and keep an old small saucepan nearby for flushing. I have a lot of plastic buckets and bowls in the garden which I collect rainwater in. The bath water also goes into these if there is not much rain to fill them. I wash the car with bath water, carrying it downstairs.

Why don't you want to carry it downstairs, are the stairs steep, or do you have a mobility problem? If you are physically disabled I apologize for asking. I have a plastic jug in the bathroom for scooping. I also leave some water in the bath for flushing the toilet next to it, using the jug. I am on a meter, my bills are very low. I feel the effort is worth it to save money. You could rig up a system to harvest water, as LL suggests.
Ilona
Totally Scrambled
Site Admin
Posts: 13291
Joined: 07 Jul 2009, 20:33
Gender: Female
Location: Wateringbury, Kent

Re: Water

Post by Totally Scrambled »

If it is not possible to fit a diverter to the downpipe from the bath & sink in the bathroom then a cheap submersible pump (with a float switch) attached to a length of hosepipe will pump the majority of any bathwater to the garden/water butt and then you can decide whether to bail out what is left or let it down the plug.
Such a pump will safe effort in carting buckets of water and the float switch will automatically switch the pump off when the water level is too low for it to work. Also it would mean you could hose it onto the garden direct from the bath, just don't use fresh bath water on root crops as they can taste a bit soapy by taking up the water if done too often. You can also use such a pump in the water butt to hose the contents round the garden or transfer it to another water butt further up the garden.
Of course it will use electricity that you will have to pay for but it doesn't use a great deal.
I use one to transfer water from butt to butt up the garden as our veg patch is over 300 yards from the house which would be a back breaking and time consuming job with buckets. With a pump it takes about half an hour tops to shift 300+ litres of water from the butt nearest the house to the one by the greenhouse and then onto the veg patch.
Dom
Ali Woks My World
User avatar
Mo
Legendary Laner
Posts: 15368
Joined: 30 Apr 2007, 09:39
Location: Cheshire (nr Chester)

Re: Water

Post by Mo »

Does the diverter work for a downstairs bathroom or kitchen, where the outlet is lower than the top of the butt?
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
Totally Scrambled
Site Admin
Posts: 13291
Joined: 07 Jul 2009, 20:33
Gender: Female
Location: Wateringbury, Kent

Re: Water

Post by Totally Scrambled »

Mo wrote:Does the diverter work for a downstairs bathroom or kitchen, where the outlet is lower than the top of the butt?

It would only fill anything up to the level that the pipe comes out as water cannot flow uphill )t'
Dom
Ali Woks My World
Milzy241
Lively Laner
Posts: 68
Joined: 07 Jan 2012, 12:38
Gender: Male
Location: Lincoln

Re: Water

Post by Milzy241 »

Thanks all for the ideas, no mobility issues.............my bathroom is actually downstairs and directly outside my bathroom windows are my water butts for collecting rain water, so I am feeling very lazy now haha. I have a baby daughter so didn't want a bath full of water left standing all day. I love the idea of a pump for my bath water and a diverter for the kitchen sink :-D
User avatar
Meanqueen
Legendary Laner
Posts: 7617
Joined: 19 Jan 2008, 19:49

Re: Water

Post by Meanqueen »

Yes, be careful with a baby about. There must be a way of shifting the water from a downstairs bathroom. You need to look at your plumbing.
Ilona
Totally Scrambled
Site Admin
Posts: 13291
Joined: 07 Jul 2009, 20:33
Gender: Female
Location: Wateringbury, Kent

Re: Water

Post by Totally Scrambled »

Our bathroom is downstairs and the pump does the job.
I put some nylon mesh around the intake at the bottom and then cover it up with the foot end of old tights. The tights reduce the amount of scummy stuff and hair that is pumped out and the mesh stops the tights being sucked into the pump intake )t'
Dom
Ali Woks My World
Freeranger
Legendary Laner
Posts: 3171
Joined: 17 Apr 2012, 10:13

Re: Water

Post by Freeranger »

Glad to hear you have a use for your old tights - shame to waste them, eh?!
Post Reply