Water flow test

After heating, hot water uses the second largest amount of energy in your home. One way to manage your hot water costs is to see how quickly it flows from your taps or shower. If it’s flowing too quickly, it will use more water than you need — as well as more energy and expense to keep it hot.

You don’t need any special equipment to test your water flow, just a timer, bucket and a measuring jug. Water flow is measured by the amount of water that comes out of the tap or shower in one minute. You don’t need to let the water run for a full minute though. Instead, you can let it run for ten seconds, and then multiply that by six so you know how much would come out in 60 seconds (one minute.)

Ideally, your water flow rate should be around nine litres per minute (9L/min). Some taps and showers can use up as much as twenty two litres per minute (22L/min). This would mean your hot water gets used up more than twice as quickly.

For full instructions on this and other tools in the Home Energy Saving Kit, see our Manual and Workbook.

If you find your water is flowing too quickly, there may be ways you can slow it down, such as fitting flow restrictors.

To find out how you can make savings on your hot water, see pages 15 – 18 of our guide to 100 Ways to Save Energy at Home.