The two mug race

The Eco-kettle

designed to allow you to boil only as much water as you need.

Cleverly done through the system of filling the kettle but then - pressing the button to indicate how many cups (at 200ml) you want to heat. 

A great idea - but - we use the AGA to heat our water. 

So, I decided to time how long each would take for the water to boil.

Switch on and time.

For 2 mugs.  1.3 minutes for 400ml of water to boil in the eco-kettle and 1.8 minutes for the same amount of water in the AGA kettle.

So, the Eco-kettle will save power.  However, I have no plans to change our system of boiling water but I will measure more accurately the amount of water to put in the kettle.

Lynn

Day 3

http://youtu.be/MeJ4B5nRs9k

Airy water

Have installed the shower 'egg timer' which prompts you to limit your shower to 4 mins which I have to admit is a bit of a struggle. Some times I go in the shower for 5 minutes peace and 4minutes is just not the same. 

In a bid to help more on the water saving front, we played around with in insert for the shower hose and also a new shower head. tried comparing them all in different combinations and basically each device on its own adds 0.5 secs to the time it takes to run a litre of water (9.6 secs with no water saving device and 10.3 with one and 10.7 with both). Doesn't sound a lot but my basic maths tells me that its a 10% reduction and a 4 min shower should use 2.5 litres less water. When there are six of you that is quite a reduction ( although the teenagers are true to form and don't actually shower that often, good for my water reduction challenge but not for my nose).

I have to say though that the shower head works by sucking in air and somehow pushing it through the flow of water. This means you don't notice any reduction in power but it is really noisy so we will have to see if it is tolerable for the early morning showers.

Julie

Day 2 clips: water, wildlife and a family weekend

See what you could encounter out and about in Yorkshire Water areas in just 90 seconds: http://youtu.be/MLi9EUJo5N8

Dan

Video of our first day adventuring with Yorkshire Water

Check out this 90 second clip of the best bits of day 1.  Great footage of the environments we encountered.

http://youtu.be/TT1MpoC1C3o

You can also see what we thought were the best bits of the last weekend discovering more about how Yorkshire Water are helping look after our coastline at http://youtu.be/def_7HUR0ak

Dan

Shower away

Good to know my normal length of shower was within the measure of the timer.

 But

Watering the growing vegetables with water fit for drinking, made me think of ways to store the water from the gutters below the roof after rainfall, keep water from the dishwasher and washing machine and use it for plant watering.  

Still thinking.  

However, I now know its useful to use the hosepipe gun when I need less water for the plants.

Lynn

Plus, Sam says you can also wash your cans, bottles and containers for recycling in the stored rainwater instead of using water from the tap.

Sam

The whole Adventure Experience

When you turn your tap on at home or in the workplace it is hard to realise the amount of work and development that has taken place for that water to arrive clean and fresh and in a condition that we, the consumer, are all comfortable with. 

What this Yorkshire Water adventure has done for me, and all the family, has opened our eyes to appreciate the considerable energy, foresight, development and construction work being put into, not only what comes out of the tap, but also what happens to the water when it leaves us. 

This w/end we have seen the water effluence plant at Esholt and the huge new development in Scarborough to hold waste products from flood waters entering the sea before it is treated to be clean enough not to spoil our beaches. 

YW will ensure that the Environment Agency sea water tests at Scarborough and the surrounding beaches receives an excellent result. Well done to YW and a big thank you from all our family for such an enlightening adventure.                      

Sam