Facts & Stats
Taps
How much does a dripping tap cost?
A cold tap that drips at one drip a second loses 33 litres of water a day or as much as 12,000 litres (12m3) per annum.
Figures are calculated based on one dripping tap per property for a single household. Then one dripping tap per ten homes for a housing association with a portfolio of 10,000 properties, and a Maintenance Contractor with a portfolio of 500,000 properties (NB the HA or Contractor don’t pay the water charges these fall to the residents of the home).
A cold tap that drips at ten drops per minute loses 5.5 litres of water a day or as much as 2,000 litres per annum.
(* water cost including waste water based on Southern Water figures of £0.0045/litre)
What are the potential maintenance savings?
Potential maintenance cost savings for housing associations, and other providers, are highly significant.
Figures are calculated for a single household, a housing association with a portfolio of 10,000 properties, and a Maintenance Contractor with a portfolio of 500,000 properties.
For a householder the charge for repair or replacement of a tap includes a call out charge.
A Housing Association wouldn’t incur the additional call out charge but would just allow the tap to continue to drip until the next maintenance cycle and gas checks etc.
The calculations assume one tap replaced or repaired per property every ten years.
* All properties in the portfolio are serviced every year. This is the extra labour cost only of one in ten needing a tap replaced or repaired, each taking approximately half an hour to do at a fee of £30 (£60 per hour).
Radiators
How much time and money could be saved repairing a central heating system?
On average, each of the 22.24 million homes in the UK that are heated with Central Heating systems, have six radiators. Draining and refilling a typical system requires approximately an hour and a half plus the time to change a failing TRV, locksheid valve or radiator.
In addition to the cost of the water, the more air that is introduced to a system, the quicker radiators etc rust and there is also the cost of the rust inhibitors to add.
Assuming that only once every ten years a property needs a new boiler or TRV etc, which is a conservative estimate, we calculate below the saving in lost water and maintenance time if with the installation of Mikk valves, the system doesn’t need to be drained.
Figures are calculated for a single household, a housing association with a portfolio of 10,000 properties, and a Maintenance Contractor with a portfolio of 500,000 properties;
* Water cost of £0.0045 per litre.
** Labour at £60/hour