Reducing water wasteage

[Woodchips2]

There’s been a fair bit of publicity recently about the need to conserve water. A couple of years ago we changed our central heating boiler to a more efficient condensing combi boiler but the boiler is a long way away from the kitchen and we waste a lot of water waiting for the hot water to come through to wash the dishes. How much amazed us!

The other day we decided to measure how much water we wasted and it came to a bucketful or 10 litres. Multiply that by three washes per day and over a year it wastes over 10,000 litres (over 2,000 gallons).

Our solution is to collect the water in a bucket and use it in the veg garden so we are expecting a bumper crop of beans and potatoes this year.

Regards Keith

 

[Doug71]

My bathrooms are a long way from the boiler/hot water tank, when the plumbing was done they put in a kind of hot water loop with a pump to the bathrooms which is on a timer. When the pump is running hot water goes round the loop (pipes are well insulated) so when you turn the hot tap/shower on the hot water is instant but if the timer is not on it takes ages to come through.

Any water saving has been totally cancelled out this weekend though as the kids spent most of it in their paddling pool and having water fights with me constantly shouting "Turn the hosepipe off!".

 

[Rorschach]

Turn the tap on for a few seconds (not full open, maybe halfway), then turn it off, wait 20 seconds, do it again, repeat until the water comes out hot. You will use significantly less water and gas than by just turning it on. (if you want to be super efficient, time how long it takes for the boiler to cut out after the hot water is turned off, and turn the tap on again just before this happens, in practice this is tricky though)

Still collect it and water the plants though, we do, get about 50% of our veg water this way, the other 50% comes from water butts.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You'd still waste the x gallons of cold water in the pipe, though.

 

[Just4Fun]

when the plumbing was done they put in a kind of hot water loop with a pump to the bathrooms which is on a timer

I did something similar. It does provide instant hot water but even with well-insulated pipes I was surprised how much heat is lost in the loop and how much this system costs to run. Have you tried turning yours off for a while to check how much electricity it is using? I added a temperature switch to mine to switch off the pump when the returning water was over some threshold value. This helped.

 

[Rorschach]

You'd still waste the x gallons of cold water in the pipe, though.

You will never get around the standing cold water in the pipe, however if you use my method you will waste a darn sight less than you would by turning the tap on full bore and running it until it's hot.

 

[MikeG.]

....when the plumbing was done they put in a kind of hot water loop with a pump to the bathrooms which is on a timer. When the pump is running hot water goes round the loop (pipes are well insulated) so when you turn the hot tap/shower on the hot water is instant..........

You traded wasting water with wasting energy. Or, put another way.........in a wet country you traded water wastage for greenhouse gas emissions. Nothing is cost free. Whenever I design a house I prioritise pipe runs. The proximity of the boiler to the hot water cylinder, and the HWC to the bathrooms and kitchen, is important. One of the best savings is often had by not having a hot water tap in the downstairs loo.

 

[Deejay]

Morning Keith

If your boiler is new, check to see if pre-heating can be turned on. I have a Worcester Bosch combi and the boiler is set on a built in timer to heat the exchanger up to temperature without water flowing. It's set to run for a ten minute period when we get up in the morning.

When you open a tap, hot water is instantly available at the boiler, rather than waiting to heat up from cold. I use a bit of Gas and save a bit of water.

Don't forget that you no longer have a Hot Water Cylinder to keep up to temperature, so you might be using less gas.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Rorschach]

How much more does gas cost than water? Seems mad to me.

Our worcester boiler has an eco mode which stops the pre-heating. It is always turned on, it's a massive waste of gas and money otherwise. We only switch it off if we know we are going to be using a large amount of hot water for something.

 

[Deejay]

Afternoon Rorschach

How much more does gas cost than water?

That depends where you live

a massive waste of gas and money

I don't think so.

It's set to start pre-heating at 07:45 and stop pre-heating at 08:00. The boiler is firing for less than two minutes. When the water in the heat exchanger is up to temperature, the boiler switches off.

Unless there is a demand for DHW the boiler won't fire up again until after 08:00
If there is no demand for DHW, the heat exchanger will slowly cool.

I don't know if you can set up multiple pre-heat periods, but we don't need more than one.

If you don't pre heat, your boiler will have a flow of cold water to heat up . If you keep changing the water it (the water) will take longer to reach the required temperature, which means more gas is burned and more water is wasted. Keith is looking to reduce water wastage.

Cheers

Dave

 

[sunnybob]

Dish washer. Fed from the cold supply.
ZERO wasted hot water, or even cold come to that. You put it on once a day (unless theres more than 4 in the family). Impossible to make any more savings.

 

[Woodchips2]

Morning Keith

If your boiler is new, check to see if pre-heating can be turned on. I have a Worcester Bosch combi and the boiler is set on a built in timer to heat the exchanger up to temperature without water flowing. It's set to run for a ten minute period when we get up in the morning.

When you open a tap, hot water is instantly available at the boiler, rather than waiting to heat up from cold. I use a bit of Gas and save a bit of water.

Don't forget that you no longer have a Hot Water Cylinder to keep up to temperature, so you might be using less gas.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks Dave, I will look into this. It wasn't the running costs that concerned me, more the water that was wasted down the drain. At least now it is doing good in the vegetable patch!
Regards Keith

 

[Lons]

Quite right that all of us conserve water, we do but it really p****s me off to see just how much the water companies waste through leaking pipes etc.
Kind of puts it into perspective but they aren't on a meter with ever rising prices are they!

 

[Woodchips2]

A couple of years ago we had a leak in the water supply pipe between the house and the stop cock which I got repaired inexpensively and got a rebate from South West Water for the water wasted as a one-off compensation payment. At the time South West Water were advertising an insurance to cover plumbing emergencies plus repairs to the external supply pipe for £12 in the first year but £99 in the second year with no excess. Seemed reasonable value considering the risks so signed up.

Just had the renewal for the third year at £186 so rang them and said I wouldn't renew. Usual ploy 'Sorry to hear that but let me see if I can get you a better deal!' Then 'we can offer a renewal of £106' which I said wasn't low enough. Would you consider taking a £50 excess when the premium would be £43!! Deal done 8)
Regards Keith