Checking Toilets for Leaks

Two moderately leaky faucets, say a drip every 2 seconds, wastes 5 gallons a day or the equivalent of 41 baths a year. Play around with this calculator from the U.S. Geological Survey. You may be surprised how much water your leaks are wasting.

This month's Sustainability Coaching issue suggested 12 Easy Ways to Conserve Water. Fixing your leaky toilet is one easy and fast solution. A leaking toilet can waste 22 gallons a day. Checking whether or not you have a problem is easy ... as long as you don't have an aversion to playing around with your toilet. Just put a few drops of food coloring in the tank. Wait 30 minutes. Then check to see if you can see colored water in the toilet bowl. If you do, you have a leak.

We are a two-bathroom house. I wasn't surprised that we have a leak. But I was surprised where it was found! ... in our second, spare bathroom. The main bathroom toilet sticks from time to time. I actually felt silly putting the blue dye in our second toilet. It is rarely used, and seemed so tranquil I couldn't imagine there would be a leak. But THAT is where the problem is. Perhaps I should have known better. It is an older model.

It looks like there may be an issue with the lever with the ball (Sorry, I'm not a plumber. You'll have to look at the picture to see what I mean.), rather than the seal that keeps the water in the tank. My husband propped it up with some wire to see if that keeps the colored dye from leaking. He suspects that mechanism may be the problem because it's rusty. He's probably right. There's no blue dye yet in the toilet bowl. 

Plugging the Leaks

February's coaching newsletter focuses on plugging the leaks. Doing an energy audit first will tell you where the leaks in your home and wallet are. This should be done before replacement of your HVAC or new insulation or any renovations. Of course, doing an audit is not as fun as buying a new Energy Star refrigerator, or washer and dryer ... which I did five years ago when I was first learning to live sustainably. Now I know better. How much energy and money can you save? Hundreds of dollars, easily.

PHOTO: This is NOT a picture of our insulation and pipes. It's a photo I use on our website to illustrate what pipes and insulation would look like in a perfect world.

Perhaps it's the word "audit" that people get hung up on. It sounds scary and expensive, and intrusive. I suspect that's why savvy  businesses are now calling energy audits "home performance assessments." It's much friendlier sounding. Helpful even. Actually, that term does cover the bases a little better than "energy audit," since a good auditor will take a comprehensive view.

Unlike me, you will probably conduct only one energy audit every 5 to 10 years. So, you should probably do it right. I'm planning on Renewal System Solutions in Decatur doing an assessment on our Leave-It-to-Beaver home this month. Actually, another one. (My husband doesn't know this yet.) I'm hoping the $200 rebate from Georgia Power, as well as the credit RSS offers toward any recommendations done, will ease my husband into the idea. In all fairness to him, it will be our SECOND audit in five years. And he really likes our HVAC company, which did the first audit. I can't wait for him to read All Audits Aren't Equal.