Residential Indoor Self-AuditYou can easily perform a self-audit of your home by checking for leaks, and identifying opportunities to save water. You will need to visually check all water sources in your house looking for obvious problems such as a dripping faucet or moisture under the sinks. Bathrooms-Check each toilet in your house. Look around the back of the toilet for leaks on the supply line. Next, put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and wait at least 15 minutes to see if the color appears in the bowl. - Check supply lines under the sink for leaks. o Look at each line for weak spots such as bulges in the hose. o Watch the faucet for a minute for drips. o Turn on the faucets to check for leaks while they are in operation. - Check the bathtub/shower faucet for visual leaks. o Operate the faucet to make sure it functions properly. o With a tub, divert water to the showerhead to check for leaks there, too. When the water is diverted to the showerhead, the water flow should stop from the tub faucet. o
-It is difficult to check the exact flow from your aerators
and showerheads without the proper “flow bag”.
If the showerhead and aerators have been around for a while, it might be
time for a change. Low-flow showerheads and aerators are available at any
hardware store and are usually easy to install.
-Before you finish the audit of
your bathroom, look at the toilet again. If colored water is in the bowl, you have a leaking flapper
valve. Flapper valves are available
at any hardware store, and are easy to install.
Be sure the one you purchase is the correct
one for your toilet. An incorrect
one will leak even more!!!
Kitchen Check all water sources for leaks following the instructions above.
Laundry Check all water sources for leaks.
If you have additional water sources in your house, make sure to thoroughly check these too using the same procedures. Fix all the leaks as soon as you can.
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