A leaky bathtub or sink faucet can be incredibly irritating and costly for a homeowner. It may not seem like a drip every few seconds will add up to anything significant, but the truth may really surprise you. It’s estimated that a leaky faucet can waste up to 10,000 gallons of water every year, which as you may have guessed, will create a spike in your water bills. Do you know how much a dripping faucet can cost you in a month on your water bill? You may be wondering, "How much does a slow drip on a leaking faucet cost per month?" The average leaky faucet produces around ten drips per minute which wastes around one gallon of water daily and will cost you about $1 a month more on your water bill.
Leaking faucets can also cause corrosion, mineral buildup, and some people even report issues sleeping if they can hear a faucet leaking in the distance. While we highly suggest calling a professional Colorado Springs plumber, there are some things related to your faucet you can be on the lookout for or even fix yourself without the help of our plumbing services.
If you are looking for the best Colorado Springs plumber near you to assist you with a dripping faucet, contact Jolly Plumbing & Heating.
What Causes Bathroom Leaks?
A leaking faucet is absolutely something you as a homeowner can fix and learn from, but it will take some investigation. If you feel out of your depth or don’t understand the issue, it is always a good idea to reach out to a top-rated Colorado Springs plumbing company. Our professional plumbing services are available during regular business hours to accommodate the needs of each of our customers with repairs, maintenance, and installation. We also offer emergency plumbing services for when your plumbing can't afford to wait until morning.
How Much Can A Slow Drip Cost Per Month
A dripping faucet may not seem like a big drag on your water bill. A faucet leak can waste around 30 gallons of water per month, costing an additional $1 on your water bill. A slow faucet leak will produce about 10 drips per minute. Slow leaks are not that common, and faster drips can produce about 120 drips per minute and add another 30 gallons of wasted water per month.
Loose Bathroom Faucet Hardware
The first thing you will want to check is the tightness of all the faucet hardware. With constant use, the nuts and bolts holding the faucet in place will begin to loosen and cause leakage. While our Colorado Springs plumbers use special glues to make sure bolts stay in place for long periods of time, that’s not to say leakage can be completely prevented. Take a look at the bolts and use either a wrench or screwdriver to tighten them as much as possible, such as a leaky shower head. If this still doesn’t resolve the leak then you will know for sure the problem lies somewhere else.
O Ring is Compromised
After checking the tightness of all hardware, it’s time to look deeper at the “O” rings. Rubber O rings are used often in plumbing work to ensure a watertight seal for connections or places that could be subject to leaking. After a period of time, the rubber can become brittle and compromised, leaving you with a steady drip, or in some cases, spraying when the water pressure is increased. Replacing the O rings should solve most leaks, but it’s not always guaranteed.
Hard Water and Mineral Deposits
If you live in an area where the water is hard or full of minerals, then the buildup of those minerals on metal surfaces will be tough to avoid. Over time, mineral deposits will create space in between metal components or erode things like O rings and other seals. The best solution would be to remove the faucet entirely and soak it in a hard water cleaner. Once the minerals are cleared, it should solve the issue.
Water Pressure
If the water pressure is too high in your home, or the bathroom plumbing was installed incorrectly, it can cause major issues down the line. If highly pressurized water is being pushed through valves that were not designed to handle it, leaks will become a common annoyance. Unbalanced water pressure can also cause high-pitched hissing noise in the faucet which can also be bothersome.
Colorado Springs Leaky Faucet Replacement Near You
If you are looking for the best Colorado Springs plumber near you to assist you with a dripping faucet, contact Jolly Plumbing & Heating at 719-473-8545.
Here at Jolly Plumbing, we are experts in Colorado Springs leaky faucet repair and replacement. We specialize in faucet installation, faucet replacement, faucet repair, and many other plumbing services so you can have a lifetime partner in the plumbing industry from start to finish. We have been in the plumbing and heating business since 1955 and stand by our excellent reputation. Whether you need a new faucet or have a leaking outdoor faucet, Jolly Plumbing can handle any job, any size. We service both residential as well as commercial properties, which means you get the same great customer service whether you are a Colorado Springs homeowner or a local business that requires more water capacity to serve your customers.
What is the Cost of a Water Drip?
You hear a constant drip coming from your bathroom. You go back in and turn the handle to get it to stop. It might stop for a little, and then slowly, the dripping starts back up again. Let’s put an estimated price tag on how much this drip is costing you over time. Most slow drips will release about ten drips a minute, give or take. At that rate, you’ll see about a gallon of water wasted per day, which equals about 29 gallons of water in a month. The cost of this gallon-a-day-drip is about $1, depending on the price of water in your area. That doesn’t sound too bad, but that slow drip could be costing you an extra $12.00 a year while also wasting water, one of our most precious non-renewable resources.
What happens to the math if that drip is steady and faster? Your faucet could be leaking an estimated 120 drops every minute. That increases the total of water wasted in a day to 11 gallons. That’s about 330 gallons in a month. So that $1.00 a month goes up to around $6.00 a month. That’s about $72 for a year of drips.
Leaky Faucets Will Cost You
Overall, will you notice that your water bill has increased a few dollars a month? Unfortunately, for one leaky faucet, you may not see it. Instead, you may write it off as your extra time in the shower after that awful day at work or your kids playing with the sprinklers on a hot Colorado summer day.
It may not seem like a lot in the short term, but when you multiply that over the period it took for you to notice the leak and get it fixed, it can really add up. Plus, if you have one dripping faucet, there’s always the possibility that you may have other areas in your home where water is being wasted.
If one faucet is dripping, there’s a good possibility if they were installed simultaneously, other faucets are leaking water. Your showerhead could be a potential dripping water waster. The toilet could be even another drag on your water bill if it runs slow, has a leak, or other issues. Leaking pipes can be a hidden water bill bomb just waiting to go off. If one fast leak costs you $72 a year, then several problem water wasters could double or even triple that amount.
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