Have you suddenly experienced a drop in water pressure? Has your work schedule changed? While working from home has its benefits—savings on clothes and fuel, less pollution and road congestion, etc.—it can, at the same time, wreak havoc on your household utilities: gas, electric … and water, especially if you have a low yield well.
Before you made the switch from commuter to remote worker, you likely weighed the benefits of a less stressful, more relaxed lifestyle: a more flexible schedule, increased family time, financial savings, to name a few. But then you started working from home, as did other members of your family, and that’s when you noticed the drawbacks: difficulty in maintaining a schedule, less distinction between work and personal time, a spike in your electric bill and a significant drop in water pressure.
How does working from your home impact your water pressure?
In some cases, working from home allows for more multi-tasking: you throw in a load of laundry between phone calls; you cook more meals creating more dishes to wash; you fill up your water bottle from the faucet rather than the water cooler; you brew more coffee or tea leading to more trips to the bathroom, resulting in more toilet flushes and hand-washing. Multiply those activities by the number of people at home and it’s easy to see how your water consumption can skyrocket.
Consider that washing dishes by hand with the water running uses between 10 to 20 gallons of water while running the dishwasher uses between 7 and 10 gallons. Each load of laundry can use up to 40 gallons of water. Showers consume between 2 to 4 gallons of water per minute, while washing hands with the tap running will use 1 to 2 gallons. Each flush of a toilet uses between 1.5 to 4 gallons of water depending on the type of toilet tank you have. For those with a low yield well, the increased rate of consumption as a result of working from home can mean serious water pressure problems.
One factor that always makes the list of top causes of low water pressure is time of day. It is not unusual to experience low water pressure at peak times of the day when various water outlets are being used at once. Prior to the work-from-home trend, these peak times often occurred in the mornings as families were getting ready for work and school and again in the evenings when everyone returned home. With work from home, there is less leaving and returning—more people are in the home at all hours and peak times extend throughout the day.
Pressure issues arise when demand on your system occurs before the pump can replenish your depleted water tank. With low yield wells, it can take longer for your pump to refill your tank.
Low Water Pressure Solutions
Scheduling water usage is one possible, albeit cumbersome, remedy for your low water pressure issues. A better solution would be a well water management system that allows your water tank to maintain a constant level so that water is available when needed.
To learn more about how a booster pump and well water management system can help resolve your low water pressure issues, contact Well Manager today—then sit back and enjoy the benefits of your new work from home arrangements!
