Understanding Your Water Usage

Transcription

1 Understanding Your Water Usage in the Home and in the Garden southwestwater.co.uk

2 Introduction We have sent you this booklet to help you understand how and why you may be using more water than expected. This could be due to: Faulty plumbing and appliances, e.g. toilet cistern overfilling A leak on your underground pipework or internal plumbing High use of water-using appliances, e.g. power showers, hose pipes Other household members using more water than you expect. This booklet is provided as a guide to help our customers find an answer to their water usage questions. We would like to remind you that the pipework and plumbing on your property is your responsibility. Facts Your bill is based on cubic metres of water and one cubic metre equals 1,000 litres or approximately 220 gallons (one gallon = eight pints). The national average per person use for a metered household is 150 litres (33 gallons) per day. It is extremely rare for domestic meters to go wrong; they are tested for accuracy and sealed before leaving the factory. We regularly test meters and very few fail the accuracy test, usually because they have slowed down or stopped. 2 southwestwater.co.uk

3 Investigating your water usage We recommend that you follow the eight steps as shown in this booklet. Step 1 Check your internal stop tap is working This is often located under your kitchen sink or in a connecting garage. It is vital that your internal stop tap is working in order to complete all checks on your supply pipe. If it is not you may need to contact a plumber. Now follow the steps below: Step 2 How to locate your water meter Step 3 How to read your meter Step 4 Checking for unexpected night usage Step 5 How to check for leakage on your supply pipe Step 6 Do you have a leak on your internal plumbing? Step 7 How much do water appliances use? Step 8 What happens next? southwestwater.co.uk 3

4 Step 2 How to locate your water meter The meter is usually located either close to the boundary of your property, possibly in your front garden or in the footpath immediately outside your property. The meter sits inside a chamber connected to your supply pipe. If you see water in this chamber do not worry, this is likely to be rainwater or groundwater. Sometimes the meter will have been fitted inside the house. If this is so, it is often located under the sink or near to the internal stop tap, sometimes found in your hot water tank cupboard. Each meter has a unique meter serial number shown on your water bill. Please ensure that these two numbers match to confirm that you have located the correct water meter. Step 3 How to read your meter Locate your meter and if necessary use a cloth to wipe the meter face and use a pen and paper to note the readings. If you are reading an external meter please check that it is safe to do so first. Access the meter by lifting the outer lid on your external meter by using a screwdriver and remove or tilt the polystyrene frost cover to view the meter face. Check that the meter serial number matches your bill. 4 southwestwater.co.uk

5 Look at the meter face. Read the black numbers on the white dials; these measure cubic metres and are the numbers on which you are billed. If carrying out the tests in Step 5 or checking the water use of individual appliances in Step 7, you will also need to read the white numbers on the red dials which measures litres. Step 4 Checking for unexpected night usage During the night your water consumption should be very low or even zero. Before completing this step, please ensure that no appliances will be operating during this period and if necessary turn them off. Take a meter reading (see Step 3 on how to read your meter) before going to bed. Write your reading here: And then again first thing in the morning before any water is used. Write your reading here: Compare the two readings if the two readings are different it might be due to faulty plumbing, like an overflow in your toilet or attic tank, or that you failed to turn off an appliance overnight. If a nightly meter reading check indicates no problems, then please follow Step 7 to see what other reasons might be the cause of your high water consumption. southwestwater.co.uk 5

6 Step 5 How to check for leakage on your supply pipe, between your meter and internal stop tap Firstly, you will need to locate your meter, so you are able to take readings (see page 4 for guidance). Turn off all internal water-using appliances and the internal stop tap, usually located under the kitchen sink. Check that no water comes out of the cold kitchen tap you may need to let it run for a few minutes before it stops. If the water continues to flow then you have not fully shut off the internal stop tap or it may be faulty and need replacing. Now carry out the following test on your external supply pipe. Locate your meter and take a reading. Read all the dials. If the dials are moving you may have a leak. Please ring our Services Helpline on * (for Minicom users only ) where you will be given information about what to do next. 6 southwestwater.co.uk

7 Write your reading here: Do not use any water for one hour After one hour, check your meter reading again and write down the reading. Write your reading here: Do the two readings that you have written down differ? Yes Water has passed through the meter meaning you may have a leak. Please ring our Services Helpline on * (for Minicom users only ) where you will be given information about what to do next. No Please proceed to Step 6 southwestwater.co.uk 7

8 Step 6 Do you have a leak on your internal plumbing? There are two ways that you can check this. Follow Step 4 checking for overnight usage, or: 1. If you have turned off the water in your home at your internal stop tap to carry out Step 5, turn it back on. 2. Wait another hour, making sure you are not using any water. 3. Check your meter reading again and write down the reading. Write your reading here: Does this reading differ from the first two readings you took in Step 5? Yes You may have a leak on your internal plumbing and you may want to get a plumber to help you find it. No Please proceed to Step 7 8 southwestwater.co.uk

9 Simple things you can check yourself are: Toilet cisterns Are these overflowing? Check that the overflow pipe has not been connected back into the toilet pan; it could be overflowing and you will not know if this has happened. You can do this by lifting the lid of the cistern and checking to see whether there is water going into the overflow. Taps Do you have any taps dripping, either in or outside the property? Roof tank overflows Are these overflowing? Check this by looking outside the property at roof level for water flowing out of a pipe near the roof. If you have a leak you may need to get a plumber to fix it. Please do so quickly, as you will be paying for the water that is leaking. southwestwater.co.uk 9

10 Step 7 How much do water appliances use? Look at the following sections on water used by certain appliances. Use your meter to measure your own usage: this might help explain why you are using more water than you expected. We have included a water usage checklist on page 11 for you to estimate your annual water use. Watering gardens Using a garden hose or sprinkler system will typically use nearly one cubic metre of water per hour. Power showers A normal shower uses around 35 litres based on four minutes of use, but power showers can use 65 litres for the same period as a normal shower per use. To work out how much your shower uses, simply take a reading before and after you take a shower, making sure no other water appliances are in use. Also check how often and for how long other members of your household use the shower. Toilet flushes A standard flush uses seven litres per flush while a dual flush can cut that to five litres. Older systems can use as much as 12 litres. If you have an old cistern try installing a water saving device such as a hog or hippo, available by calling our Water Conservation line on Baths Again, you can measure the amount of water you use by taking a reading from the meter before and after you ve run the bath. Ponds and swimming pools Topping up swimming pools and ponds can use up to 1,000 litres per hour by hose pipe. Assess how much water you use by taking a meter read before and after topping up your pool or pond. Other things to consider Consumption can go up in the summer, through watering the garden, spring cleaning or taking more showers. Have you had visitors? The more people in your home, the higher your water consumption will be. Check your washing machine and any other plumbed-in appliance with an overflow. 10 southwestwater.co.uk

11 Water usage checklist Old appliances use more water than more modern ones, so choose a figure from the range provided to match your circumstances. Activity Litres Frequency Water used (litres) Bath 85 x (number per week) Shower (ordinary) 35 x (number per week) Shower (power) 65 x (number per week) Toilet flushes 5-7 x (number per day) x 7 Automatic washing machine x (number of uses per wee Dishwasher x (number of uses per week) Cooking, drinking, handbasin use, washing dishes & (number of people clothes by hand 30 x in house) x 7 Weekly use: Plus x 52 = Annual use: Hosepipe/sprinkler 15 x (number of minutes used a week) x (number of weeks used) = Total annual use (litres): Divide total annual use (litres) by 1,000 to get cubic metres: southwestwater.co.uk 11

12 Step 8 What happens next? If you have completed the seven steps and you do not have a supply leak or a leak on your internal plumbing and you believe your meter is showing that you use more water than you think, call our Services Helpline on * (for Minicom users only ). A call advisor will ask you a set of questions which will assist our Metering Department. A metering representative will then contact you within a maximum of 15 working days to discuss what will happen next. Special services If you find that you are unable to carry out the steps in this booklet yourself or do not have someone to help you, please call our Services Helpline on * (for Minicom users only ). Your contact will be passed to our Metering Department to assist you. Water Conservation Helpline Free advice and details of water saving product offers (9am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays) *03 numbers are charged at standard rates and will be included in any free minutes in a mobile or landline phone contract. Charges may vary according to service provider. southwestwater.co.uk UWUv3_0914