Posted on October 17, 2013 One way of increasing the value of your home is by replacing older plumbing fixtures and systems with new ones. Not only are newer fixture more likely to have lifetime warranties, but they have some pretty awesome features, are made to look nice and actually save tons of water. Updating these five products could do wonders for your home, your budget, and the environment. 1. Replace your old toilet with one of the new highly efficient, 1.6 gallon per flush units. Some of the new toliets utilize water pressure to create a flush that is more efficient than most older style toilets that use 5 to 7-1/2 gallons per flush. 2. Replace your old shower head with a water conserving shower head like this one. The typical shower head has a flow rate of five to seven gallons per minute. New water conserving shower heads use 1.6 to 2.5 gallons per minute. This conservation effort not only saves water, but also saves on the cost of energy to heat the water, resulting in a payback typically taking less than one year. 3. Replace your old faucet aerators. The typical old style faucet aerator uses around 3.5 gallons per minute. New aerators use 1.6 gallons per minute. This results in a reduction of over 50% for water used through a typical lavatory faucet. 4. Replace your top loading clothes washer with a front loader. New machines with the Energy Star label use only 18 — 25 gallons of water per load (compared to 40 gallons per load for the typical machine) and save about 7,000 gallons of water a year. In fact, these machines — often with a front-loading design — are up to 40% more water efficient and 70% more energy efficient than conventional top-loading washers. 5. Install a domestic hot water re-circulation system, so when you start using hot water in the morning, you don’t waste water down the drain waiting for the water to get hot.
