Shortly after moving into our new-to-us 1954 single family Cape we of course started discovering issues. One was that the water pipes inside the house were all only half-inch diameter – smaller than more modern houses.The result is that in order to get sufficiently warm water for my 6am 2nd floor shower I must run the shower for up to a minute or more before I dare to step in.
One feature I like is the older 3.5 gallon size toilet – even though modern low-flow toilets use only 1.5 gallons per flush I found myself needing to snake through clogs in the ones we installed in our old house at least once a month.
But after a full 3-month water billing cycle showed we were using the maximum amount in the lowest price tier (up to 15 CCF per cycle – “CCF” = Cento Cubic Feet = 748 gallons per CCF) I decided to work on offsetting the inefficient toilet and shower routines.
By implementing a few small changes to my bathroom routine, in the first week I cut my net water use in half, saving nearly 100 gallons! Here’s how: