Why don't boats have flush toilets or baths?
Smaller narrowboats have a water tank capacity of maybe 200L.
Some say 250L and for bigger boats the sky is the limit ...
well maybe 1000L which is a cubic meter of water ...
which weighs a metric tonne the weight of a crew of twelve sailors
Almost no-one polled via farcebook could provide reliable answers.
but refilling the tank seemed to average 'every other week' for many or most,
while for REAL water users, e.g who had washing machines and/or built-in jacuzzis,
the sky WAS the absolute limit. We recorded one who bunkered a tonne every five days
Muggles are charged by their water being metered as it enters their house ...
they are charged again for its 'exit' ...
while a further charge is imposed by 'licencing' the meter to the user.
There's even a factor called "collection and dissipation of rainwater" from the property itself.
Water was costing users on land £2 per cubic meter in 2017 on the way in and another £2 to cover its exit and disposal.
With 'fixed charges' on top of that £4 and the 'rainwater' factor, it was prudent in 2017 for a house owner to budget £5 per unit.
People with little else to do determine that a "bath" averages 80 litres.
A unit [1000Litres] equates to about twelve baths and a couple of toilet flushes.
Water costs money.
Allowing this £5 per 1000L and allowing an average person to take a bath once a week ...
whether dirty or not ... an average person generated £20 over a year on somebody's water-bill in 2017
... whether they were dirty or not ...
On canal boats most boaters have showered aboard rather than bathe.
People with little else to do say a gravity-fed shower uses 6Litres per minute in use.
Again, this quantity is variable but easy to measure.
Except that all showers on board are driven by pumps
and disposal is done by another different pump
On average a person might be passably well-showered
in three to five minutes althought a longer is nice isn't it?.
30Litres is a prudent estimate for an average shower.
In England, it is neither unreasonable nor uncommon to find very average people
showering more or less every day and spending rather more than five minutes ...
thereby using about 12,000Litres over the twelve months of a year. ...
and some individuals score well over 18,000Litres during a year's showering.
(I've done the sums for you, it works out at 50L per day!)
2010 Building Regs Part G prescribes that water-use for new dwellings
shall be set at 125 litres per day per person,
which is 250L for two people in a land home ... OR ...
It is more than the total capacity of an average small canalboat watertank.
COST OF HEATING WATER:
In 2020, £6 raised a unit of water in UK 20ºC using electricity.
Electrical power measures in "watts" and is charged out in kWh 'units'!
People with little else to do have figured it takes over 20kWh
to heat a unit of water to "20ºC above room temperature"
that being ..12ºC to 22ºC .. say current HSE guidelines.
In 2023 the UK Energy Savings Trust said the "national average" cost of a kWh
was 52p on which basis a year's baths would burn £50 of HEAT.
The 2023 Update would probably shock you so let us nurture our delusions awhile
by sticking with pre-pandemic and post-academic numbers.
£20 for the water and £20 for the heating comes to £40
without taking account of capital costs or plumbing maintenance.
Using the same costings and logic for showering,
that jumps to £80 per year for one person.
Introduce POWER SHOWERS which pump more than three times as much as gravity ...
Power showers are increasingly sneaking into modern houses and being retro-fitted into old ones.
One person having a power shower every day might expect to pay over £300 for a year
if they are quick about it or £600 if not in any particular hurry.
In "Normal People", Madeline, a 19yo TCD student, has a 20minute therapeutic power shower before getting into bed with Connell. After they have enjoyed a very loving, lingering and passionate embrace, Connell goes for a shower, untimed by the author, before returning to Madeline's bed for another 'passionate embrace' before they sleep peacefully and lovingly in each other's arms.
This is real life 21stC and let the record show that a twenty minute power shower is now part of Irish life.
Water in Ireland is of course a constitutional right and is costed to central government.
PUMPING UP THE VOLUME:
Four people in one UK house having a ten minute power shower daily
(conservative in a home where two of the four are typical teenagers!)
could use as much as 250,000L of water in twelve months.
At £5 per cubic meter that would come to £1250 a year for the WATER
and £1500 for HEAT in 2023.
ECOLOGY STRAIN :
Four college students in Ireland sharing a power-shower
could be responsible for a staggering 3.5 tonnes of CO2
at pump-houses and power stations in Ireland.
'They' tell us we can afford only one tonne of carbon emissions per person –
for everything from food to transport - if we are to control global temperatures.
The power shower students would blow their total annual carbon budget for the year
before they even put their clothes on.
Come 2050 they will be running the country... they are our future leaders
Some say 250L and for bigger boats the sky is the limit ...
well maybe 1000L which is a cubic meter of water ...
which weighs a metric tonne the weight of a crew of twelve sailors
Almost no-one polled via farcebook could provide reliable answers.
but refilling the tank seemed to average 'every other week' for many or most,
while for REAL water users, e.g who had washing machines and/or built-in jacuzzis,
the sky WAS the absolute limit. We recorded one who bunkered a tonne every five days
Muggles are charged by their water being metered as it enters their house ...
they are charged again for its 'exit' ...
while a further charge is imposed by 'licencing' the meter to the user.
There's even a factor called "collection and dissipation of rainwater" from the property itself.
Water was costing users on land £2 per cubic meter in 2017 on the way in and another £2 to cover its exit and disposal.
With 'fixed charges' on top of that £4 and the 'rainwater' factor, it was prudent in 2017 for a house owner to budget £5 per unit.
People with little else to do determine that a "bath" averages 80 litres.
A unit [1000Litres] equates to about twelve baths and a couple of toilet flushes.
Water costs money.
Allowing this £5 per 1000L and allowing an average person to take a bath once a week ...
whether dirty or not ... an average person generated £20 over a year on somebody's water-bill in 2017
... whether they were dirty or not ...
On canal boats most boaters have showered aboard rather than bathe.
People with little else to do say a gravity-fed shower uses 6Litres per minute in use.
Again, this quantity is variable but easy to measure.
Except that all showers on board are driven by pumps
and disposal is done by another different pump
On average a person might be passably well-showered
in three to five minutes althought a longer is nice isn't it?.
30Litres is a prudent estimate for an average shower.
In England, it is neither unreasonable nor uncommon to find very average people
showering more or less every day and spending rather more than five minutes ...
thereby using about 12,000Litres over the twelve months of a year. ...
and some individuals score well over 18,000Litres during a year's showering.
(I've done the sums for you, it works out at 50L per day!)
2010 Building Regs Part G prescribes that water-use for new dwellings
shall be set at 125 litres per day per person,
which is 250L for two people in a land home ... OR ...
It is more than the total capacity of an average small canalboat watertank.
COST OF HEATING WATER:
In 2020, £6 raised a unit of water in UK 20ºC using electricity.
Electrical power measures in "watts" and is charged out in kWh 'units'!
People with little else to do have figured it takes over 20kWh
to heat a unit of water to "20ºC above room temperature"
that being ..12ºC to 22ºC .. say current HSE guidelines.
In 2023 the UK Energy Savings Trust said the "national average" cost of a kWh
was 52p on which basis a year's baths would burn £50 of HEAT.
The 2023 Update would probably shock you so let us nurture our delusions awhile
by sticking with pre-pandemic and post-academic numbers.
£20 for the water and £20 for the heating comes to £40
without taking account of capital costs or plumbing maintenance.
Using the same costings and logic for showering,
that jumps to £80 per year for one person.
Introduce POWER SHOWERS which pump more than three times as much as gravity ...
Power showers are increasingly sneaking into modern houses and being retro-fitted into old ones.
One person having a power shower every day might expect to pay over £300 for a year
if they are quick about it or £600 if not in any particular hurry.
In "Normal People", Madeline, a 19yo TCD student, has a 20minute therapeutic power shower before getting into bed with Connell. After they have enjoyed a very loving, lingering and passionate embrace, Connell goes for a shower, untimed by the author, before returning to Madeline's bed for another 'passionate embrace' before they sleep peacefully and lovingly in each other's arms.
This is real life 21stC and let the record show that a twenty minute power shower is now part of Irish life.
Water in Ireland is of course a constitutional right and is costed to central government.
PUMPING UP THE VOLUME:
Four people in one UK house having a ten minute power shower daily
(conservative in a home where two of the four are typical teenagers!)
could use as much as 250,000L of water in twelve months.
At £5 per cubic meter that would come to £1250 a year for the WATER
and £1500 for HEAT in 2023.
ECOLOGY STRAIN :
Four college students in Ireland sharing a power-shower
could be responsible for a staggering 3.5 tonnes of CO2
at pump-houses and power stations in Ireland.
'They' tell us we can afford only one tonne of carbon emissions per person –
for everything from food to transport - if we are to control global temperatures.
The power shower students would blow their total annual carbon budget for the year
before they even put their clothes on.
Come 2050 they will be running the country... they are our future leaders
