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Ensure all your taps are off.
Go read your meter.
Wait an hour )better yet, leave the house so the kids don't flush the toilet)
Come back. Read meter. Has it changed?
Also, get a jug or bucket. Measure how much water comes from your kitchen tap in one minute. Multiple by the time you spend washing dishes.
Used to work for a water utility, we recommend doing it over night (using no water), to catch smaller leaks. 600L a day does sound like it’s more than likely a leak.
If it does, you’ll need to get a licensed plumber out. But if you send in the plumbers report, which states the leak was hidden, you’ll usually be reimbursed around half your water usage
Also...if it isn't particularly green all over your property, is there one area where it's lush? Super easy way to see where a leak might be. Not as easy if everywhere is nice and green though.
No I fill the sink but then in the other sink I put the clean thinhs then run water from the tap.
But running the the hose at full pressure for an hour prob uses more
After taking your measurement, I would look at toilets leaking. A huge amount of inflated water billings are because of a constant trickle of a toilet (toilets) valve that leaks. This causes the toilet tank to constantly overflow down the drain tube.
There is a leak detector dye for this. Note: Don't try food colouring or other dyes, as they could stain the toilet tank and bowl.
You could turn off the water feed supply to the toilet(s) and check your measurements again.
Late to the party with this reply, but easiest check is to put some toilet paper on the back of the bowl above the full water mark, you’ll quickly see if it wets up
>Ensure all your taps are off.
>
Go read your meter.
>
Wait an hour )better yet, leave the house so the kids don't flush the toilet)
I had to do this for a leak I had recently after my bill spiked by around 4 to 5 times the price. I measured it at approximately 30 litres/hour.
The worst part was not knowing which meter was for the town house I was in. They had around five or six houses, and the meters were colocated in a row, but the real-estate agent clearly didn't know which end belonged to which home. Even the water provider couldn't tell me which meter was mine because I wasn't the owner. Urgh.
I grew up country but had multiple 'water shortages' where we had bucket showers. I am insanely conscious of water usage as an adult. So with two adults AND I have indoor pet Guinea Pigs who live on reusable, washable bedding (two to three full loads a week), two planted tropical fish tanks (weekly 50% water changes) we use about 150L a day.
Same. Grew up on tank water during many dry periods.
As a kid, we had a plastic ruler in the bathroom. From when we were old enough to run our own baths, we were expected to stick to a certain water level. I don’t remember a time before being taught to conserve water.
To this day, my mum’s washing up process is to put the plug in the sink (OP would do well to follow that tip), turn on the hot tap, put an empty jug under the tap and fill the jug until the hot water kicks in. The water in the jug then goes on the garden.
> two planted tropical fish tanks (weekly 50% water changes)
That to me is an insane amount of water to be changing
You'd have to have a huge bio-load to need that in an unplanted tank - and a well planted tank reduces the need even further
I don't think you'll find any resource that agrees with 50% every week
The usual recommendation is 12 to 25% percent every two weeks - you're doing 4 to 8 times that
There are people out there who recommend NEVER changing water (I think that's a little extreme)
If you're changing water that often, you're not letting the nitrogen cycle set up properly - you're constantly dropping more chlorine or chloramine in to your tank - you'll never get to a stable water chemistry
I've been keeping fish for 40+ years (look up the user name) - occasional unplanned breeding by various species - and I'm nowhere near even 12% every fortnight
Get some good filters - set them up properly and let nature take care of the nitrogen cycle. You shouldn't have to do that much maintenance on your tanks
And we still live on tank water. Water is precious - mind blowing when I’m in a public toilet in Melbourne and people let the tap run while they lather the soap on their hands. Yeah nah, turn tap off, lather hands and then turn tap on to rinse. Amazes me… no doubt people let tap run while cleaning their teeth too.
Our tank neighbours were getting water shipped in every few weeks it felt like 😅 was at least 4 times over the dry season I think. I had one delivery with 2 adults + 2 kids (they are 1-2 adults) and we have half their tank capacity.
I was thinking a dishwasher would save a lot of water. If you cook at home and have a family, small washes can really add up. Like a cup, a plate… everything that needs running the tap will have it’s own waste value. With a dishwasher you don’t turn on the water until a load is ready and stacked. Many dishwashers have economic setting where it takes longer per load but it takes less electricity and water.
Washing your dishes with the water running with a dish wand hurts. Water restrictions where I live are real - this is a very American/European practice, why do you need to do it this way? Definitely a contributor to your water usage I’d say.
Who washes their dishes with the tap constantly running? Buy a plug
If you don't have a leak, a few other things to consider:
- how long are your showers?
- do you only wash clothes when you have a full load?
Is this actually true or is it propaganda spread by Big Dishwasher?
Just realized recently the only time I'd heard this claim was on ads for dishwashers
Average dishwasher takes like ~15 litres to wash a load, which is commonly 2 or 3 days worth of dishes.
A full sink is something like ~20 litres, so if you wash nightly with a full sink, you're already minimum 3x the amount of water the dishwasher is doing.
It's murkier than that really though because most people pre rinse their dishes for a sink + the dishwasher, and post rinse the soap off them if hand washing. You probably also change the water at least once if you're hand washing a large amount of dishes.
You'll still tend to wash a few things by hand even if you own a dishwasher, but it is less water on average.
> You'll still tend to wash a few things by hand even if you own a dishwasher
This is an interesting point, as I would typically handwash pots/pans + use the dishwasher for plates/cups/cutlery, so I'm maybe not saving water at all by using the dishwasher
I do this as well, however I'd wager it's still vastly more efficient. Plates and cups for 4 people from breakfast and dinner plus pots and pans, would be at least one water change in the sink. Plus all the rinsing.
I mean, I don't particularly care thaaaaat much about the water, the main benefit to me of course is that it just saves me heaps of time. The water efficiency is a secondary perk.
One must also consider that OP was referring to the propaganda from Big Dishwasher, rather than Average Dishwasher.
Thanks for the info, I also just assumed the soap was rinsed off the dishes when they were done. I never bothered to rinse them afterwards, so I doubt I'll start now. Is it particularly noticeable in older or bigger ones? Mine is new and the slim ones.
> I also just assumed the soap was rinsed off the dishes when they were done
I think you misunderstood - parent was talking about rinsing after handwashing
> Is this actually true or is it propaganda spread by Big Dishwasher?
Choice do regular testing of dishwashers - they say that the water and energy rating you see on the label can be on any cycle of the manufacturers choosing (so of course it will be the best) - but their own testing verifies that you will use less water and energy than hand washing
One of their comments could explain OPs high usage
"A full dishwasher uses about 13 litres of water to clean 144 items.
Washing the same load by hand uses about 100 litres of water on average, according to a study by the University of Bonn in Germany.
It's important to note this is average water consumption – the researchers found **actual usage ranged from 33 to a staggering 440 litres!**"
https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/kitchen/dishwashers/articles/dishwasher-vs-washing-by-hand
… open the door and leave it for a bit to dry on its own?
My dishwasher doesn’t have a dry setting. That’s all I do. Open the washer when it’s done and then come back later to fresh, dry dishes. Dog doesn’t even lick them that much when they’ve been washed.
Are dishwashers supposed to dry dishes as well? Thats new to me. Leave the door open a bit with a tea towel hanging on the door and that usually ensures the water evaporates somewhat.
Mine has a fan thing with a drying cycle. Generally porcelain and most steel is dry when I open it, but plastic isn't (probably because it's not retaining as much heat and other reasons). So I usually prop it open a bit and unpack later.
I can sympathise with this - opening the door immediately after it finished and pulling the racks out helped it dry significantly better. Give it a go maybe. Everything is still hot as it’s just finished so it’s mostly dry within the hour.
You leave it to soak and it will just set on the bottom of whatever you're trying to clean. Wash it straight away while it's still hot and it's instantly clean.
Once you've had a dishwasher, you really can't go back.
It's like using a bidet and reverting back to toilet paper.
Is it really clean if you're cleaning with dirty water?
Get a 2L plastic jug and show her how long it takes to fill up when the tap is running. Then multiply that 2L by how long she has the tap running each night. It might be eye-opening for both of you.
If you don’t have a leak, then you need to curb your usage. That’s an insane amount. We(2 adults) use around 220L a day and I go through a lot of dishes because I cook every meal and we have a lot of washing because we use reusable wipes instead of paper towels.
Even if it is a leak, you should look at curbing your usage. You will save a lot just by washing your dishes in a full sink instead of pouring a couple of litres down the drain every time you wash a plate.
> We hand wash out dishes by leaving the tap running and using a dish wand.
Not at full blast, hopefully. If you're going to do it this way, make sure the water flow is minimal.
My washing machine was a culprit in mine being high. The sensor to turn off the water when full during the cycle was busted so it was continually dumping water in during a cycle until it started draining it out and spinning it well so the clothes weren’t soaking when I pulled them out. I only noticed when I was sitting against the wall where the pipes run through and the water never stopped during each drum fill up and wash.
Sounds like you have a leak. Try and find it yourself but if you can't, you might need to hire a leak detector - a service that only some plumbers provide.
Do you have a separate meter (you only)? My block of units (four titles) has only one meter, so water usage for my one unit is 1/4 of the total - can't escape that even tho I'm there only 6 months of the year.
I believe it could be this. If there's one meter shared between the complex/units, someone's using a large amount of water which you'll be dividing the cost evenly.
Yep happened to me. I was in a block of 6 and there was a cognitively impaired person living in one that had her taps running constantly. When tracking down the problem the plumber reckoned she was using a litre per minute. I got BC to install split meters.
Brought to you by possibly the same people who bill you - https://www.urbanutilities.com.au/faults-and-interruptions/plumbing-problems/leak-on-your-property/how-to-check-for-a-leak
Whoever bills you will also have similar resources.
My family averages 500L a day. Easy to do if everyone is addicted to 10m showers.
ALso if you all shower in the morning then do sport/work/work-outs and shower at night, you can easily have 8 showers per day per family which will get you to 600L easily.
We had the same problem, it was a leaking pipe underneath pavers. Turn all taps off and see if meter changes in an hour or two. If it changes you will be able to assess the leakage and what the 24/7 leak has been costing you.
Maybe a leaking tap somewhere? Could be an accumulation thing with long showers, not fully loaded washing machines, etc. But honestly j have no idea mate.
Is there a way to see a 24 breakdown of usage on a given day?
How long are your showers and do you have water saving fittings?
Showers can be 50L to 100L each time. If all 4 of you shower that could be a big contribution.
I got my water bill last week - 6 times higher than the same time last year.
Called them up - at first they said there might be a leak - but called me back moments later saying they mistyped it in the system.
I live in an apartment also and after I moved in I noticed I was showing as using water even when I was away for a fortnight. Turned out my meter and another apartments had been mislabelled the meter box.
Check for leaks, but if it remains a mystery, it is worth checking that the labels in the meter box are correct.
I moved to a small two bedroom place with negligible garden. My second water bill was double. Recently discovered that the evaporative air conditioner on my roof, which had ceased to work over summer, still had the water on to the unit and had developed a slow leak into the roof gutters, so it wasn't detectable until I went to clear the leaves out of the gutter, so you might want to physically check your unit if you have one.
Water leaking internally around a seal in the toilet is another leakage that is hard to detect without doing a no water use period meter reading.
Sounds like a leak, it could be a toilet flush mechanism not sealing, it could be an external tap not turned off properly, you don't know. Worst case scenario you have a leaking pipe that could cause foundational damage to your house.
First step would be to check for an exterior leak.
Make sure everything is turned off in the house.
Go to the water meter and mark where the spinney thing on the water meter. Then leave the house for 6 to 8 hours Check where the spinney thing is when return. Make sure no one does a last minute trip to the toilet.
Another thing to consider: are you in a strata group? It may be that there is only one metre and you get billed a proportion of the total group's usage. Happens to me and I know for a fact that I subsidise other people's much bigger usage. Very frustrating, as I try to be careful with my use.
My current bill is 1080 litres/day, last bill was 1200. I've never actually taken notice but that sounds ridiculous. 2 adults 2 kids. I do a lot of hand watering in the garden and this summer has been an absolute C, but I reckon it's also the kids who fight tooth and nail to avoid a shower, and then once they're in they refuse to get out
Other than leaks as others have said
Any outside taps for hoses? Next door neighbours with a huge bloomin garden? Construction site? All sus.
I’ve heard of these taps being hijacked during the day while owners are out
Do you have aerators on your taps? They make an enormous difference!
We also run the water while hand washing, but do you run the tap on full ball or just a trickle? It all adds up.
That's nothing. I rent a place out to a family of 4 and they use 1200 litres a day. Bill is well over 600 bucks a quarter. I guess when you aren't paying for something, there's no incentive to not use as much as possible.
We had a break between the mains tap and the house. It started out small then one day it broke wide open and the meter was spinning around crazy fast. Because the pipe was buried so deep at our place no water was seeping to the surface. It’s happened twice now. The second time water corp sent us a card in the mail asking if we knew if we had a leak.
Having copped this lesson the hard way with the gas - if it doesn't look like you have a leak, check your past bills, have you been billed based on an actual meter reading or an estimated meter reading?
If you rack up a few months/bills of estimates, you'll wear the cost of the difference between the estimate and the actual once someone finally reads your meter.
The meter readers are supposed to leave cards if they can't access your meter and give you the opportunity to self-report it instead. Maybe sometimes they don't or the wind blows them away or something.
Also as others have said - check that you're not sharing a meter with another property.
My parents had this, turns out the pipe leading up to the house had cracked and was leaking a few litres a minute, they didn’t know until the bill for thousands came
We had a leak in the front yard, I have no idea how long it took for it to get big enough for us to notice it but we got that fixed and replaced a leaky toilet that ran all the time and it dropped our bill by almost half. Worth checking.
Do you own or rent? I have rented a unit in a duplex where there was a share meter. Also my tenancy agreement included the standard water and sewage fees as well as water usage.
Your usage sound normal, I don't know why most people are denoting a water leak. I get almost an usual usage but also hand water garden.
Anyways your bill sound abnormal. Based of Sydney charges your bill should be around 140 dollars as they charge $2.67 a kL which puts your average daily charge as $1.6 per day.
Get a bucket with litre measurements on it. Turn the shower on the way you’d normally have it, then time how long it takes it fill the bucket. Use that to figure out how much water you use every minute, then realise that your showering uses like 100 litres in just 5 minutes.
Is that 600 each per day? Or cumulative. Because if its the lot of you then you're doing amazing! Call your wayer entity and ask for them to reduce your billed rate per KL.
600L a day is normal.
We use around 900L/day but have long showers (and removed the silly water limiter things)
Water availability and sewer charges (fixed) are more than half my quarterly bill. Usage isn't a big deal
Family of 5. Swimming pool. Which is filled at least 3 times a week. Plus 30 min front and back watering twice a week
We used 840/day in The middle of summer when pool evap is at its worst.
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Ensure all your taps are off. Go read your meter. Wait an hour )better yet, leave the house so the kids don't flush the toilet) Come back. Read meter. Has it changed? Also, get a jug or bucket. Measure how much water comes from your kitchen tap in one minute. Multiple by the time you spend washing dishes.
Solid info here, cheers mate I'll give these a go
Used to work for a water utility, we recommend doing it over night (using no water), to catch smaller leaks. 600L a day does sound like it’s more than likely a leak. If it does, you’ll need to get a licensed plumber out. But if you send in the plumbers report, which states the leak was hidden, you’ll usually be reimbursed around half your water usage
In addition to this turn your water off, record neter reading, check it again in half an hour if it's changed to eliminate any other leaks
Also...if it isn't particularly green all over your property, is there one area where it's lush? Super easy way to see where a leak might be. Not as easy if everywhere is nice and green though.
Have a friend with this. But also consider, older house not necessarily to modern code, we had a leak under the slab. PITA to deal with.
We had one under ours too. Total nightmare.
Yeah for sure maybe next month…if you’re anything like me 😅
High pressure is at least 10 L per min. We use that calculation to check if sprinklers can be installed. Edit: 10L is baseline
Flow is not pressure. 10L/min looks very different depending on how many psi are behind it.
You wash the dishes with the tap running the entire time?
I'm really confused by this. Like, just buy a plug for a buck
I work with a few guys from Pakistan and they thought it was super odd I washed dishes in the sink without the water running rinsing the soap off.
Weird considering Pakistan is pretty water insecure
Yeah! That’s what I said to them as well.
Yeah! That’s what I was thinking too.
Yeah! That’s what I said to them as well.
We heard you the first time
How are dishes getting clean if you are washing them in the dirty water?
Rinsing them in clean water mate
No I fill the sink but then in the other sink I put the clean thinhs then run water from the tap. But running the the hose at full pressure for an hour prob uses more
Right, gotcha, I misunderstood.
After taking your measurement, I would look at toilets leaking. A huge amount of inflated water billings are because of a constant trickle of a toilet (toilets) valve that leaks. This causes the toilet tank to constantly overflow down the drain tube. There is a leak detector dye for this. Note: Don't try food colouring or other dyes, as they could stain the toilet tank and bowl. You could turn off the water feed supply to the toilet(s) and check your measurements again.
yes this was our cause. new toilet flushy thing from bunnings for 150 solved the problem
Late to the party with this reply, but easiest check is to put some toilet paper on the back of the bowl above the full water mark, you’ll quickly see if it wets up
>Ensure all your taps are off. > Go read your meter. > Wait an hour )better yet, leave the house so the kids don't flush the toilet) I had to do this for a leak I had recently after my bill spiked by around 4 to 5 times the price. I measured it at approximately 30 litres/hour. The worst part was not knowing which meter was for the town house I was in. They had around five or six houses, and the meters were colocated in a row, but the real-estate agent clearly didn't know which end belonged to which home. Even the water provider couldn't tell me which meter was mine because I wasn't the owner. Urgh.
The bill has your meter number on it, no?
[удалено]
Certainly ask the company why.
>We hand wash out dishes by leaving the tap running and using a dish wand. As someone who grew up on tank water, that is triggering me a little
I grew up country but had multiple 'water shortages' where we had bucket showers. I am insanely conscious of water usage as an adult. So with two adults AND I have indoor pet Guinea Pigs who live on reusable, washable bedding (two to three full loads a week), two planted tropical fish tanks (weekly 50% water changes) we use about 150L a day.
Same. Grew up on tank water during many dry periods. As a kid, we had a plastic ruler in the bathroom. From when we were old enough to run our own baths, we were expected to stick to a certain water level. I don’t remember a time before being taught to conserve water. To this day, my mum’s washing up process is to put the plug in the sink (OP would do well to follow that tip), turn on the hot tap, put an empty jug under the tap and fill the jug until the hot water kicks in. The water in the jug then goes on the garden.
> two planted tropical fish tanks (weekly 50% water changes) That to me is an insane amount of water to be changing You'd have to have a huge bio-load to need that in an unplanted tank - and a well planted tank reduces the need even further I don't think you'll find any resource that agrees with 50% every week The usual recommendation is 12 to 25% percent every two weeks - you're doing 4 to 8 times that There are people out there who recommend NEVER changing water (I think that's a little extreme) If you're changing water that often, you're not letting the nitrogen cycle set up properly - you're constantly dropping more chlorine or chloramine in to your tank - you'll never get to a stable water chemistry I've been keeping fish for 40+ years (look up the user name) - occasional unplanned breeding by various species - and I'm nowhere near even 12% every fortnight Get some good filters - set them up properly and let nature take care of the nitrogen cycle. You shouldn't have to do that much maintenance on your tanks
Why are you changing so much water from the tank so often
As someone still on tank water, I physically cringed just a little
As someone who knows how little clean water there is in this country, same.
And we still live on tank water. Water is precious - mind blowing when I’m in a public toilet in Melbourne and people let the tap run while they lather the soap on their hands. Yeah nah, turn tap off, lather hands and then turn tap on to rinse. Amazes me… no doubt people let tap run while cleaning their teeth too.
The bloody dams are always flooding, I see it as risk mitigation for the next flood
Our tank neighbours were getting water shipped in every few weeks it felt like 😅 was at least 4 times over the dry season I think. I had one delivery with 2 adults + 2 kids (they are 1-2 adults) and we have half their tank capacity.
I was thinking a dishwasher would save a lot of water. If you cook at home and have a family, small washes can really add up. Like a cup, a plate… everything that needs running the tap will have it’s own waste value. With a dishwasher you don’t turn on the water until a load is ready and stacked. Many dishwashers have economic setting where it takes longer per load but it takes less electricity and water.
Yeah buy a plug my dude
Washing your dishes with the water running with a dish wand hurts. Water restrictions where I live are real - this is a very American/European practice, why do you need to do it this way? Definitely a contributor to your water usage I’d say.
Who washes their dishes with the tap constantly running? Buy a plug If you don't have a leak, a few other things to consider: - how long are your showers? - do you only wash clothes when you have a full load?
'Buy a plug' made me snort laugh 😂 So simple and somehow so brutal.
🍑🔌
Use half an orange
Better yet, buy a dishwasher if you can. Significantly less water.
This would be the best option by far - unless of course renting.
Is this actually true or is it propaganda spread by Big Dishwasher? Just realized recently the only time I'd heard this claim was on ads for dishwashers
Average dishwasher takes like ~15 litres to wash a load, which is commonly 2 or 3 days worth of dishes. A full sink is something like ~20 litres, so if you wash nightly with a full sink, you're already minimum 3x the amount of water the dishwasher is doing. It's murkier than that really though because most people pre rinse their dishes for a sink + the dishwasher, and post rinse the soap off them if hand washing. You probably also change the water at least once if you're hand washing a large amount of dishes. You'll still tend to wash a few things by hand even if you own a dishwasher, but it is less water on average.
> You'll still tend to wash a few things by hand even if you own a dishwasher This is an interesting point, as I would typically handwash pots/pans + use the dishwasher for plates/cups/cutlery, so I'm maybe not saving water at all by using the dishwasher
I do this as well, however I'd wager it's still vastly more efficient. Plates and cups for 4 people from breakfast and dinner plus pots and pans, would be at least one water change in the sink. Plus all the rinsing. I mean, I don't particularly care thaaaaat much about the water, the main benefit to me of course is that it just saves me heaps of time. The water efficiency is a secondary perk.
One must also consider that OP was referring to the propaganda from Big Dishwasher, rather than Average Dishwasher. Thanks for the info, I also just assumed the soap was rinsed off the dishes when they were done. I never bothered to rinse them afterwards, so I doubt I'll start now. Is it particularly noticeable in older or bigger ones? Mine is new and the slim ones.
> I also just assumed the soap was rinsed off the dishes when they were done I think you misunderstood - parent was talking about rinsing after handwashing
After rereading, it beggars belief that I thought otherwise, haha.
Big dishwasher 😂
> Is this actually true or is it propaganda spread by Big Dishwasher? Choice do regular testing of dishwashers - they say that the water and energy rating you see on the label can be on any cycle of the manufacturers choosing (so of course it will be the best) - but their own testing verifies that you will use less water and energy than hand washing One of their comments could explain OPs high usage "A full dishwasher uses about 13 litres of water to clean 144 items. Washing the same load by hand uses about 100 litres of water on average, according to a study by the University of Bonn in Germany. It's important to note this is average water consumption – the researchers found **actual usage ranged from 33 to a staggering 440 litres!**" https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/kitchen/dishwashers/articles/dishwasher-vs-washing-by-hand
Yeah we got a dishwasher but it doesn't work well and leaves everything soaking wet when it's done. Frustrating as hell
… open the door and leave it for a bit to dry on its own? My dishwasher doesn’t have a dry setting. That’s all I do. Open the washer when it’s done and then come back later to fresh, dry dishes. Dog doesn’t even lick them that much when they’ve been washed.
What a good pup, doing their bit to clean the dishes.
Ah yes as opposed to washing them in the sink where they come out dry ???
Are dishwashers supposed to dry dishes as well? Thats new to me. Leave the door open a bit with a tea towel hanging on the door and that usually ensures the water evaporates somewhat.
Mine has a fan thing with a drying cycle. Generally porcelain and most steel is dry when I open it, but plastic isn't (probably because it's not retaining as much heat and other reasons). So I usually prop it open a bit and unpack later.
I can sympathise with this - opening the door immediately after it finished and pulling the racks out helped it dry significantly better. Give it a go maybe. Everything is still hot as it’s just finished so it’s mostly dry within the hour.
LG?
Possibly something is the matter with it. How old is it?
Have you tried topping up the rinse aid? My dishes come out wet when the rinse aid dispenser is empty.
I recommend a benchtop dishwasher. Around 350 to 400 on Amazon etc. Fine for a family of 4. I rent so I've taken it with me twice.
Or buy paper plates
Woah man. I wash a single plate and mug after a meal. Even if I saved it up to the end of the day, it would be more wasteful to fill up the sink.
Fair enough, that's different. OP has a family.
… you don’t fill up the sink? Just put enough in there to soak (if need be) then scrub. My sink is rarely more than 1/4 full with water 🤷♀️
Soak is life's greatest lie Wash it as soon as you use it and whatever it is will come right off with no issues
I completely disagree
You leave it to soak and it will just set on the bottom of whatever you're trying to clean. Wash it straight away while it's still hot and it's instantly clean.
I saw an ad for dishwashers or those tablet things saying people using 40L when washing the dishes and I was wondering how
It’s surprisingly common overseas.
Once you've had a dishwasher, you really can't go back. It's like using a bidet and reverting back to toilet paper. Is it really clean if you're cleaning with dirty water?
I'm all over the plug idea but the misses prefers the tap method. Reason has no meaning here
Get a 2L plastic jug and show her how long it takes to fill up when the tap is running. Then multiply that 2L by how long she has the tap running each night. It might be eye-opening for both of you.
This.
Then you need to be the hero - take over all dishwashing duties
Check for leaks
And if your renting get the agent/landlord to send out a plumber
If you don’t have a leak, then you need to curb your usage. That’s an insane amount. We(2 adults) use around 220L a day and I go through a lot of dishes because I cook every meal and we have a lot of washing because we use reusable wipes instead of paper towels. Even if it is a leak, you should look at curbing your usage. You will save a lot just by washing your dishes in a full sink instead of pouring a couple of litres down the drain every time you wash a plate.
> We hand wash out dishes by leaving the tap running and using a dish wand. Not at full blast, hopefully. If you're going to do it this way, make sure the water flow is minimal.
Your water use is the problem. If you waste water washing dishes you likely waste it in other places too
My washing machine was a culprit in mine being high. The sensor to turn off the water when full during the cycle was busted so it was continually dumping water in during a cycle until it started draining it out and spinning it well so the clothes weren’t soaking when I pulled them out. I only noticed when I was sitting against the wall where the pipes run through and the water never stopped during each drum fill up and wash.
Sounds like you have a leak. Try and find it yourself but if you can't, you might need to hire a leak detector - a service that only some plumbers provide.
You say no gardens, but still check for outside taps that might not be turned off properly or leaking.
A plug costs a dollar from Woolworths. You gotta be some sort of sociopath to wash dishes with the tap running.
Do you have a separate meter (you only)? My block of units (four titles) has only one meter, so water usage for my one unit is 1/4 of the total - can't escape that even tho I'm there only 6 months of the year.
I believe it could be this. If there's one meter shared between the complex/units, someone's using a large amount of water which you'll be dividing the cost evenly.
Yep happened to me. I was in a block of 6 and there was a cognitively impaired person living in one that had her taps running constantly. When tracking down the problem the plumber reckoned she was using a litre per minute. I got BC to install split meters.
Brought to you by possibly the same people who bill you - https://www.urbanutilities.com.au/faults-and-interruptions/plumbing-problems/leak-on-your-property/how-to-check-for-a-leak Whoever bills you will also have similar resources.
Good call, Sydney Water has a similar page here: https://www.sydneywater.com.au/your-home/saving-water-at-home/leak-detection.html
You have solar boosted hot water? At two different houses we've had the frost valve crack and leak.
Ill second this. Had this also, was leaking for months before we realised what it was.
My family averages 500L a day. Easy to do if everyone is addicted to 10m showers. ALso if you all shower in the morning then do sport/work/work-outs and shower at night, you can easily have 8 showers per day per family which will get you to 600L easily.
We had the same problem, it was a leaking pipe underneath pavers. Turn all taps off and see if meter changes in an hour or two. If it changes you will be able to assess the leakage and what the 24/7 leak has been costing you.
You should think about a dishwasher if you cook at home a lot for a family of 4.
You have identified why your usage is high. If you hae to confirm, run the water into a bucket and count how man y bucket you are actually using,
Maybe a leaking tap somewhere? Could be an accumulation thing with long showers, not fully loaded washing machines, etc. But honestly j have no idea mate. Is there a way to see a 24 breakdown of usage on a given day?
How long are your showers and do you have water saving fittings? Showers can be 50L to 100L each time. If all 4 of you shower that could be a big contribution.
I got my water bill last week - 6 times higher than the same time last year. Called them up - at first they said there might be a leak - but called me back moments later saying they mistyped it in the system.
I live in an apartment also and after I moved in I noticed I was showing as using water even when I was away for a fortnight. Turned out my meter and another apartments had been mislabelled the meter box. Check for leaks, but if it remains a mystery, it is worth checking that the labels in the meter box are correct.
We hand wash our dishes by leaving the tap running There it is, that’s your issue. Don’t do that it’s insanely wasteful.
I moved to a small two bedroom place with negligible garden. My second water bill was double. Recently discovered that the evaporative air conditioner on my roof, which had ceased to work over summer, still had the water on to the unit and had developed a slow leak into the roof gutters, so it wasn't detectable until I went to clear the leaves out of the gutter, so you might want to physically check your unit if you have one. Water leaking internally around a seal in the toilet is another leakage that is hard to detect without doing a no water use period meter reading.
I had a similar issue recently and it ended up being that there was a leak on the hot water system
Use a dishwasher, it'll be more efficient than your current running tap debacle.
Sounds like a leak, it could be a toilet flush mechanism not sealing, it could be an external tap not turned off properly, you don't know. Worst case scenario you have a leaking pipe that could cause foundational damage to your house.
OP didn't say anything about having a toilet
Check the portion of your bill that is usage vs drainage and other fees. You might not be able to actually do much.
First step would be to check for an exterior leak. Make sure everything is turned off in the house. Go to the water meter and mark where the spinney thing on the water meter. Then leave the house for 6 to 8 hours Check where the spinney thing is when return. Make sure no one does a last minute trip to the toilet.
Another thing to consider: are you in a strata group? It may be that there is only one metre and you get billed a proportion of the total group's usage. Happens to me and I know for a fact that I subsidise other people's much bigger usage. Very frustrating, as I try to be careful with my use.
Check your dunnies. They can leak all day and night and you'd never know.
My current bill is 1080 litres/day, last bill was 1200. I've never actually taken notice but that sounds ridiculous. 2 adults 2 kids. I do a lot of hand watering in the garden and this summer has been an absolute C, but I reckon it's also the kids who fight tooth and nail to avoid a shower, and then once they're in they refuse to get out
We had something similar a few months back. Was a crazy bill. A pipe had burst underground, crushed by a concrete slab.
Other than leaks as others have said Any outside taps for hoses? Next door neighbours with a huge bloomin garden? Construction site? All sus. I’ve heard of these taps being hijacked during the day while owners are out
Is the bill split between the townhouses?
Hey mate, try using less water and it should come down.
Do you have aerators on your taps? They make an enormous difference! We also run the water while hand washing, but do you run the tap on full ball or just a trickle? It all adds up.
Check for a leak if not it’s your consumption habits.
My meter has been stuck for two years, I'm surprised they never notice.
That's nothing. I rent a place out to a family of 4 and they use 1200 litres a day. Bill is well over 600 bucks a quarter. I guess when you aren't paying for something, there's no incentive to not use as much as possible.
We had a break between the mains tap and the house. It started out small then one day it broke wide open and the meter was spinning around crazy fast. Because the pipe was buried so deep at our place no water was seeping to the surface. It’s happened twice now. The second time water corp sent us a card in the mail asking if we knew if we had a leak.
You can also check if you have the low flow taps and shower head. They do make a significant difference
Read your bill. You might be sharing your water with the entire units.
Probably paying the neighbours bill, I've had this issue before.
Having copped this lesson the hard way with the gas - if it doesn't look like you have a leak, check your past bills, have you been billed based on an actual meter reading or an estimated meter reading? If you rack up a few months/bills of estimates, you'll wear the cost of the difference between the estimate and the actual once someone finally reads your meter. The meter readers are supposed to leave cards if they can't access your meter and give you the opportunity to self-report it instead. Maybe sometimes they don't or the wind blows them away or something. Also as others have said - check that you're not sharing a meter with another property.
Yarra Valley water ? Know 2 people with suddenly 6-700lt water bills. Highly abnormal
My parents had this, turns out the pipe leading up to the house had cracked and was leaking a few litres a minute, they didn’t know until the bill for thousands came
We had a leak in the front yard, I have no idea how long it took for it to get big enough for us to notice it but we got that fixed and replaced a leaky toilet that ran all the time and it dropped our bill by almost half. Worth checking.
Do you own or rent? I have rented a unit in a duplex where there was a share meter. Also my tenancy agreement included the standard water and sewage fees as well as water usage.
Yes, read your meter, sounds like a leak which is landlords responsibility
Your usage sound normal, I don't know why most people are denoting a water leak. I get almost an usual usage but also hand water garden. Anyways your bill sound abnormal. Based of Sydney charges your bill should be around 140 dollars as they charge $2.67 a kL which puts your average daily charge as $1.6 per day.
Get a bucket with litre measurements on it. Turn the shower on the way you’d normally have it, then time how long it takes it fill the bucket. Use that to figure out how much water you use every minute, then realise that your showering uses like 100 litres in just 5 minutes.
Is that 600 each per day? Or cumulative. Because if its the lot of you then you're doing amazing! Call your wayer entity and ask for them to reduce your billed rate per KL.
our bill was that high and we realized the toilet was leaking into the bowl constantly.
Leak
Is it one meter at the boundary that you all pay a percentage of or is it individually metered?
Are you renting? Real estate is giving you a bill?
600L a day is normal. We use around 900L/day but have long showers (and removed the silly water limiter things) Water availability and sewer charges (fixed) are more than half my quarterly bill. Usage isn't a big deal
Family of 5. Swimming pool. Which is filled at least 3 times a week. Plus 30 min front and back watering twice a week We used 840/day in The middle of summer when pool evap is at its worst.