Hard Water Treatment in Your Home

Water softening tablets cost about 23 pence each. That is adding 23 pence to every load in your washing machine. Sadly these treatments do not protect your iron, kettle, hot water immersion heater or central heating boiler.

We can fit a scale inhibitor to your water supply. It is a fit-and-forget addition to your home that offers total protection for 5 years. No maintenance is needed and all water using appliances are protected.

The chemical treatment of your washing machine will cost £40.25 per year, and all other appliances are not protected. We can protect your whole water system for £80.00. After two years you have your money back in savings from buying chemicals. The added benefit of protecting the other appliances must be worth £25.00 to £50.00 per year.

This would make you at least £370.00 better off after 5 years.

Contact us to discuss your requirements and arrange a home visit.

Green Deal Ecologic. We are here to help you save money and improve your quality of life.

Home Energy Assessment Advice

Home Energy Assessment

What we do

We work with you to check every appliance in your home. We note how much power each item uses and give you an expected cost to run each item per hour. You can then decide how best to use those items in the future.

The home energy assessment will also help you make informed choices when you need to replace or upgrade any items of equipment in your home.

Cost

Our whole home energy assessment service costs £75. We expect most homes to save up to £500 per year. IF WE CANNOT SAVE YOU MONEY, WE WILL NOT CHARGE YOU FOR OUR SERVICE.

We are a Social Enterprise and spend 50% of our profits on Community energy projects.

Your Heating System and Controls

We will check the size and type of radiators you have to make sure they are the right size for each room. If you need to replace any radiators in the future, the home energy assessment will show you what you need to heat each room efficiently.

We look at what type of radiator valves and central heating controls you have. The home energy assessment will list possible improvements you can make to get your central heating system work better, keeping you warm, and importantly saving you money.

Your Lighting

We will look at what lighting you have inside and outside your home. Our home energy assessment will list possible improvements you can make. We will detail costs and importantly how long it will take for any money spent to be saved by reduced spending on your electricity bill.

Unlike many other Companies we don’t just want to sell you products. We want you to be able to make the best choices for your needs. We can provide and fit central heating boiler controls and radiator valves for you. But you are under no obligation to buy anything.

Your Electrical System

Our home energy assessment will look at your electrical system to make sure you have all items needed for your safety at home. The Electrical Visual Condition Report will identify any items you may need. We will list anything you may need and offer free advice on what can be done to improve electrical safety in your home.

Your Water Supply

Our home energy assessment will look at your bath, shower, toilet, wash basins and sinks to check how much water you use. We will also look at your water using devices such as washing machine and dish washer to see how much water you use and offer advice on ways to save water.

Your Utility Bills

We will check how much you have spent on gas/oil, electricity and water to see if you are spending more than average. We can help you choose energy providers to make sure you are getting the best deal.

Check our website: https://greendealeco.wordpress.com for information and advice for saving money and making the world a better place.

The Cost of Bath -v- Shower

There is a surprising difference in costs between taking a bath and taking a shower. If you pay water rates, you pay fixed charges as detailed below. The published figures are chargeable, regardless of how much water is actually used.

Type of premises	Water	Sewerage	Total
Single person household	£105.57	£138.62	£244.19
bungalows	£225.11	£232.93	£458.04
Semi-detached houses and bungalows	£205.87	£217.75	£423.62
Detached houses and Other household premises	£157.78	£179.81	£337.59

However if you have a water meter fitted the cost is directly charged by the quantity of water drawn of to supply your property. There is also a cost for sewerage. This is not metered, but a simple additional cost per m³, as detailed below:

Water meter rates

Water		Sewerage
Standing   Charge	Price   per m³	Standing   Charge	Fixed   charge	Price   per m³
£30	£1.374	£15	£64	£1.084

The table above water costs £0.002458 per litre. This is the total cost of water drawn off and sewerage returned after use.

The average bath takes 150 litres to fill. A cubic meter of water contains 1000 litres. From the prices above the average bath contains 20 pence worth of water.

• A five minute ‘high-flow’ shower uses approximately 90 litres of water which costs about 12 pence.

• A five minute ‘standard’ shower uses approximately 50 litres of water which costs about 12 pence.

Now total costs for comparison are

Bath = 37 pence = £259.00 per year*

5 minute Shower high flow rate = 22 pence** = £154.00 per year*

5 minute Shower standard flow rate = 12 pence** = £84.00 per year*

* based on 2 instances per day for 350 days per year

**Note the shower flow rate is based on optimum 18 litres per minute. Many operate at approximately 10 litres per minute. This reduces the shower costs to 12 pence [7 pence for water and 6 pence for waste water to sewer]

Compare your costs and see if you are better off with a water meter.

Please contact me if you want any further advice or guidance.

Green Deal Ecologic

Take control of your water don’t pour money down the drain

Are You Paying Too Much for Water?

I recently replaced a direct hot water cylinder for a Customer and got talking about water bill costs. I was amazed at how much they were paying. Their most recent water rates bill totalled £403.00 for the year. There are two adults, in their sixties, who are careful water users. They have a twin tub washing machine and share bath water.

The previous day I was working at a house with a family, two adults with a two year old child. They have a water meter fitted and pay £228.00 per year. They are also careful water users. However they have a young child, with the associated extra water requirements! Both Customers pay the same Water Company by direct debit. However the water meter Customers are paying £175.00 per year less, and probably use more water!

The tables of charges below give published costs for metered water supply. Don’t forget you also get charged for what goes down the drain. Your sewerage isn’t metered, it’s just a direct cost added to the metered water drawn off into your property. With this table of charges you can see how much your water bills should be and budget for future use based on current charges.

Water meter rates

Water		Sewerage
Standing Charge	Price per m³	Standing Charge	Fixed charge	Price per  m³
£30	£1.374	£15	£64	£1.084

The table below give approximate costs for a range of water using appliances. Costs are based on current £0.002458 per litre.

Outlet	Litres per second	Litres per minute	Capacity [litres]	Cost per instance of   use Based on rate of   £0.002458 per litre
Basin [spray]	0.05	3	10	2.5 pence
Basin [standard tap]	0.15	9	10	2.5 pence
Toilet cistern   [pre-1993]	0.10	6	15	4 pence
Dual flush cistern   [short flush]	0.10	6	2.5	0.6 pence
Dual flush cistern   [long flush]	0.10	6	4	1 pence
Shower [100mm rose]	0.30	18	90	22 pence
Bath [tap]	0.30	18	150	37 pence

From the table above you can make a list of water using appliances in your property. Multiply the cost shown by the daily instances. Multiply the weekly total by 350 to give an approximate annual cost. Check this against the water rates table below, to see if you would be better off with a water meter.

The following details costs for water and sewerage, extract from United Utilities list of charges

Type of premises	Water	Sewerage	Total
Single person household	£105.57	£138.62	£244.19
bungalows	£225.11	£232.93	£458.04
Semi-detached houses and bungalows	£205.87	£217.75	£423.62
Detached houses and Other household premises	£157.78	£179.81	£337.59

Getting back to the cost comparisons between the two households; remember the metered household pay £228.00 per year and the water rate paying household pay £403.00 per year. From the table above I estimated the sixties couple costs as follows.

Daily use:

1 bath                                                 £0.37

4 basin                                               £0.10

6 toilet [pre-1993]                             £0.24

Twice weekly

Twin tub washing machine            £0.16 [based on 30 litres used per wash]

Weekly spend                                   £5.13

Total annual spend                          £256.50

Against the £403.00 water rates charge, there is a potential saving of £146.50 per year. As the bath water is shared there is no energy saving advantage to fitting a shower. However a further saving of £21.00 per year could be made by installing a more efficient dual-flush toilet.

Careful users can make considerable savings by having a water meter fitted. Have a go at costing your water use. I would be really interested to see how you get on. Please contact me if you want any further information or guidance.

Green Deal Ecologic

 Take control of your water don’t pour money down the drain

Related articles

• Water supply and use in your home (greendealeco.wordpress.com)

Water supply and use in your home

A hot water cylinder can give 30 litres per minute of hot water, if the cold main into the property is only 10 litres per minute, then you will only get 10 litres per minute out to taps.

The simplest way to measure flow rate is to time how long it takes to fill a bucket to known volume. For example, if it takes you 30 seconds to fill a 10 litre bucket, the flow rate is 20 litres per minute.

The local water pressure is set by your water supplier. Legally they only have to guarantee 1 bar pressure and 9 litres/minute flow.

Approximate hot or cold water demand, flow rate litre per second and litres per minute

Outlet	Litres per second	Litres per minute	Capacity [litres]	Cost per instance of use Based on rate of £0.002458 per litre
Basin [spray]	0.05	3	10	2.5 pence
Basin [standard tap]	0.15	9	10	2.5 pence
Toilet cistern [pre-1993]	0.10	6	25	6 pence
Dual flush cistern [short flush]	0.10	6	2.5	0.6 pence
Dual flush cistern [long flush]	0.10	6	4	1 pence
Shower [100mm rose]	0.30	18	90	22 pence
Bath [tap]	0.30	18	150	37 pence

Using the tables of charges below you can see how much your water bills should be and budget for future use based on current charges.

The following details costs for water and sewerage, extract from United Utilities list of charges

Type of premises	Water	Sewerage	Total
Single person household	£105.57	£138.62	£244.19
bungalows	£225.11	£232.93	£458.04
Semi-detached houses and bungalows	£205.87	£217.75	£423.62
Detached houses and Other household premises	£157.78	£179.81	£337.59

Careful users can make much savings by having a water meter fitted. The details listed below will let you compare both methods of payment

Water meter rates

Water		Sewerage
Standing Charge	Price per m³	Standing Charge	Fixed charge	Price per m3
£30	£1.374	£15	£64	£1.084

The average bath takes 150 litres to fill. A cubic meter of water has 1000 litres. From the prices above the average bath has 20 pence worth of water. A five-minute shower uses about 90 litres of water which costs about 12 pence.

Don’t forget to add the cost of what goes down the drain! Bath waste water costs 16 pence to get rid of and 10 pence for a shower.

Now total costs for comparison are
Bath = 37 pence = £259.00 per year*
5 minute Shower high flow rate = 22 pence** = £154.00 per year*
5 minute Shower standard flow rate = 12 pence** = £84.00 per year*

* based on 2 instances per day for 350 days per year

**Note the shower flow rate is based on at best 18 litres per minute. Many use about 10 litres per minute. This reduces the shower costs to 12 pence [7 pence for water and 6 pence for waste water to sewer]

Green Deal Ecologic
Take control of your water don’t pour money down the drain