It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly I heard a terrifying sound in the darkness. It was the relentless, drip drip DRIP DRIP Chinese-water torture of a leaking faucet! My heart jumped into my mouth and the hair rose on the back of my neck. But I knew I had to overcome my fear, lest the incessant dripping cause my water and heating bills to approach levels approximating the national debt. Arming myself with a flashlight, screwdriver and crescent wrench, I mounted the stairs to the upper bathroom…
But seriously folks, a faucet dripping at the rate of one drop per second would waste 2,700 gallons over the course of year. This adds big bucks to your water bill. Are you on city sewer? Then expect your sewer rates to go up as well. And if you’re on a septic tank, all that extra water can seriously strain your system, requiring it to be pumped out more often.
And that’s just assuming a leaky cold water faucet. If it’s a hot water faucet, your gas or electric bill will also suffer. Most often, all you need to fix that drip is a washer, a good wrench, and a little of your time.
And that toilet that runs and runs and runs can waste from 30 to 500 gallons a day – that could run you (excuse the pun) as much as $1,000 in a year! A mighty big tab when you consider that if you’re a bit handy with a wrench, a new valve can cost you less than $10 and less than an hour of your time.
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