Tap Into New Ideas: Upgrading Your Home’s Water Supply

Many of us put off the expense of updating our home’s water system, choosing to instead put up with leaky taps and showers that suddenly go cold.

But updating your water supply could save you money on your utility bills in the long run in many cases (or at the very least increase the value of your home).

Here are just a few ways to upgrade your home’s plumbing.

Up the pressure

Low water pressure can be frustrating – no-one wants to shower with a dribble or ait half an hour for the toilet cistern to fill up.

There are lots of ways to increase your water pressure.

If you’ve been slowly losing water pressure, it could be a case of blocked pipes or a faulty pressure reducing valve, in which case it could be worthwhile hiring a plumber.

Alternatively, if you and your neighbors have always had low water pressure, it could be time to install a pressure booster.

This stores water in a tank and helps to regulate pressure. Power showers are also able to do this with your shower.

Improve water heating

There are lots of ways to improve water heating. If you’ve got a traditional water heating system that stores hot water in a tank, it could be time to upgrade to a tankless water heater.

These devices use less energy by only heating water when a hot water faucet is in use, saving you money on your heating bills.

They can also help to provide a constant supply of hot water, unlike a traditional tank.

There are other ways to improve water heating such as insulating pipes.

You may also be able to upgrade your shower to a thermostatic model which keeps the temperature to a precise heat.  

Replace old bathroom fixtures

Old bathroom fixtures could be using up more water than you need.

This could include leaky taps or water guzzling toilets.

Consider installing some new lever taps and a multi-flush toilet if you haven’t got one already.

These can help you to more easily regulate the amount of water you’re using, helping to lower your water bill.

Recycle water

You can recycle water in your home too in order to lower your water consumption.

Buying a rain barrel for your garden can prevent you from having to use water from the mains in your garden.

Instead, you can use collected rainwater to sprinkle your plants and lawn with – this is much better for your garden as it contains lots of natural minerals to boost soil richness.

Alternatively, you could install a greywater recycling system.

This takes wastewater from your sink and shower and re-uses it garden sprinkling and toilet flushing, saving you money on your water bill.

Upgrade your piping

Upgrading all the piping in your house is a very expensive job and not recommended in most cases.

However, there may be cases when you need to upgrade, such as having old lead pipes (which could be poisoning your water supply) or polybutylene pipes (common in houses built in the 70s and prone to bursting).

In other cases such as a leak, you may be able to get away with fixing a small section of piping.

A plumber may be able to advise you on what you need.