Finding New Fixtures

a project by Inesh Dey

3/28/25

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Some of the places our water bill is being spent out of

The Problem

So... recently I checked out our water bill, and turns out we're spending some crazy amount of money I wouldn't have ever guessed. And maybe, you are too! So strap on and maybe you'll find some new fixtures too!

So what is a lot?

I don't know about yours, but our water bill was at

a month

( in 63 days / 30.4 days per month)

yikes...

Identifying the wall of shame

With a bit of Google reverse image search and online resources, I got information about each of the pictured items. Turns out, we're pretty good at choosing the good stuff, but some of these are definitely not good

Kitchen Faucet - 1.8 GPM. By modern standards, alright! 1.5 GPM could be better.
Shower Head - 2.5 GPM is a bit much. Minimum ideal: 1.8 GPM
Washer - Sure it's pretty energy efficient, but it uses a lot of water, typically around 28 gallons on a full load. This is not good! Some energy star washers use way less than 15 gallons per load.
Bathroom Faucet - 1.5 GPM is pretty good, and is the maximum allowed by law in the US. This is a good one, but 1.2 GPM is better.

Replacing them

Based on my research online, I've found a ton of great alternatives for each! I tried searching for a wide price range, so you can find the right one for you!

Washers (some based on water use on Energy Star site, annual divided by 295)

Brand & Model	Price	Water Efficiency	Store
BLACK + DECKER - BFLW27MW	$759.45	8.64 gal / cycle	@ Home Depot
Summit - LW2427	$1,172.83	8.64 gal / cycle	@ Home Depot
LG WT6105CW	$528.00	14 gal / cycle	@ Home Depot

Kitchen Faucets

Turns out mine was pretty good, but here's some efficient ones to consider if you're above 1.8 GPM

Brand & Model	Price	Water Efficiency	Store
Grohe 31518DC0 Concetto	$213.52	1.5 GPM	@ Amazon
FORIOUS Kitchen Faucet	$39.90	1.8 GPM	@ Amazon
Kohler 596-VS Simplice	$219.99	1.5 GPM	@ Amazon and @ Home Depot

Bathroom Faucets

Brand & Model	Price	Water Efficiency	Store
Delta 15840LF-PD	$157.00	1.2 GPM	@ Amazon
GROHE 23085001 Bauloop	$79.20	1.2 GPM	@ Amazon
IKEA - Saljen	$25.00	1.2 GPM	@ IKEA

Shower Heads

Brand & Model	Price	Water Efficiency	Store
IKEA - Brogrund	$69.99	1.8 GPM	@ IKEA
Delta 75554C	$22.98	1.75 GPM	@ Home Depot
SparkPod Shower Head	$25.46	1.8 GPM	@ Amazon

Results!

Both motivation from me and our water bill allowed me to convince my parents that we do in fact need to replace our stuff. Now, theoretically, if we replaced all of our stuff, here's the amount of water we'd save per month:

Bathroom Faucet: 126 gallons/week
Kitchen Faucet: 126 gallons/week
Shower Head: 245 gallons/week
Washer: 57 gallons/week

Total: 554 gallons/week and $1.64/week from our house!

Maybe you could save some water too! Since our water usage was 29642 gallons a week, we save at least 1%, a conservative estimate, which is likely much higher! Data for timing was collected over a short time, and not complete.

What are you waiting for?

See what you're missing out on and swap to more water efficient fixtures, and maybe you'll save some money too!

Detailed Calculations

Click to check out the calculations!

Bathroom Faucets:
(1.5 gpm − 1.2 gpm) × (60 min/day × 7 days) = 0.3 gpm × 210 min = 126 gallons/week
Kitchen Faucets:
(1.8 gpm − 1.5 gpm) × (60 min/day × 7 days) = 0.3 gpm × 210 min = 126 gallons/week
Shower Head:
(2.5 gpm − 1.8 gpm) × (50 min/day × 7 days) = 0.7 gpm × 210 min = 245 gallons/week
Washer:
(23 gallons/load − 8.64 gallons/load) * 4 loads / week = 57 gallons/week
Total: 554 gallons/week
$2.20 per cubic meter / 748 galloner per cubic meter = $0.002964 per gallon
$0.002964 per gallon * 554 gallons/week = $1.64 per week
554 gallons/week * 2 weeks = 1108 gallons for project time
$1.62 per week * 2 weeks = $3.28 for project time