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Original poster

Saving water water metres and dishwashers? Are they compatible?

26 replies

PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 11:43

I live in a two bed apartment with my DP and 10 month old LO. We have a small garden/yard.
Currently our water bill is almost £50 per month, and we are thinking of getting a metre put in.

We are quite conservative with our water, use DD's bath water to water plants (only a handful), dont have electric shower, share baths a lot etc, let yellow mellow etc...

However, we have a small, constantly messy kitchen which seems to produce an endless amount of washing up, and needs to be done regularly to keep the kitchen from descending into chaos.

So we are thinking of buying a dishwasher, which of course will be used when it is full only. Are they better for water consumption that washing up several times a day? How about a slimline one, which will of course get full quicker? We have limited space so cant have a full sized one?

If they are not economical for water usage, how much more do they use?.

Thanks everyone

OP posts:
charliecat · 05/05/2007 11:48

Hi, I have a slimline dishwasher, and my water bills have gone up by £5 for 6 months worth. Im on a meter. My bills are £76 for the 6 months, before dishwasher they were £71.
I have a gadget running from the bath outlet into my waterbutt for gardens, and since noticing the increase in water usage have brought a bucket and a jug for next to the loo for flushing wees. (filling bucket with bathwater every day)
I have 1-2 loads of washing a day, at least 1 bath every day and there 2 adults and 2 children.
HTH

charliecat · 05/05/2007 11:49

My mum, on her own in flat unmetered pays more than me for water.

whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 11:49

You need to buy one which is A rated for efficiency (or ideally AA) but they use less water than washing up manually providing they are full when you run them).

Mine uses three litres (which is about four and a bit pints) Your average washing up bowl is ten litres.

hana · 05/05/2007 11:49

dishwashers these days use v little water - not sure how much, but the info is out there. We have a water meter, and even with 3 children, lots of washing and the dishwasher used once a day, it's still cheaper than standard water rates

whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 11:51

Our metered supply halved our bills.

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 11:51

Charlie - omg, that does help a lot.

We had intended to get it put straight in when we bought the flat, but when we found out i was pg, thought it would mean too much each month. God even if we did not conserve water very well we would probably save money!

My friends bills are £12.00 per month, but I wanted to get more of a perspective as they are very ecomonical with their water, but if you bath every day and wash 1-2 times then it is a realistic figure, and over 4 times less than we are paying now.

Thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 11:53

WMMC - thats what I was thinking - I seem to be endlessly refilling the bowl and not only is it time consuming but I was thinking about how much water is being used each time.
I will call the water people in a mo and get it organised. It takes a while doesnt it?

Thanks for your advice, it makes me sure this is the right thing now!

OP posts:
Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 12:05

Do the charges you are talking about include your sewage charges or just water?

OP posts:
whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 12:06

It should be done within six weeks and you don't have to do anything. But if I were you I'd be very prescriptive about where the meter is put. Mine is under the driveway in the worst possible place - where you would drive over it every time, whereas they could have put it further down the line close to the house.

You will have hairy arsed contractors with you for a day though digging the hole to install the meter. Unless you already have an inspection hatch and then it's easy, they just stick it in there.

Oh and don't buy small dishwashers, they are a false economy because they use the same amount of leccy and often water as big ones.

charliecat · 05/05/2007 12:07

water charges, sewerage is seperate. £66 6 monthly for sewerage roughly.

whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 12:07

Both, you get a bill with it itemised but I don't think they count what they take away, just what they supply.

whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 12:08

With a water meter we get one bill but with a set charge for sewerage service and metered water for usage.

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 12:13

so, if I have water bill say £15.00, sewage £20, that still saves me £15.00 per month. And if I can cut out water usage in other ways too..
Is £15.00 per month for water a reasonable expecation with a young baby? Or should I budget for a bit more than that?

OP posts:
whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 12:15

God I must have the lowest water bill ever then, there's two of us plus DD in washable nappies, plus a B&B business with one bathroom but lots of washing and our water bills are £140 a year (that's everything).

AND we didn't pay anything last year because they flooded our road by accident and so waived the bill!

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 12:21

wmmc - really? wow! our sewage is £275, just checked it on website. south west water is known for being expensive I think, but i will still save...

OP posts:
whomovedmychocolate · 05/05/2007 12:22

blooming heck, are you guys on a high fibre diet down there?

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 12:45

I guess so...if we have a private waste unit thing it saves us £50! ooh.

OP posts:
Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 12:47

oh, ok, it says that sewage is based on 95% of the water used according to meter being charged for each cubic metre of sewage produced...so if we use less water, we will pay less sewage I am guessing.

But even so, on the basis of water usage being £170 per year, its £270 sewage...? Oh its complicated...

OP posts:
crimplene · 05/05/2007 21:50

The way I understand it is that most of the environmental impact of a dishwasher is not the amount of water it uses - it should be fairly comparable to doing the washing-up by hand if you get an efficient one and use it carefully, but in the environmental costs of, firstly, making it in the first place, and secondly the amount of extra chemicals it uses to clean the dishes.

You remove most of the food remains by elbow grease if you DIY, but the dishwasher relies on chemical action a lot more, and so has additional environmental costs in manufacturing, packaging and transporting those chemicals which are obviously then put out again into the environment.

We were given a free dishwaher a while back and had to make this choice. We sold the dishwasher (theory being that it would go to someone who was going to get one anyway, hence no greater environmental cost) and our sink is still the huge pile of unwashed dishes it always was.

Waswondering · 05/05/2007 21:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lizziemun · 05/05/2007 22:21

I live in a 4 bedroom house, me, dh and dd.

We have a dishwasher and our water and sewerage charges are £21 per month.

So that 3 baths a day, dishwasher is used once a day (i load up through the day so i cant see it). I do 2 0r 3 loads of washing on a monday,wednesday and friday.

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 05/05/2007 23:10

Waswondering thanks for that! Thanks also Lizziemum - it appears it will be more economical to get a water meter?

Crimplene - so if I was to buy a AAA dishwasher which was secondhand? Already manufactured, and used ecover or the like? that would have less environmental impact? on the basis that, if you sold one, to someone who alread was going to buy one, if I bought one secondhand, it was already bought and the impact already had occured?

Also, would the impact on the reduction of water I use in order to save more money, not have any balancing factors in weighing up whether to get a water meter/dishwater?

Do you have to use chemicals in dishwashers?

OP posts:
lizziemun · 06/05/2007 17:02

PavlovtheCat

As i said i use our dishwasher once a day and only one tablet, if i was washing up i would use far more water and washing up liquid as i can't bear sinks with dirty dihes in them ( i put them straight into the dishwasher out of sight). So i would be using far more chemicals this way.

We are charged 49p per cubic metre of water, i do think once you have a meter you are more aware what water you are using.

lizziemun · 06/05/2007 17:03

That should say far less chemicals

portonovo · 06/05/2007 18:07

I've not convinced dishwashers use more chemicals. In my experience you use more washing up liquid tackling the equivalent amount of dishes etc.

I reckon the real cleaning power of a dishwasher comes from the heat used - I have often run a dishwasher load without any chemicals at all, either because I forgot or because I'd run out of tablets, and almost everything came out super clean.

Of course, the heat comes at an environmental cost too...