What Are The Benefits Of Faucet Aerators?

One of the best, but lesser-known, ways to reduce your water usage around the home can be installed right inside your faucet.

Faucet aerators are simply a screen that is fixed to the bottom part of your faucet. It works by splitting the water flow up into tiny streams. This makes the streams mix with air – hence the name faucet aerator – and as a result the flow of the water is reduced, as more space is taken up by the air than before.

The result? The rate of water flow drops, and you use less water than without a faucet aerator, though there is no major difference when it comes to using the water faucet.

How big of a drop?

Without a faucet aerator, leaving the tap running will use around 20 litres or more of water in a single minute. But with an aerator? That flow drops down to less than two litres a minute – a major reduction.

This has a few major benefits.

The most obvious benefit is that your water use drops precipitously. This will not only help the environment as it reduces your water consumption, but will also be a boon to any water bills you pay.

And faucet aerators are one of the biggest bang-for-the-buck upgrades you can make to improve your rate of water conservation.

The small and easy to install low flow faucet aerator devices are inexpensive, and can be installed and ready to use within minutes. There are also shower aerators that can be installed on shower heads to greatly reduce your water intake when taking a shower.

When shopping for an aerator, take note of the following types to make sure you get the right one.

A full flow aerator will not restrict water flow to any significant degree. These standard flow aerators will have a flow rate of 2.2 gallons per minute (GPM). So make sure you look for water saving low-flow aerators, which will feature a GPM rate of 1.5 or less. Some even go down to 1.0 GPM, for maximum results, a high rate of water conservation, and a significant saving on your utility bill when it comes to water usage at the taps.

If you’re not certain how low-flow aerators can help, try installing one on your kitchen sink first.