Just got our first daily water use info for our water meter

[Motnight]

It's 1180 litres. I am gobsmacked.

3 bedroomed house. 2 of us living here permanently, occasional visits from a 3rd person! Both working mostly at home. Around 10 loads of washing a week, dishwasher used once a day. 2 showers and 1 bath a day (bath is deep). Bath is taken by husband who has a life long illness which leaves him in lots of physical pain, which is helped by a bath.

Is this normal? The useful info provided says that a typical 2 person household should use around 270 metres a day. Do we have a leak or are we just using appalling amounts of water? If the latter, any tips on reducing this? Thankyou.

@Motnight

Thanks for all the further responses. To answer a few questions, the washing machine is just over 2 years old and we always use the eco wash program. The dish washer is about 10 years old, but again we use the eco wash program.

Our showers definitely last less than 10 minutes each, and I only wash my hair twice a week.

I am going to contact our water company to see if they can help us at all, even with us using the washing machine every day and a deep bath it seems excessive.

Wow, OP, I'd never thought of that. So if I decide to use my washing machine every day instead of 2 or three times a week can I ask the water company to give me a discount?

So if I decide to use my washing machine every day instead of 2 or three times a week can I ask the water company to give me a discount

No, but you can ask them if the water meter is wrong if the usage seems to be for ten people rather than two, even two doing a lot of washing.

It's possible for those ironically-named water-saving loos to have a slow leak that is easy to miss. Both loos in our house are like that and the leaks keep re-occurring.

Get some loo paper and wipe the inside of the loo bowl, at the back, under where the flush comes out, so it's dry. Then get some more loo paper and place it on the area you've dried - do streaks of water appear on it even though you are not using or flushing the loo? That little leak can add up to a lot.

The laundry is irrelevant! The WM will use less than 50l per wash. Even if @Motnight put the machine in a skip and henceforth washed all her clothes in the river her usage world go down from 1180l per day to 1100.

There's a leak.

If you go on to your online account, you can see daily usage on an hour-by-hour basis. That will show you what's using most water - but also will show if there's a leak, as there will be water being used all day.

Is the dishwasher full when you put it on or do you just put it on once a day regardless of what’s in there? And you are using the washing machine too much imo for two prior

My dh has just raised the issue that we have a water pipe in our loft that goes from our house to the one next door....we are wondering if we are on one metre for 2 houses!

Will check online account as well.

You might have to just accept your high users.
We're the same OP. No matter how I try to cut ours down it's ridiculous.

I do 21 loads of washing a week for 2 adults and 4 children. People who talk about 2 or 3 loads a week for a family of four must be packing it in and doing tens of KG at a time.

How much will it cost in £s? It may not be as bad as you think. Once again I say, don't confuse litres with cu metres.

I would definitely check with the water company as that does seem a massively excessive daily usage but you also could reduce your water usage massively.

10 loads of washing a week is hugely excessive for two people and no medical need - DD spends every other week with her dad but on weeks when she is with me I do 4 loads max a week - bedding, towels, lights and darks - and on weeks she isn't with me I can get away with just doing 3 - bedding and towels can go in one load and then lights/darks. Even accounting for separate washes for bedding and towels 2 people don't need to put a wash in every single day - it's hugely wasteful.

I know you say your husband needs baths but then could he only have a bath rather than bath and shower some days or reduce the amount of water he uses, especially if it is a very deep bath?

Additionally, if there is only two of you then your dishwasher can easily just be run every other day rather than every day to help cut down further.

Pluvia - I am contacting the water company to see if they can check for leaks for us. Hope that helps.

Family of 4 and I only do 5 loads of laundry a week.

@RegardingMary

You might have to just accept your high users. We're the same OP. No matter how I try to cut ours down it's ridiculous.

I do 21 loads of washing a week for 2 adults and 4 children. People who talk about 2 or 3 loads a week for a family of four must be packing it in and doing tens of KG at a time.

21 loads a week for 6 people - how !

Don’t forget to check the meter with nothing using water, may have a leak between the meter and the internal stop valve 👍

@RegardingMary why wouldn’t you pack it in? You don’t do half loads do you?

How to do laundry for a family of 4 with only 5 loads a week:

1 load of whites
1 load of darks
1 load of coloureds
1 load of towels (washed at 60 - everything else at 30)
1 load of woollens/delicates

Change sheets & towels once a week, duvet covers every 2 weeks (flip in between), clean underwear, socks & shirts every day.

@Gwenhwyfar

"According to my bill typical use over 6 months is: One person 28m3"

Hmm. I just did the Anglia's test and came to 35m3 and a low user (washing done at the laundrette).

Hmm what? Do you think I'm lying? Northumbria Water disagree with your provider

This is how to check for leaks yourself:

www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/plumbing/checking-for-leaks/

If you think you might be supplying your neighbours water too, I would suggest turning the water off at the external stopcock and asking them to run their kitchen cold tap (so you know it is mains water and not from a tank) for a few minutes to see if the water stops. Although I suppose it is possible that the pipe in your loft is supplying their water tank in their loft and they have a separate mains supply, which would explain why it hasn't been noticed (assuming they have a meter too).

The washing thing always makes me laugh. We are a family of 3 and each week we do

2 loads of bedding
1 load of towels at least
3 dark loads at least. DH uniform must be clean each day, DS clean uniform and whatever I’ve worn for work that needs to go in so sometimes it’s 4 dark loads
1 white load

I am in awe of the poster who does one load a week but secretly questioning if your clothes are actually clean.

No I don't do half loads.
4 lots of school uniforms means -
20 school shirts
15ish pairs of trousers/skirts/pinafore
15ish cardigans/jumpers
4 lots of PE kits washed twice a week.

Then
4 loads of bedding
2 loads of towels a week
2 loads of dog towels and blankets
1 load of kitchen cloths/dishtowels

My uniform
DHs work clothes

Dog walking clothes

Pj's and underwear

Multiple sports kits

It very easily adds up

If you are doing 10 loads of washing a week and using the dishwasher daily then that is the problem.

There is two of us and we only need to put it on every 3-4 days and it's a slimline washer.

Your water company won't be able to help you - you simply need to use less!

Gosh that’s a lot op, I suspect it’s right.

Two of us here, on average dishwasher on every second day, five loads of laundry weekly Inc towels and bed linen, and showers daily, the deep bath will be taking a lot of water.

I’d say yes, you use a lot more water than average, I’d expect your reading to be right. Your washing machine alone is on one or two times every single day,

We are a family of 5 which includes my MIL with dementia and incontinence. Her clothes need changing daily and sheets twice weekly but we do 5 maybe 6 loads a week. I am not getting people with smaller families doing 10 or marginally larger family's doing 3 x as much. Maybe I am not as clean as them??!! I admit clothes do not go in the laundry unless they are visibly stained or smell apart from underwear obviously and I do this to reduce our washing load as it was getting far too much with my kids and DH just chucking everything in the laundry basket after 1 use!

[quote LuckyAmy1986]@RegardingMary why wouldn’t you pack it in? You don’t do half loads do you?[/quote]
Because if you overload the washing machine:

1. It won't clean properly because the clothes are stuck in a tangle and can't move around, especially eco washes that use agitation rather than high temperatures to clean clothes. It can also stop the detergent dissolving properly.
2. If it weighs more than the recommended amount, it can damage the drum bearings and reduce the machine's lifespan.
3. It pushes clothes against the door, which can tear, stain or wear the fabric thin.

You shouldn't wash more than the recommended weight nor load the drum more than 3/4 full.

Wow, 10 loads of washing a week?? For 2?? We do 4 loads, towels, bedding, lights, and darks. Why 2 showers one bath a day, who is showing 2 x daily, and for how long? Showers are only better than baths if the shower lasts a couple of minutes only.
Do you leave tap running when you clean your teeth, do the washing up, etc. with tap running? Do you work from home and flush the toilet a lot? It does seem a lot of water. Can you access your meter, I have no idea how a water meter works but can you see it like an electric meter, can you try and see what the reading is, not use the water for x number of hours and see if thr reading changes. If so, you know you have a leak. If not, you need to reassess your water usage. Loads of tips online like getting a nozzle to reduce flow from shower, the bag to go in cistern so it fills less for flushing toilet, etc.