Have you hit a wall in your water reduction efforts? Have you done everything you can to cut back on your usage, only to find that your water bill remains higher than you would like it to be? If so, it might be time to start calling plumbers. Edmonton has hundreds of plumbing experts who would be happy to come to your home and work with you on solutions to help cut down on your water usage. But before you call one of the many fine plumbers Edmonton has to offer, take these steps to make sure you can’t reduce your usage on your own.
1. Search for drips. Walk around your home and check for drips from all your showerheads and taps. If you find one that drips, make sure that the handle is turned all the way off. If it is, then you have a faulty fixture, which can amount to at least few dollars added to your water bill every month. Fortunately, these problems are often easy to fix. If you have the right tools, disassemble the tap or showerhead, and make sure that everything is still in good shape, and put it back together as tightly as possible. In many cases, this is enough to fix the drip.
2. Listen to your pipes. When you run the shower, flush a toilet, or turn on the tap, do you hear any strange noises that don’t sound like they should be there? Rattles or rumbles can signal problems that may be decreasing your water efficiency. Find out how to reproduce the sound, and trace it to its origin. Maybe you’ll find that the problem is easy to fix. And if not, you’ll at least know the general area of the problem, which will be useful when you start calling numbers in the “plumbers Edmonton” directory.
3. Search for pipe damage. According to local plumbers, Edmonton presents some interesting challenges. Most notably, the winters can get quite cold, which can cause all sorts of damage to pipes, both indoors and outside. If you’re not getting the water efficiency that you would like, look around your home for pipes that appear to be cracked, convoluted, or simply old. The cold weather usually means that pipes degrade and need to be replaced more often than they do in more southern climates.
4. Go low flow. If you’ve been resisting the government-mandated transition to low-flow toilets, now might be the time to finally give in. Yes, they don’t work as well, but they can save you huge amounts of water monthly. Of course, while toilet replacement is best left to plumbers, Edmonton hardware stores sell many different types of toilets, so you might want to go look at your options before talking to a plumber about a replacement.
5. Fix your hot water. If your water takes more than a minute to get hot, then you probably habitually waste tones of water during the warming-up process. If so, you may want to look into repairs to your water heater.
