Hosepipe Ban

vti2003 · Post by **vti2003** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:47 pm

I found something out today that just confirms my suspicions about the utter stupidity of water companies.

We have a hosepipe ban here at the moment so I have been washing the car with buckets and watering cans for a few weeks.

I got tired of that game fairly quickly so I dug out a waterbutt pump I picked up about four years ago for a tenner (after the last ban had finished

)

Hooked it up and wired it up and went to wash the car. Gave it a really good wash and wax using the hose and waterbutt, even used the jetwasher to rinse it off.

Normally I use a couple of buckets of water for the soapy stuff and about 6 watering cans full to get it wet, rinse it off and do the wheels.

I gave my little 'un his bath tonight and saved the bathwater to top up the waterbutt. Topped it up using the same watering can.

It took just over 4 cans to fill it back to brim full which is where it was when I started.

So it uses LESS water to wash your car with a hose than with a watering can/bucket

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:52 pm

Karcher attached to a hose pipe uses less water too. Sod the ban and risk it.

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:27 pm

It's more the water that can be "wasted" because the hose is essentially a bucket and when you coil it up some or all of this water falls out and is lost to the world, times this by a lot of people and you have a lot of water lost, admittedly they should also be telling everyone to be careful with water and turn the tap off when brushing teeth etc etc but for some unknown reason a lot of them don't. Working in the water industry I can tell you that a summertime hosepipe ban can overnight drop water usage across an entire area by thousands to millions of litres.

It's not entirely pointless but I see where you're coming from with washing the car, trouble is a lot of "joe public" types use a lot more water when washing and rinsing because they're "making sure" all the dirt/soap is off and wasting it or watering the garden more than usual because it's dry and a hosepipe is easy, make them pick up a watering can and suddenly the plants get less water and are still fine. I've been asked why the flooding didn't top up the reservoirs etc too and it's a long boring and complicated story

The water industry is also very tightly regulated and fines are easy to pick up, thats not to say some of the ideas aren't dumb but they're actually not as dumb as you might think, really is amazing how easy it is to save a lot of water or conversely loose it. Thats my boring explanation out of the way then

vti2003 · Post by **vti2003** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:40 pm

Completely see the point of banning a hosepipe to water a garden but then I don't get gardening at all

The best explaination I have heard so far is that "The raindrops at this time of year are the wrong size and don't soak in as far"

Duo wrote: really is amazing how easy it is to save a lot of water or conversely loose it.

I've got a great example of this and it drives me mental everyday. I have had two brand new houses over the last 5 years and both of them (and every other house on the estates) have had the same problem. They are lazy so they run the pipes all together so in the winter the heating pipes heat up the cold water pipes and you have to run the cold tap for about a minute to get a glass of water that is not hot. Stuff like that is what wastes water.

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:59 pm

Tell me about it dude, we're in a new build and the water runs so slowly to be "eco" you need to run the hot tap for a couple of mins before it gets hot, utterly useless. Being in the industry though you do get (if you pay attention) a good insight into how the whole system works and it really is complicated at times, still, I have a job so it's all good

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:00 pm

I work it the water reg's business, exciting times. They warned of the hose pipe bans on the way within the industry around feb, not that it matters in Wales

Anyhow, you need light rain for long periods for it to be re-absorbed back into the water table. If the ground is very dry, like it was at the end of march, it can absorb water very well and it runs off so not much of it makes it to the water table to top it up.

vti2003; It is part of the water regulations & building regulations that the hot pipe must be installed above the cold pipe to prevent this from happening. Great example of why new build houses are such a pile of jobby!

Anyhow, enough water geeking from me. Who'd of thought it, 2 water industry people in this little forum

Post by **Donald** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:03 pm

I'm sure I read that it's more efficient to put warm water in the fridge to cool down than run the tap til it's cold.

Warm water freezes faster than cold water too.

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:04 pm

Gorgon wrote:Warm water freezes faster than cold water too.

how?

vti2003 · Post by **vti2003** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:09 pm

Gorgon wrote:I'm sure I read that it's more efficient to put warm water in the fridge to cool down than run the tap til it's cold.

I'll do that next time I'm thirsty then

Gorgon wrote: Warm water freezes faster than cold water too.

Go on then - I'm dying to know the answer to this one

A1ex wrote: vti2003; It is part of the water regulations & building regulations that the hot pipe must be installed above the cold pipe to prevent this from happening. Great example of why new build houses are such a pile of jobby!

Ahh - that'll be another one to add to the list of building regs they ignored when they built my place then

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:14 pm

It's an amazing industry isn't it Alex

geeky and weird hehehe