10 Home Hacks to Save Water and Reduce Your Bill
By: Hero Labs
Tags: Tech, Water, Home Improvement, IoT, DIY

At Hero Labs, we’re passionate about saving your pocket as well as the planet.

A typical UK household pays £415 a year for their water, and it’s only set to rise in 2019. The average water bill goes up £16 a year, and that’s in spite of water companies investing £8 billion a year in an attempt to slow it down. Rising bills have even prompted the Consumer Council for Water to warn that hundreds of thousands of UK residents in the UK “can’t afford to flush the toilet” — a figure they say has risen by 50% in the past year alone.

In the 1830’s the average person in the UK got by on just 18 litres of water per day — nowadays, we use about 135 litres a day. Here’s ten top tips to reduce your water consumption, your bill and your carbon footprint too.

Scrub a dub dub

According to the biggest ever review of UK water use, showering is the number one culprit in high water bills.

The thought of getting in from a run in the pouring rain, peeling off your soaked layers and rushing your way through a three-minute shower is enough to put anyone off the idea of water conservation (and exercise for that matter). But did you know that cutting just thirty seconds off your shower can save you £120 a year for a family of four?

Fitting a low-flow head on your shower will produce similar results, and many happy users report that they can’t even tell the difference. One thing you definitely will notice is the extra spending money in your pocket at the end of the year!

If that sounds appealing, why not give some of these extra shower saving tips a try?

Time your shower — use a water-saving timer that lets you know when you’ve exceeded 35 litres of water. Many water providers will give away products like this for free, it’s worth checking with yours today.

Don’t leave your shower running- make sure you jump in as soon as possible to maximise your water usage. If you can, keep your shower’s temperature gauge at the perfect temperature to avoid wasting time getting it just right.

Adjust your shower power- try having a shower on a lower power setting to save water without cutting shower time!

Turn your shower off when you’re soaping up-If you’re really serious about saving, “Army showering” — turning off the water while you shampoo or wash your body — saves five times more than cutting off that thirty seconds.

Follow a few of these clever hacks and you’ll be ‘making it rain’ in no time.

Tea for two?

Then make sure that’s all you put into the kettle. Two thirds of people boil more water than they need to every time they make a cup of tea or coffee. This water saving tip will cut your electricity costs too, so you can feel twice as nice about your eco efforts!

Turn the water off while brushing your teeth

The soothing sound of running water… or is it your wallet emptying? Leave the tap off while you brush your teeth and save £50 a year for a family of four. It’s great for the environment too.

Only run full loads

Surprisingly, (and thankfully for those of you who hate housework!) using the dishwasher actually works out more efficient than washing those dirty dishes by hand. Dishwashers are extremely effective at doing what they were made to do, and you probably can’t beat them at their job. What you can do though is only use them when they are full. If you scrape the plates well you can cut out the rinse in the sink too, saving even more water and money!

Washing machines use a lot of water. Don’t worry, we aren’t suggesting you dig out the washboard and mangle, but running only full loads and following a few of the tips below could result in a big reduction in your water usage.

Re-use Towels . Hotels didn’t bring in this initiative because they’re lazy, it is a genuinely easy way to save on water usage. The towel you use to dry after a shower does not need to be laundered after each use, so hang it up and re-use it instead. It will save you time too — you can thank us later.

. Hotels didn’t bring in this initiative because they’re lazy, it is a genuinely easy way to save on water usage. The towel you use to dry after a shower does not need to be laundered after each use, so hang it up and re-use it instead. It will save you time too — you can thank us later. Use Size Cycles . When you need to run a small load for some reason, take advantage of the washer’s “small load” setting, which will use less water and electricity.

. When you need to run a small load for some reason, take advantage of the washer’s “small load” setting, which will use less water and electricity. Skip the Extra Rinse . Or run your machine on eco mode. Many washing machines have an option for an extra rinse cycle, so skip this step to save water.

. Or run your machine on eco mode. Many washing machines have an option for an extra rinse cycle, so skip this step to save water. Upgrade to an Efficient Washing Machine. When your existing machine breaks, opt for an efficient machine to replace it. An efficient washing machine can save as much as 30,000 litres per household per year!

Fill a jug with tap water and place in your fridge

Next time you want a refreshing, cool drink you won’t have to run the water for several minutes first to make sure it’s cold. Just pour, sip, and feel those smug eco warrior vibes soak through you.

I like big water butts and I cannot lie

Is now a bad time to remind you that it rains a lot in the UK? Think about fitting a water butt to collect rainwater off your roof. Water butts usually store about 200 litres of water. As well as being better for watering your plants ( rainwater is actually better for your garden than the water from your tap), using rainwater in the garden reduces the amount of treated water you use. Here are some other great ideas for ways you can use collected rainwater.

Cleaning garden pots and planters

Watering indoor plants and herbs

Filling up garden ponds and water features

Washing the car

Washing windows

Cleaning garden tools and equipment

Washing lawn and patio furniture

Fit a water-saving toilet

Toilet flushing accounts for ⅓ of water used in the home today. If you have an older toilet it probably uses around 14 litres of water per flush, but newer dual flush systems use as little as 2.6 litres per flush. That’s quite a saving. Don’t fancy renovating? You can buy a cistern displacement device (or often get one free from your water supplier) to fit in your toilet — or you can create your own by simply filling an empty plastic bottle with water and placing it inside your toilet cistern. Doing this will save you 3–4 litres per flush. Think about how many times you use the toilet in a day- those litres add up pretty quickly!

Another great trick you can try is putting a few drops of food colouring in your cistern and waiting 10 minutes to see if it spreads to the bowl. If it does, hey presto — you have a leak. Make sure to flush after 10 minutes though, or you might stain the tank!

Bathtime fun

Showers use much less water than baths, but there’s nothing quite like a big bubble bath to take away the stresses of the day (or a bath full of rubber ducks to entertain the little ones!). If you want to ‘splash out’ on a bath then consider buying a babydam, a device that sections off the bath to make it smaller for the kids. For older kids why not try a “bath buoy” — it saves as much as 30 litres per bath, and doubles up as a foot rest for those of you who are too mature to play with penguins (who are you trying to kid!)

Water early or late

If you’re a green-thumbed gardener you’ll know well-kept foliage means lots and lots of water. Thankfully plenty of it falls from the sky in the United Kingdom, but if you are going to run those sprinklers then consider doing it early in the morning or late at night. Less water will evaporate, meaning and that means your lawn stays greener for longer, and you’ll be greener too. Win, win. Even better, use a watering can, and you can fill it from that shiny new water butt you fitted!

Fix those leaks

A leaky tap is ‘money down the drain’, quite literally. Even a slowly dripping tap can waste thousands of litres of water a year. Try Drinktap’s handy drip calculator to see how much you can save — it can really add up.

Or get a little help from a Hero!

It would be wrong of us not to mention our very own in-house hero, Sonic! According to the Energy Saving Trust, people who have a way to keep tabs on their water usage tend to save from 3–10% on their water bills straight away — and that’s before you consider what hidden water leaks might be costing you. Sonic can work out which of your appliances take the most water to run, helping you to save money and stay in control of your bill — all while actively detecting, preventing and stopping leaks in their tracks. Hands down, the easiest way to save water!