Water meter or not?

[quanglewangle]

I don't think I would be welcome in Mrs quanglewangle's shower. I use the boys' and dogs' shower, and not so often now I am an oldie

[quanglewangle]

Early indications are that it will cost about £35 to £40 /month during the watering season. Less in winter I guess. Better than £64/month water rate.

Table below includes about 30l /day on greenhouse and some showers early in week before we started recording them.

[Snoop Puss]

Goodness, QW. That's fascinating but perhaps not for the same reasons for me as for you. When you live off grid, every litre of water is either collected from rain or brought in from elsewhere, so we are extremely parsimonious. In three months for personal use (including washing machine but not watering garden), we use on average around 14 litres a day between the two of us. I have no idea how we manage it, looking at your figures. No flushing loo helps. Our washing machine must be more economical than I realised. Either that, or the council isn't charging us enough. Our water bill is about 20 euros a quarter, most of it standing charge.

[quanglewangle]

...we use on average around 14 litres a day between the two of us....

Wow! Even when were sailing we used to reckon that the boat's two 100l tanks would only last a week at sea and we thought that was frugal.

[bikermike]

I would think the no-flush loo helps massively. Water loos are tricky one (ask Napoleon...), too little flush and double-flushing needs to be done, too much flush and there's wastage. Not to mention the number of times the seal on newer non-syphon ones get held slightly open by debris, so it's like leaving a tap on. (And that's before you get to the wider point of what happens to all the water afterwards)

one thing we do is save up half-drunk glasses of water and tip them into the watering can (or nearby plantpot).

on the pump subject, measure your pump carefully, when we bought ours, it was larger than advertised so doesn't fit in the waterbut it was bought for. It can be bodged with a bucket, but it is irritating.

[quanglewangle]

One of our big uses is, because of the long run from the hot water storage tank to the wash basin, I have to run off a couple of litres of cold water before it runs hot. Argued with installer for longest time about that. Too late now.

Can't have an instant hot under sink heater installed because of feeble electrical supply to the house.

Can't wash hands in cold water - long story but basically they seize up if I do that.

[Snoop Puss]

Sympathy like there, QW.

[quanglewangle]

Two weeks in.

4m³ used, which extrapolates to about £40/month or a £25/month saving over water rates.

No rain at all until today. So can only get better once we organise storage and watering season passes.

In that time we have watered onions, potatoes, asparagus, and some decorative plants, all with a hand held hose, and taken 40l/day to greenhouse.

[Nicos]

Sounding good Q.

You’d prompted a discussion between me and my hubby.
We need to measure how many litres of hot water come through as cold when we run the kitchen tap first thing in the morning, but it’s going to be a good few litres.
So , we’ve decided to draw off the water and save it for watering indoor plants,plants near the back door and to top up the chook water.
In the summer I already save the washing up basin water (so long as it’s hot too greasy) for the patio plants….and I used to pump out/syphon my bathtub water through the window onto a flower boarder.
The pump broke and I never replaced it…I should look into that again.

[bikermike]

We keep our watering can by the sink for half-finished glasses of water, water bottles etc. It's amazing how much can be collected

[Nicos]

That’s a great idea^^^^ All of mine are too aged and grotty to be seen indoors but what a great excuse to have to buy a new one!

[quanglewangle]

Nicos Remember if your water is very soft, and your plumbing is old, there is a chance your hot water may (not putting it any stronger than that) contain traces of copper and or lead.

This is not a problem if you only wash in it but may be if used somewhere the concentration could build up.

Mind you, everything in West Cornwall is dosed with arsenic and slightly radioactive, so I am not one to talk.

[quanglewangle]

Clear month with a meter now.
Been on the dry side. Watered potatoes, onions, and newly planted out sweetcorn as I would normally as well as small greenhouse with tomatoes, aubergines, and cucumbers.
No rain storage yet - will do that over the winter

Used 10m³ and cost about £50 (including standing charge and sewage) for month
Would have been £65 water rates.

Can only get better - dry time of year with several crops needing water and no storage yet. Expecting saving of £200/year once cost of storage paid for. With >10% inflation I am happy with that.