Table Of Contents
Hot Water Conservation
The water supplied to your home has many uses. One common use is showering; this is something we do every day. Since showering represents a significant part of family water use, realising how much water a shower uses can go far in conserving some of it.
Water as a natural resource is limited in supply. If we are not mindful of how it is used, we can exhaust natural sources like springs and start redirecting water sources like streams and lakes, which hurts wetlands.
Water quantity can become reduced significantly over time, and that might aggravate its availability because more is used than is necessary. Also, getting water dispensed from your nozzles takes energy, and this can also cause your costs to go up.
Saving the water, you use in the shower also helps save energy. There are several factors involved in the process of installing showers in houses and facilities. Some of these factors include the number of litres that a shower uses each minute.
Typical Shower Water Utilisation Rate
There are facts that can assist you in understanding how much water a shower uses. Flushing toilets and washing clothes are two of the ways water is used in most homes, and these activities quickly deplete water. It may surprise you to learn that the number of litres your shower uses per minute on average is around 9.5 litres.
Shower water utilisation is determined by multiplying the average stream pace of 9.5 litres per minute by the average shower length, say, 8.2 minutes. From this estimation, one can conclude that 78 litres of water are used on average. Some people use about 9.5 litres per minute, on average, when you turn on your shower.
You will use the shower maybe once in a day or seven times a week, assuming you are like most Americans. The water system in a house can comfortably accommodate a shower. But this can only happen if you use water sparingly.
This translates to 78 litres per average shower, which comes to a little more than 545.5 litres of shower water use per individual every week. This is about 28463 litres per person or 113847 litres for a family of four people.
Cost Factors Of Your Shower Water Usage
The actual amount of water you use may be significantly higher than average. Reducing water usage in your shower can help you save energy at home. The following are some of the factors that determine how much water is used in a shower:
Duration of shower
If for any reason, you choose to stay in the shower longer than the typical 8.2 minutes, you could be significantly increasing your water utilisation.
Your shower stream rate
The speed and volume of water that is ejected from your spigot indicates the water flow rate. This, in turn, has a lot to do with how much water is used in the end.
The frequency of your shower
Each time you wash up, your water utilisation goes up.
The type of shower head you use
There are different types of showerheads; people choose based on their preferences. The power shower head is designed with shower massage heads to deliver highly pressurised water. However, you use more water than if you had a typical model.
The Cost Of Running A Hot Water Shower
The amount of water your shower utilises is just a single variable in deciding the amount of money expended in running a shower. Additionally, there is the cost of the energy you use to warm the water. How much energy a shower utilises has to do with the efficiency of your water heating appliance, its size, the temperature setting, and whether your water heater is powered by gas or electricity.
There are many bills that people have to take care of at home. The cost of heating water is the second most significant bill for most homeowners. It usually comes to around 18 per cent of energy, right behind the cost of warming and cooling. Another variable is the humidity of the air inside the home.
With the installation of hot showers in homes, the humidity can increase, which could mean the HVAC system will have to work harder than is necessary. Divide your water bill in dollars by the number of gallons used. This will give you an estimate of the amount it costs to run your shower during the year.
Assuming that your water utilisation is in CCF (Centum Cubic Feet), 3400 litres are equivalent to 1.2 CCF, or 120 cubic feet. The figure you arrive at is the amount you will pay per gallon. Multiplying the price for each litre of water used by the average shower water usage of 28463 litres per person in a household will give you an estimate of the cost of running showers each year.
The next thing you would want to do is estimate the energy used in heating the water you use. You can crunch the numbers with an energy cost calculator because you can input all necessary factors to come up with an accurate estimate.
Add the cost of the heater to the price of heating water and multiply the result by the number of people you have in the house. This should tell you the entire cost of having showers in your home.
Can You Save Money By Having A Cold Shower?
Hot water heaters will not have to work hard if you use cold showers once in a while. You can save a lot of energy and, of course, money in the end if you do not heat up water.
Experts suggest that there are numerous benefits of using a cold shower. One such benefit is feeling more energetic and having more radiant skin. However, this habit may be easier to adopt during the hot season and is a great way to save water during summer.
Ways To Save Water In The Shower
You will save money and the environment, which are good reasons to consider using your shower water efficiently. The following are some energy-saving methods you can use to save water in the shower:
Reduce time spent in the shower
You can save hundreds of litres of water each year by reducing a minute of the time you spend in your regular shower. This also means you will be able to drastically reduce the cost of heating water in the shower.
Buy a low-flow showerhead
Consider using one of the now typical low-flow showerheads. Some of these models aerate the water and produce a lovely misty spray. Laminar-flow showerheads dispense tiny water jets that are pretty effective at rinsing. Make sure you replace the showerhead you have been using that was made before 1992. Older showerheads give flow rates of more than 25 litres each minute.
You can quantify the stream pace of your showerhead by setting a litre can under the showerhead and timing the amount of time it takes to fill up. If you fill up a litre can in less than 20 seconds, your water usage can be made better by replacing your showerhead with a modern one.
Go with the occasional navy shower
A navy shower is what you do when you turn the water off while you apply shampoo and soap to your body. You then turn it on only to rinse off the lather.
Doing this can help you reduce the time water is allowed to run from your shower by 5 minutes or even more in some cases. If you are able to withstand cold water, that is even better as you will save more that way in your shower.
Reduce the number of times you shower
You may not need to shower daily. As a matter of fact, specific individuals think of it as one of the top habits that waste water. In some cases, spot-washing is sufficient and has been found to decrease the likelihood of your skin drying.
The process involves simple alterations to your habits, such as upgrading to a modern showerhead to save water and energy. The benefits of this change include a reduction in energy costs and the fact that you will be protecting the environment. It will become clear that the changes made are worth the effort with time.
We keep seeing improvements in hot water systems, making them more efficient. This helps your pocket and also the environment. There are varying types of hot water systems, and each of them is good in its own way. However, before you buy any of them, you should consider some factors that will ensure that it is suitable for you and your family.
Steps To Calculate Hot Water Usage
There are copious variables to think about while computing how much hot water your family needs. The amount required will vary from one family to another, depending on the lifestyle and the equipment used. You should consider such things as the number of times you go for baths, showers, do dishes, and wash clothes.
How many people live in your home?
The main thing to consider is the number of people in your family. For the most part, more prominent families will utilise more water. In Australia, a typical family is between two and three individuals. As every individual will add to the amount of water that is used, it is likely going to be the first question any hot water system sales consultant will ask you.
Are you making use of water-saving showerheads?
You may find that the older and perhaps more standard showerheads would usually dispense between 15-20 litres of water each minute. With a 10-minute shower, you can expect between 150-200 litres to be dispensed each day, 1,050-1,400 litres each week, and 5,475-7,300 litres each year.
You can decrease how much water is used to around 9 litres per minute by switching to a water-saving showerhead. This is somewhat less than a quarter to half of the usual amount of water used. Strategically using your shower could also make you use less water, and to do this, you can try out the following:
- Shave off hair from your legs before using the shower, as you will use less water this way.
- You can keep excess water in a bucket as you test out the water temperature. You may use this extra water to take care of other chores in the house.
- By using a temperature-controlled faucet, you will be able to reduce the amount of water that is wasted.
- Be conscious of the amount of time you spend in the shower to reduce the amount of water used.
- Consider buying an energy-efficient water heater for your hot water system.
Type of hot water system
There are four main types of hot water systems: heat, solar, electric, and gas hot water. Each of these hot water systems has its pros and cons.
Cost To Install A Hot Water System?
Installation cost is not expected to be the same; it varies according to the type of water system that you would like to install. Other factors include such things as difficulty encountered when completing the job and whether it is a replacement or a new installation.
A replacement would be relatively cheaper than a new install. So, think critically about what you would like to do. If you want an existing model to be replaced with a new but similar one, the cost could be around $675. This takes care of the four valves that are needed, the QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) form 4, electrical fittings, and recycling of the old system.
If you want to move your system to another part of your home, the cost attached to this may be higher because there might be some extra plumbing done and some intensive work to achieve your goal. On the other hand, if you want to change the system entirely, say the electric system changed to a solar system, you may have to top up anything between $1,500 and $3,000.
Consider Your Lifestyle Choices
As you near a final decision on what type of hot water tanks you would like to have installed in your home, always put your lifestyle, needs, and how much you are willing to invest into the project into consideration.
Usually, where it is possible to afford a higher initial purchase, it can be made up for in savings before it would be necessary to replace the system. That being said, should you need assistance choosing the correct water tank for your home needs, consider consulting with professionals.
