Washington State Conservation Fact Sheet

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. ~ - Depending on your water pressure, the water' flaw through an older shawerhead occurs at about faur to. six gallans per minute. At four gallo~s per minute water flaw, and assuming a 65-J5 mix of DoaF hat water and cold water, a five-minute shower would use abaut lJ gallans af hat water. Wi th a flow restrictor In place, hot water use cauld be reduced to. 7 gallans. The fallowing example will help show just haw much can be saved with a shawerhead flaw restrictar. If an old-style shawerhead delivers water at faur gallans per minute, a family af faur averaging three 'five-minute shawers every day will use 14,235 gallons af hat water in a year -.l~.s_sIJJ:ning 6?:;l5 hot/cald mix). If this water is heated fram 500 to. 1300, at $.03/kWh, this will cast $83. Cutting the , flow rate in half means a first-year savings of $41. Figures 1 Showerhead Flow Restrictor ,Faucets at bathroom and kitchen sinks can also be :retrofitted to. reduce water flaw. Standard faucets use about 5 to. 6 gallans per minute at 72 pounds af pressure per square inch. Regular aeratars can reduce the flaw to. abaut 4.5 gallans per minute. While this is an impravement, it still means that much of the water flowing from the tap rs just maving tao fast to be really useful for such things as washing hands 0.1' rinsing dishes. Changing to a law-flow aerator can further reduce water flow to a much more usable 2 gallons per minute. 4 .1'/:i "ijY " ~ ,If for some reason the showerhead flow restrictor 'doesn't wark In your fixture, there is a family af 'plumbing fixtures specifically designed to. reduce . flaw rates. These plumbing fixtures range in price , fram $9.00 to. $25.00. If yau are willing to. modify yaur hame's plumbing system, a pressure reducing valve, which costs $25 to. $50, can be installed just downstream fram the main shut-aff valve. A pressure reducing valve can slaw the flaw rate af water in the whale plumbing system by 20 to 50 percent. Reduced pressure, in addition to. saving water, may help yaur water heater last langeI'. . Cald Water Wash -- Laundry , ,^ ... . Secand anly to. bathing in terms af hat water cbnservatian is the washing machine. The standard size clothes washer uses abaut 25 gallans af tiat water when aperated in hat wash/warm rinse made. A large capaci ty washer can use as much :as 40 gallans af hat water. One appraach to. lawerlng yaur energy use would be to. use a warm wash/cold rinse cycle. By providing warm water at 800., you can, save abaut 65 percent of thE! energy you wauld use with a hot wash/warm rinse. You shauld note that perspiratian and aily stains can be especially difficult to remove from synthetic fabrics without hat water. Also, in addition to Cleaning, hot water helps des tray bacteria. ' For many situatians, using a cold wash/cold tinse cycle can be appropriate. Yau may find, hawever, that when water temperatures are bel9w 60aF yaur detergent may not dissalve readily 0.1' clean adequately. One means af solving this 'prOblem, at least to some degree, is to use liquid detergent 0.1' to predissalve powdered detergent in warm water. . Washing Dishes Automatic dishwashers use 11 to. 16 gallans af Mat water to. wash a full laad af dishes. Washing and rinsing dishes by hand after each meal requires an average af 9 to. 14 gallans af hat water. To. canserve hot water, anly use a dishwasheF wt)en it has a full laad. When the dishwasher cycle reaches the "dry" cycle, turn it to off,' 'The diShes will dry fram the heat in the appliance. Do. nat reduce the water temperature to the dishwasher below 1300 since detergents may not dissolve and this can cause etching of glasses and dishes. 2 -.. -~~ . ,. -- '&'--, -