One’s cup running over is generally viewed as a positive aspect of financial well-being, what about your bowl? Toilet bowl, that is.
When you flush your toilet, do you have to jiggle the handle to get the water to stop running? If so, this could be a sign of a potentially serious problem.
Case(s) in point: A client of Complete Home Services, here in Blairsville, GA reported a rather large water bill and asked had they noticed any leaks or wet spots in or around the house. They had not. Upon their next visit they discovered the toilet was running. They turned the water to the offending toilet off and requested a repair, which was effected right away. The bad thing was their water bill reflected an increase in water usage… to the tune of several thousand gallons!!!!
Another client of Complete Home Services had scheduled a whole house pressure wash. The wash could not be started because the water pressure was almost non-existent. The crew also reported hearing water running somewhere in the crawl space under the house. Upon inspection Complete Home Services discovered the upstairs toilet had been running, evidently for some time. The toilet repair was done but the water pressure was still bad. Since they were on a well, the well service folks came out and determined that a new pump was needed. The pump was replaced just two years earlier!!! The well company said that a running toilet could easily burn a pump up in 2 to 4 weeks. The running was probably occurring for a bit longer than that as the client had not come up in a while.
Some facts to consider regarding water leaks (from the EPA):
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The amount of water leaked from U.S. homes could exceed more than 1 trillion gallons per year. That's equivalent to the annual water use of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami combined.
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Ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day.
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Common types of leaks found in the home include leaking toilet flappers, dripping
faucets, and other leaking valves. All are easily correctable.
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A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year.
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A shower head leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year. That's enough water to wash 60 loads of dishes in your dishwasher.
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If your toilet is running constantly, you could be wasting 200 gallons of water or more every day.
Of course this doesn’t even begin to cover the unknown leakage due to crumbling infrastructure! Even though over 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water, less than 1% of it is available for human consumption!
Complete Home Services in Blairsville, GA offers housekeeping, landscaping & home services. They do a fabulous job and I highly recommend them!
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