Plumbing Tips
Costly Leaks
A friend of ours recently got a water bill from Denver Water that caused not a little consternation. She has two units she rents out in North Denver, and the two-month water bill for Jan.-Feb., which should have been something like $50, came in at a whopping $250. Obviously, something was amiss.
She called Denver Water concerning the bill, and the utility suggested a Residential Water Audit, a free service it offers to foster water conservation. The culprit? Two leaking toilets, one with a bad flapper valve (the rubber piece that opens on the bottom for a flush and then closes to let the tank fill), and the other with a bad float. Of course, she had them immediately repaired - by one of the licensed plumbers from Ben Franklin Plumbing of Denver, we’re proud to say - and her next water bill will most surely let her keep her head above water, so to speak.
Leaking toilets are particularly troublesome in that they are often hard to spot. The trouble found in our friend’s water audit isn’t something that leads to water on the floor, it just wastes water - a lot of water wasted in her case. And not every toilet that is leaking water is something you can hear. It’s best to have your water infrastructure - toilets, faucets, irrigation system, valves, etc. - checked regularly to ensure they are working properly. Just imagine: according to Denver Water literature left behind at our friend’s house for the audit, even a dripping faucet that has just 5 drops every 30 seconds wastes 292 gallons of water a year!
The Denver Water Residential Water Audit Program is a good place to start, particularly since it’s free. They checked the toilets, all of the bathroom, basement and kitchen faucets, the showers and tubs, and the laundry, and a complete flow analysis is given to the homeowner. Denver Water doesn’t fix anything - but they can let you know what to fix.
Also, Denver Water has many rebate programs to help mitigate the cost of such water-saving devices for the home as high-efficiency and low-flow toilets, more efficient clothes washers, and even some irrigation/sprinkler systems - and these rebates can run up to $150 or more in some cases on the purchase price or installation. Check with www.denverwater.org for more details.
Should you need some assistance installing new plumbing fixtures or repairing them for peak efficiency, call the pros at Ben Franklin Plumbing of Denver. As our friend’s leaky-toilet situation so clearly illustrates, being water wise can save you money.