Things to check at home before a longer trip
A leaking toilet flush valve can waste over 40 baths' worth of water in just two weeks, resulting in an unexpectedly high water bill when you return home. Let's take a look at what you should check at home before leaving for a while, to make sure your water pipes are in good condition and to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
- Pipes
Many homes remain empty for several weeks during the summer holidays. Small water leaks can lead to significant costs over this period. However, most problems can be prevented by taking a few minutes to inspect the water system before leaving.
Check the operation of the toilet flush valve
A slowly leaking toilet flush valve is one of the most common yet often overlooked sources of water waste in an empty home. A dripping tap can waste up to 55 litres of water per day, while a leaking toilet flush valve can waste over 400 litres. This makes more than 5,600 litres — or nearly 40 bathtubs’ worth — of water in two weeks.
The most simple check to perform before you leave is to listen to see if the toilet flush valve is completely silent. If you can hear water flowing or a faint hissing noise coming from the toilet tank, it suggests that there is a leak in the flush valve. People may not even notice it in everyday life because of the background noise.
Check other draw-off points as well
You should also check the other draw-off points before you leave for a while. In apartment buildings, this mainly means the kitchen and bathroom, but in terraced and detached houses, attention should also be paid to the garden tap, which may be dripping unnoticed. If you have an automatic irrigation system at home, you should check its timers and settings.
Turn off the inside stop valve
If you're going to be away from home for a while, it's a good idea to turn off the stop valve inside your apartment. It is typically located in the bathroom or under the kitchen sink. Turning off the inside stop valve stops the flow of water into the apartment's pipes and helps prevent a situation where thousands of litres of water would flow out if there were a leak.
Every apartment owner should be aware of the location of their inside stop valve. If you are unsure where it is, ask your apartment association and locate the valve before you go on holiday.
As of today, over 86% of Tallinna Vesi's customers have smart meters, which will allow for the detection of unusual water consumption more quickly in the future.
Once you return from holiday, allow fresh water to run through the pipes
When you return home after being away for a while, make sure you open the taps that have been left idle. This way, the water that has been sitting in the pipes can be replaced with fresh drinking water.
The water in the pipes of an apartment or house that has been sitting there for weeks is no longer fresh. Therefore, you should open all taps that have stayed idle and leave them running for a while.
As a water utility, Tallinna Vesi ensures a high-quality water supply at all times in the capital's network of over 1,200 km of water pipes. Samples of tap water taken daily from customers' taps confirm that the tap water fully meets all quality requirements.
AS Tallinna Vesi is the largest water utility in Estonia, providing services to around 25,000 private customers and businesses and about 500,000 end consumers.
