Thread: Water bills! How much do you use?

I change a similar amount to you in the summer, but tend to change the same amount, but less frequently in the colder months. Seems to work ok, but it does mean my nitrates are probably on the higher side than they should be.

Unfortunately I've recently developed the habit of doing a water change but then going away forgetting the tap is still running. 🫣One time I did that for 24hours, and more recently I did that for about 4 hours. So when our water bill came in recently it had shot up quite a bit more than normal, so I had to come clean to my wife and say hopefully it was a one, well two, off.

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I change around 10% every 7-10 days at the moment then less frequently in winter and probably less changed too. I don't feed below about 12 degrees in winter either so not quite so much ammonia etc.

The other thing that has increased my water usage is my drum is cleaning so frequently at the mo.

I think I need to give the mesh a good clean as I suspect it's got a little clogged up.

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I change 1000 - 1500 litres every fortnight or so.

I top up on average 100 litres a day (drum usage, using pond to water garden, and possibly a leak but I think its leaking every year then the level stays the same in winter so who knows).

According to my water bill I use just under 900 litres per day and am the biggest user in my area. I have no idea how I'm getting through that much.

Water bill direct debit is £122 per Month plus I'm in £750 of arrears (I keep asking them to increase DD and they keep saying current DD amount is fine, yet the arrears keep building).

I get a non-return to sewer allowance where they deduct my pond usage from the wastewater charges, works out about £45 saving every 6 Months).

One of my kids can spend 1.5 hours in the shower, then fill up the bath to relax for another hour. She works for a water company and offers people free egg timers to encourage them to have 4 minute showers! She once got in trouble at work for leaving a tap on in the toilets all weekend!

Originally Posted by BrucePondsteen

Wow Dave that’s quite a turnover of freshwater! What have you found to be the benefits? Cheers


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all down to the recycle RO really.
good growth, phosphates below 0.25pm, nitrates below 5ppm, soft water KH around 1-2.
good metals removal. and 99% of most of the other contaminants that get past the dechlorinator.

edit: slight mis calculation there
3600 litres of RO a week, so about 50% total trickle in-/recycle ro /out a week, not 100%

I don't trickle, but if I do a water change it's about 7000l which is to the bottom of the window. Given a guess at £2.25/m3 or 1000l, that's 7*2.25 ~£7.

The drum runs every 45 minutes on the shortest rinse so I'd approximate 160l/day. I could cycle water through the pond then use the clean side for the drum. That may be an option moving forward as a greener version. Maybe I could make a solenoid that alternates between washing the drum with pond water and washing the drum with chlorinated water.
So 365days*160l = 58,400 litres, so 58.3m3 or £132/year.

Our loo has a slight leak into the bowl so that would definitely be the culprit Need to sort that out with a new washer etc - I may do that today.

Moving forward I may do a 50% water change 2-3 times a year.

Originally Posted by BrucePondsteen

Interesting!

Main issue with RO is you need an input below a total dissolved matter threshold. That is typically filtered drum, then multiple sets of fine filtering before it gets to the RO.

trickling in aound 1000 litres a week(10% pond volume) which from memory is a cubic metre so around £2.50 per week for this, plus the drum is cleaning every 40 minutes for two full drum revolutions so approx 252 cleans per week, unsure of water usage on this especially as i have an inline salamander pump which boosts water pressure through the spray bar, £80 a month DD so not too major this is the house and pond...

Hi Steve, Presuming you're with South East Water as I am, I looked on their website and found my usage, but can't get as up to date a reading as your's - my latest is September 2023 - at 508L/day, can't see how to get a screenshot now though.

Bloody confusing with their payment details - monthly DD £59 - monthly usage £59.88 but 'I'm paying the right amount' and £361 in credit can't make sense of it, just keep paying the bills and taking the pills

My little hose meter says I use about 350L each filter clean - 3 times a week.

Originally Posted by KiOgon

Hi Steve, Presuming you're with South East Water as I am, I looked on their website and found my usage, but can't get as up to date a reading as your's - my latest is September 2023 - at 508L/day, can't see how to get a screenshot now though.

Bloody confusing with their payment details - monthly DD £59 - monthly usage £59.88 but 'I'm paying the right amount' and £361 in credit can't make sense of it, just keep paying the bills and taking the pills

My little hose meter says I use about 350L each filter clean - 3 times a week.

When you log in there should be some tiles near the bottom and one says something like "My water usage", when you click on that the chart is there.

As things stand we've had no water since yesterday due to a burst main at the end of our road. Did get water back briefly but it was coming out the tap brown. Pond needs a top up as well.

Mine was saying "I'm paying the right amount" as well, even despite my £750+ debit.

Your DD is half of mine!
Even deducting my daughter's showers my usage is pointing towards a pond leak!

Originally Posted by KiOgon

Hi Steve, Presuming you're with South East Water as I am, I looked on their website and found my usage, but can't get as up to date a reading as your's - my latest is September 2023 - at 508L/day, can't see how to get a screenshot now though.

Bloody confusing with their payment details - monthly DD £59 - monthly usage £59.88 but 'I'm paying the right amount' and £361 in credit can't make sense of it, just keep paying the bills and taking the pills

My little hose meter says I use about 350L each filter clean - 3 times a week.

This is what I call fraudulent use of direct debit. Over charging on direct debit so that your account is in credit and they pocket the interest on that credit but never refund it.

I would place strongly worded letter to the water and financial ombudsman indicating that this is fraudulent consistent overcharging.

It's why my mrs refuses to do direct debit and pays monthly.