The amount of water used often comes as a surprise to residents. "That can't be right" is a common comment that the property manager has to answer after the first water bill. Pick up some tips for saving water in our article!
TIME IN THE SHOWER IS MONEY
The shower is the biggest water and energy user in the home. A modern shower has a flow rate of 12 litres per minute. So a 10-minute shower uses 120 litres of water if the shower is on all the time and about 60% of that amount is hot water.
So when showering, avoid unnecessary water flow: keep showering times short and turn off the tap when soaping.
CHECK YOUR SHOWER
The type and condition of your shower equipment also plays a big role in water consumption. A normal shower has a flow rate of 12 litres per minute, as mentioned above. Economy models have a flow rate of only 8-9 litres per minute. Old showers and large ceiling showers have a much higher flow rate, up to 18-20 litres per minute.
WATER COSTS MORE THAN ELECTRICITY IN THE SAUNA
Since people are used to paying for electricity according to consumption, many people have become accustomed to paying attention to electricity consumption rather than water consumption. This is why electric saunas are seen as a major energy waster, heated sparingly.
The truth is, however, that showers in a typical family usually cost considerably more than heating the sauna.
The average family of three uses around 70 000 litres of hot water every year. It takes around 4 000 kWh of energy to heat it. Heating a standard electric sauna twice a week consumes about 600 kWh of energy per year. In other words, showering an average family takes about twice as much energy as heating an electric sauna every day.
There's no point running water in the sink either. So turn off the tap when
brushing your teeth
Soap your hands
Shaving with a clipper
Turn off the tap when you don't need water. You only need water to rinse your beard, wash your face and squirt toothpaste - and even then you should use a toothpaste socket.
IT DOES REALLY MATTER WHAT KIND OF TOILET YOU USE TO DO YOUR BUSINESS
The average Finn goes to the toilet 5-7 times a day, and flushing the toilet uses an average of 20 000 litres of water per person per year. In practice, about a quarter of the water used by a Finn goes down the toilet. So it doesn't really matter what kind of toilet you use to do your business.
A standard toilet seat with a single knob uses about 6 litres of water per flush, while an old-fashioned toilet from the 1970s uses 9 litres of water per flush. The new toilet therefore uses much more water than the original seat in, say, an apartment block built in the 1970s.
WASHING DISHES BY HAND USES 50-150 LITRES OF WATER
The latest Class A dishwashers use around 10-12 litres of water per wash. With economy programmes, consumption is even less than 10 litres per wash. The electricity consumption per wash is around 1 kWh (the same as heating the hot water for a 2.5 minute shower). A slightly older dishwasher uses 15-20 litres of water per wash.
According to a study by the German Association for Work Efficiency, washing the same amount of dishes by hand uses between 50 and 150 litres of water, depending on the washing method. The most water-consuming method is to wash and rinse the dishes with running water.
This means that a dishwasher who does the dishes by hand uses about five times as much water as a modern dishwasher. And using hot water for washing up also uses more energy than washing up with a dishwasher. Machine washing is therefore clearly more economical than hand washing, even with a slightly older dishwasher.
Source.
WATER COSTS MORE THAN ELECTRICITY IN LAUNDRY
New Class A washing machines use around 60 litres of water per wash. Older models, such as those from the 1980s, use more than twice as much water per wash - around 130 litres per wash. There is also a significant difference in energy consumption between new and old machines. New machines consume just over one kilowatt-hour of energy per wash, while old machines consume around 50% more.
Choose a washing machine that suits your needs so that you don't end up washing underpowered machines. Even if your washing machine only uses cold water, you spend more money on water than on electricity.
REACT IMMEDIATELY TO LEAKING TOILETS
A seemingly small and harmless leak in a tap or toilet can quickly become very expensive. A leak the size of a sewing thread in a tap, for example, wastes around 30 000 litres of water a year. A single toilet seat with a steady leak can drain water down the drain at a rate of €200 per week - an extra €10 000 per year!
So if you have a leaky tap or a toilet that keeps leaking, you should react immediately and report it to your landlord or maintenance company. And remember that the cost of leaking water is paid by the tenant, not the housing company.
SMARTVATTEN ALERTS YOU TO LEAKS
Smartvatten helps to detect leaks. Our water efficiency technology solutions will alert you when they detect a sufficiently long continuous consumption or a deviation in water consumption. Our sub-metering system also makes water consumption data transparent to the occupant via an apartment screen or mobile app. Knowing your own water consumption makes it easy to make responsible choices that reduce water consumption.
This is how nature and your wallet thank you!
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