Looking to reduce your water bill? Explore practical tips for homeowners to lower their water footprint and save money.
I’m a homeowner and being a homeowner can be extremely expensive. I always joke around that I spent way less money when I was renting in NYC, even with the rent being exorbitantly high. Being a homeowner is no ride in the park. We’re talking about mortgages, homeowners insurance, homeowners warranties (which I definitely recommend if you’re a homeowner) and the usual utility bills, plus any home repairs that may appear.
While I would have been able to call my home management team if something came up while renting, now there’s no one to call, and I have to dig into my funds when something breaks. I’ve noticed that since we upgraded our home to a much bigger home with awesome landscaping, my water bill has been sky high. I was looking at over $400 every month and that’s from landscaping (watering my lawn), toilet flushing, doing dishes, taking baths and showers, etc.; don’t talk about the summer!
Now, while I can cut down on my lawn watering, that would mean that my grass would turn brown and die and I don’t think my Home Owners Association would like that. I still have to do the dishes and all of the above. However, there are ways to cut down on water consumption and I decided to take the plunge and do so.
We still had the old-fashioned toilets that took a lot of water with each flush and I wanted those high-pressure toilets that only used about a gallon of water per flush. So I decided to start shopping around for a new toilet and scoured the internet and did my research. and during my search, I was approached by Mansfield Plumbing. It seems like the toilet gods were talking to me because they just happened to email me while I was searching for the very same thing.
Now here’s a little information about Mansfield Plumbing.
“Mansfield Plumbing Products was founded in 1929, right here in the USA and is the leading producer of top quality, high design, performance plumbing fixtures and fittings for use in residential, commercial and institutional markets. To ensure the highest quality, stringent quality control standards and extensive testing is applied to every product made. The current line of products includes: vitreous china toilets, lavatories and urinals; toilet tank trim; and acrylic air-baths, whirlpools, bathtubs and shower bases.”
Now there were a few specifications that I looked for while searching for my perfect toilet. The photo above is my old toilet. It’s typical of the older toilets. Low to the ground and of course use a lot more water than necessary. For my new fixture, I wanted something that didn’t use quite so much water and also a bit higher. I’m 5’10” and my husband is 6’5″ so it always felt like we were a little too low when using the bathroom. The new Mansfield Summit ADA 1.28 fit all my specifications.
The Mansfield Summit ADA 1.28 came with an elongated front SmartHeight bowl. What that means is that the toilet bowl itself is elongated instead of round and the height is 16 1/2 inches from the floor, instead of the usual 15. That almost 2 inches really does make a difference. The elongated bowls which are usually a bit more expensive than the round bowls, also feels a lot more comfortable and provide a bit more support to your bum as well. This also used only 1.28gals of water while my older toilet used 5 gallons. I’m saving almost 4 gallons per flush.
I hired a professional to install my new Mansfield Summit ADA 1.28 and according to my plumber, I made a great choice. He highly recommends Mansfield and has installed quite a lot of them in other homes. Now I felt even better knowing that I made the right decision in the toilet that I chose, and that I chose one that was actually also made right here in the USA.
So here are my impressions:
PROS:
- Very little water usage
- Higher seat
- Slimmer profile so great for smaller bathrooms
- Available in white, bone or biscuit to match your current decor
- Easy to clean
- Pressure flush takes care of everything with just one flush
- Easy to install
CONS:
- A little loud when flushing and also when refilling, but because it only uses 1.28gpf, it refills very quickly so it’s not too distracting.
Overall, I’m very satisfied with my choice and of course my plans are now to replace my other 2 toilets with Mansfield Plumbing toilets. One thing to note is that Mansfield also offers a limited lifetime warranty on the china and Five-year limited warranty on the tank trim.
Here are 5 tips for reducing your water footprint:
1. Install water-saving toilets and replace your old-fashioned water-guzzling toilets. Since most old-fashioned toilets normally use anything from 3 to 7 gallons of water, you’ll use approximately hundreds of gallons less at the end of the month.
2. Use water saving shower heads and if you can, invest in high energy efficient washers and dishwashers. This is yet another great way to reduce the amount of water you use.
3. Use your dishwasher and stop washing by hand. Did you know that you actually use less water in your dishwasher than you do by washing by hand? You can use up to 20 gallons of water to wash a full load of dishes, compared to only 3 gallons in most energy-star-rated dishwashers.
4. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. You can save up to 4 gallons of water if you do this at each brushing. That’s roughly 8 gallons a day if you brush twice a day, and more than 200 gallons a month.
5. Take showers instead of baths or if you love long showers, take shorter showers.
You’ll be amazed at your water bill, and your bank account will love you at the end of the month with all the extra savings!
Let’s discuss: How are you reducing your water footprint?
