When you’re trying to increase your home’s value, you might do some remodeling or enhance your landscaping to improve curb appeal. While those are good ideas, it’s even better to increase your home’s efficiency by incorporating some new and useful technologies. A great way to do this is to improve your home’s plumbing system. Newer plumbing systems increase water efficiency and can also save you money on other utility bills. We’ll walk you through the best plumbing upgrades to consider to increase your Georgia home’s value.
Upgrade to Water-Efficient Bathroom Fixtures
For many years, bathrooms were the primary point of water loss, with many fixtures wasting gallons of water for even the most basic bathroom functions. These days, there are several options for bathroom fixtures that will help you conserve both water and energy. These fixtures will add intrinsic value to your home since they will save money on utility bills for you as well as anyone who might buy and occupy your home in the future. Here are a few water-efficient bathroom fixtures to consider installing.
WaterSense-Certified Fixtures
Similar to ENERGY STAR-certified appliances that have a design that is more energy efficient, WaterSense-certified fixtures have been designed to be more water efficient. Each WaterSense-certified fixture must meet the efficiency standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To create a reasonable level of pressure while reducing the water’s flow rate, WaterSense adds air to the water. Several EPA-certified fixtures and appliances are water efficient according to the WaterSense standard. These include:
- Showerheads
- Bathroom faucets
- Toilets
For a better understanding of what it means to be WaterSense-certified, here’s a breakdown of the water savings you can expect. In the past, showerheads would have flow rates as high as 10 gallons per minute (GPM). This was a massively wasteful practice, which was why the creation of the Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 set the maximum flow rate at 2.5 GPM. WaterSense showerheads now reduce this even further to no more than 2.0 GPM, and there are multiple models that go lower than this.
For bathroom faucets, the average flow rate before WaterSense was 2.2 GPM. With WaterSense, the water used per hour is even lower at 1.5 GPM, which is much more efficient. Finally, WaterSense toilets use about 1.28 gallons of water per flush. Standard toilets, on the other hand, use 1.6 to 2 gallons per flush. WaterSense toilets don’t use aeration like WaterSense showerheads and faucets. Instead, additional pressure combines with optimized bowl shapes to reduce the amount of water needed.
Each of these fixtures will save you and future owners of your property money on both heating water and the water bill itself. And other fixture technologies are at hand that can also help add value to your home.
Low-Flow Shower Heads
While the aeration system used in WaterSense is typically used to keep pressure while creating a more water-efficient showering system, there are other options. Laminar low-flow shower head heads use less water at a rate of 1.5 GPM. Rather than add air, these use concentrated streams of water that produce less humidity and steam.
Dual-Flush Toilets
Dual-flush toilets save a household on water and energy because of the two flushing systems employed in their design. On top of the tank, there are two buttons that deliver two types of flushing power. The first, designed for liquid waste, uses less water to flush. The second, intended for solid waste, applies more water flow and pressure to better flush the material down the drain.
This saves on both water and energy because it gives household members direct agency when it comes to lowering the cost of utility bills. In some cases, the first flush option works at 0.5 gallons per flush and less than a gallon per flush with the second option, which is much less than the 1.6 gallons used by standard toilets.
Pressure-Assisted Toilets
As we just covered, standard toilets use a lot of water every time they flush. We also mentioned that some technologies use aeration to increase pressure while saving on water. Pressure-assisted toilets incorporate that aeration to help push solid and liquid waste into your plumbing system. Pressure-assisted toilets use compressed air pressure, and when used in conjunction with water, a toilet of this type reduces the water usage to about 1.1 gallons per flush.
While these toilets generate more noise than standard toilets, the savings on water are significant. Also, since these are more expensive to buy and install than standard toilets, they add value to your property.
Advantages You Can Enjoy With Tankless Water Heaters
Traditional water heaters do a great job at storing your hot water for use in the bathroom and kitchen, but these appliances take up a lot of space. In addition, these heaters also provide a finite amount of hot water, with the volume being dependent on the size of the tank. Once you’re out of hot water, then the tank will need to refill, which is problematic when you’re in need of large quantities.
This is where a tankless water heater comes in handy for increasing your home’s value. Tankless water heaters, which some call demand water heaters, are able to heat water at a very fast rate when it’s needed. As the name indicates, these don’t use a tank and simply run water over a heating element when it’s needed. The thermostat sets the level of heat, and the water heats within a few seconds to the desired level.
On-demand water heaters tend to be much more efficient than tank water heaters, and they also have longer lifespans than tanked versions. A tankless heater also takes up far less space, and because of this smaller footprint, you can place it anywhere in the house, even behind walls. Combine these points with the carbon footprint reduction, and you’ll see why these upgrades add value to residential properties.
Water Filtration
Whole-house water filtration systems provide healthier, cleaner water for your home. This plumbing system uses a multistage process to clean water. It effectively removes sediment, rust, and other particles from your drinking water using an activated carbon filter. There are several advantages to this. First, there’s no incidence of hard water. Mineral materials like limescale and magnesium don’t make it into your water, as the filter picks them up and removes them.
We’re Here to Help You Upgrade Your Plumbing System
At BlueFlow All-Service Plumbing, we have over 100 years of service in the Clermont and Gainesville, GA areas. We’re here to help you obtain the upgrades you need to increase your home’s value. Our residential plumbing services team has experience working with many different types of fixtures, and we pride ourselves on reliability and doing the job right the first time.
If you’re thinking about ways to improve your home’s water and energy efficiency, give us a call today to set up a consultation or get answers to any questions you may have.
