The dripping tap

Even small drips can waste hundreds of litres of our precious water, even in a day!

Be sure to check under sinks for moisture or small leaks, always repair leaking taps straight away to avoid paying for wasted water, and also to avoid water damage to your fixtures and pipes.

If your taps are becoming very stiff or sticky to turn off, more than likely the washer has already perished and is in need of urgent replacement.

The toilet flush

One easy way to save water if you have an older WC cistern that flushes nine litres or more is to add a brick or half brick, which ever will fit best. The flush will be reduced by the volume of water displaced by the brick. You should place the brick so that it does not impair the movement of the ball valve float. Newer cisterns only flush six litres of water so adding a brick or other water saving device is not worthwhile and may cause you to use even more water, with repeated flushing necessary but many have dual flush buttons ;small button reduced flush; large button full flush.  I don’t recommend the use of plastic bags filled with water as an alternative to a brick as these will leak and you will end up with plastic stuck in the syphon.

A word of warning - Remember, plumbers will not want to sort out your DIY disaster!

While all off the above tasks should be within the capability of a competent DIYer things can wrong.  Plumbing may seem to be straight forward but the knack is really to know how to solve the unexpected problem.  Rewashering a tap may appear to be an easy job but what if the stop cock under the sink won’t turn because its not been touched for years, immediately you’ve another job on your hands.