Being Green

Green plumbing practices have a lot to do with saving water and energy by changing inefficient plumbing fixtures such as faucets, shower heads, toilets, even water tanks to more efficient ones.

The Top 5 Ways to Make Your Plumbing Green:

1. Fix Leaky Faucets: Just one leaky faucet could waste over 20 gallons of water a day. If you are unsure if your pipes, toilets or sinks have leaks then find a plumber  to come check it for you. If you really think about it, you could be saving so much money by fixing leaks, especially if you have more than one. Don't forget the spigot. Causing lot of water waste.

2. Insulate Pipes: Some homes are made with crucial piping in exterior walls. This is inefficient, especially in colder cities and states such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the exterior walls become so cold for many months of the year. When water travels from the pipes to your faucets there is a heat loss, thus taking longer for warm water to come out of the faucet after you turn it on. This causes a waste of water. Insulation around pipes will help this and if you want to take a bold green plumbing step, then consider eliminating pipes in your exterior walls.

3. High Efficiency Toilets: Replacing your older and or larger tank toilets with smaller tank toilets can save a tremendous amount of water and money. Many of the new water saving toilets also have a dual flush feature by which you can choose a half flush or a full flush.

4. Shower Heads and Faucets: Installing low flow shower heads and aerators for sinks are great ways to limit water flow which will clearly save water and money. Many popular plumbing fixture companies,  have low flow shower heads and aerators.

5. Tankless Water Heaters: Tankless water heaters are the rising stars in water heaters. They have gained a lot of popularity in the past few years and continue to work well in warmer regions of the U.S.   Unlike traditional water tank heaters which constantly heat your hot water, tankless heaters save energy by heating only the water that you need. Can you imagine the savings with a tankless heater? In fact, you don't have to imagine because it is estimated that tankless water heaters can reduce your energy costs by up to 40-50%. Part of the rise in popularity are the tankless water heater tax return  available to those who purchase them.

Green plumbing also involves being water conscious and working hard to conserve water.