There is hope though.  There are a few ways that you can keep your water heating expenses down.  The most obvious is to use less hot water (again with the long showers in the morning).  Another is to turn down the thermostat on your water heater. A lot of water heaters come from the factory with a high temperature setting but 115 degrees fahrenheit is warm enough. You could also increase the efficiancy of your water heater by buying a new water heater.  If you invest a little money now it could pay off big in the long run.  Finally, if you can’t afford a newer model put some insulation around the one you have.  When doing this however, make sure you don’t cover the floor, top, thermostat, or burner compartment of the water heater.  If you aren’t sure what you’re doing get the help of someone who knows what they’re doing like a plumber in Atlanta.

A family of four uses over 700 gallons of water a week if each of them only shower for five minutes a day.  I know I don’t shower for just five minutes a day.  In comparison, 700 gallons is roughly a three year supply of drinking water for just one person.  You can cut the amount of water used in half by installing low pressure flow faucets and showerheads.

Other things you can do to improve your utility bills is to repair leaky faucets as soon as you notice them.  You’d be surprised at how much water can leak out of a fucet in just one night.  You can also regularly drain about a quart of water from your water heater.  This will remove sediments that build up and make your water heater less efficient.  This is another one of those things that you may want to consult a plumber in atlanta about.  Also, if you live in the climate for it, such as Atlanta, you could install a solar heating panel on your roof to heat your water.  It’s environmentally friendly and these days the solar panels are designed to blend in with your roof when installed.

One final tip is to take more showers than baths.  Bathing uses more hot water than taking a shower.  A bath will use 25 – 30 gallons of water while a five minute shower uses about 10 gallons.  I don’t know about you but I’d always heard the opposite but I guess you learn something new all the time.

Compression faucets are the kind of faucets with two handles, one for hot and one for cold.  Inside of each handle is a valve.  When you turn the hanlde the valve opens and water flows through wheras when you turn the handle the other way the valve closes blocking the flow of water.  There is a rubber washer at the base of each valve that is “compressed” to block water from flowing out and causing the faucet to drip and leak.

Cartridge faucets come in both single and double handled varietys.  There is a stem cartridge inside of the faucet that moves up and down to control the flow of water.  Single handled faucets move left to right to control water temperature and move up and down to control water flow.  The kind with to handles resemble compression faucets but have a different feel to them since you don’t have to compress a washer to turn them off.

Ball faucets have a single handle that is attached to the faucet base with a round base.  This makes them easy to spot.  The ball shaped control has chambers in it that control the flow of water and mixes hot and cold water.

The most recent type of faucet created is the disc faucet.  It is similar to the ball faucet, a single, cylyndrical shaped by however, the insides cosist of ceramic disc that slide over each other to control water volume and water temperature.

There are a few simple rules to follow when doing any kind of repair to your faucet.  First, make sure you turn off the water either at the shutoff for the sink or at the main shutoff for the house.  Second, drain the faucet by opening up the tap.  Third, make sure you put down a towel or pull the stopper in case you drop something small.  Finally, whatever you are trying to replace make sure you take it with you to Lowes or Home Depot so that you can make sure you buy the right replacement part.