How Much Water Do Things Use?
As you might expect, we deal with all types of unique and varied water leaks in properties, and we sometimes get asked questions about how much water is used by everyday household items around the home. Why do we think that is? Well because if we are dealing with something like a Bathroom Leak, say from a bath water leak, then people wonder how much water is potentially leaking into their home from that leak!
We say potentially because, unless it is a catastrophic leak in a property, it would be unlikely to be all of the water leaking. For example, a waste pipe leak from a bath might have a crack in it which will leak a proportion of the water when we pull the plug out. Clearly, what that percentage is will depend on the scale of the crack or break. If the pipe is sheared off, it could be 100% in theory but, on most occasions it will be a small percentage of that, maybe single figures of percent.
That said, if you are losing 5% of your water from a leak then that can add up if it is happening ever day when you have a bath! A bit like you can see on our water leak calculator. On the topic of calculators, the numbers from this report are used in our Water Usage Calculator
So let’s start with that example of a bath, one of many things that can leak water….
How Much Water Does a Bath Hold?
As with most of the things on this list, clearly the exact answer will depend on the specific bath in your house, however, we will show some indicative / typical numbers to help illustrate how much water is in a bath tub.
When you have a bath, you obviously don’t fill it right up to the top (the overflow would help stop that anyway). However, a regular bath tub might be capable of holding 150 to 200 litres. That said, typically, when having a bath…
Most people use about 100 litres of water to have a bath.
On to the next one!…
How Much Water Does a Shower Use?
Again, it depends on how long you spend in the shower and how fast the water is flowing. Let’s assume that the average person is in the shower for 15mins, then at ‘regular’ water pressure that equates to…
People use about 50 to 60 litres of water to have a shower
On the subject of baths and showers, we have some other reports that you might find interesting. This includes an article on shower leaks and another on comparing condensation from baths and showers. Finally, we have a really fascinating article on the most common bathroom leaks.
We have also added a guide to when you have a Shower Drain Leaking in your home.
The next one is interesting!…
How Much Water Does a Toilet Use?
Again, as you might expect, we’ll say that it depends. Especially on modern toilets that have a full flush and a part flush on them (a good way to save water!) but typically…
People use about 8 to 10 litres of water to flush the toilet
We discuss this in our dedicated article explaining toilet leaks. On to another thing associated with water leaks in your home or business…
How Much Water Does a Washing Machine Use?
Typically (as you might have guessed by now!) it will depend on what the type of wash you are doing as many modern washing machines have a low water usage ‘green’ cycle on them. But that said, in the UK on a ‘normal’ wash…
People use about 60 – 70 litres of water using a Washing Machine.
On a similar subject…
How Much Water Does a Dishwasher Use?
This is a product which has improved massively over the years in terms of how much water they use. And like washing machines, they often have an ‘Eco’ or green cycle. Many years ago a dishwasher might use over 50 litres but nowadays…
People use about 10 – 15 litres of water using a Dishwasher.
Something a bit different next…
How Much Water Does a Radiator Hold?
Again, as you might have guessed by now, radiators come in many different sizes. Plus some are ‘single skinned’ and others are double which clearly makes a difference. However, as a guide for a medium sized radiators…
A radiator holds about 8 – 10 litres of water in them.
Finally another item associated with water leaks…
How Much Water Does a Sink Hold?
Like many of the things on this list, sinks come in all shapes and sizes. Plus, like our comments about bathtubs, you’ll unlikely fill it to the brim. If you did a typical single kitchen sink would perhaps hold 20-25 litres but, ‘filling it’ normally to do the dishes for example…
A kitchen sink holds about 15 – 20 litres of water in them.
Clearly that might be different if you use a plastic bowl in the sink too!
On the subject of kitchens, we have a really useful guide to how useful kitchen extractor fans can be in your home or business. Also, kitchens (including some of the things above) feature in our collection of Slow Motion Water videos which are fascinating for sure.
So hopefully that fun guide was interesting to compare how much water different things in your home hold or use. As we said, that can in turn give an indication of which items might cause how much damage when coupled with the scale of the thing that is causing the water leak.
If you need help with a water leak, contact our team today.
Many of the appliances and fittings listed above have isolation valves fitted to them so that the water supply can be turned off for installation, water leak repairs or replacement. Now that you can see how much water some appliances use, you can see how disaster restoration companies help with the damage they can cause, including a water leak in a house.
We have a great article including how much a loft water tank leak can involve and another regarding water leak alarms, explaining how valuable and effective they can be. We also have a recent guide to Water Test Kit Strips too and, related to that Drinking Water Tests with a follow on article on Water Testing Kits: Are They Great Or Not?
How much water is on earth?
Over 70 percent of the earth surface is water, most of it salt water in the seas (over 95%) and there are around 1.3 billion cubic kilometres in total. A cubic kilometre is 1000m long x 1000m wide x 1000m high which, on its own is one billion cubic meters – so, because each cubic meter is 1000 litres, that is 1 trillion litres per cubic kilometre. So that means there are 1.3 billion trillion litres of water on earth. That is 1,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 litres which is amazing. That is 1,300 quintillion litres or 1.3 sextillion litres.
How much water on earth is fresh water?
Of all the water on earth around 97% is salt water in the oceans and seas. Around 2% is ice and ice caps and glaciers. Just under 0.5% is ground water. With the remaining (under 0.5%) being inland seas, lakes and water in the atmosphere. River water is around 0.0001-0.0002 percent of the total which is surprising to many.