Do you let the water run while you wash your hands?

This question may be different depending on how much time you spend in your RV vs. a sticks-and-bricks home. In your RV, you’re probably much more water-conscious, so you may not let the water in the sink flow while you wash your hands. But maybe when you’re at your (or someone else’s) sticks-and-bricks home, you let the water run freely.

So tell us: When you’re washing your hands, do you let the water run or do you turn it off while you lather up with soap?

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28 Comments

Tommy Molnar
3 years ago

If hooked up, yes definitely. If boondocking, not so much,

Dave
3 years ago
Reply to  Tommy Molnar

AGREED !!!

Leonard Rempel
3 years ago
Reply to  Tommy Molnar

Agreed!

Phil J
3 years ago
Reply to  Leonard Rempel

When hooked up, just a low flow,but when boondocking then on and off.

David Bulkley
3 years ago

At home I do, in the camp I don’t.

Caren L Kelly
3 years ago

Nope, we don’t waste water whether we are at our sticks n bricks or in the Moho. Shut off the water in between wash n’ rinse, why are we wasting such a precious commodity.

Larry Lee
3 years ago

Now that you have brought this to my attention, i am rethinking it in light of a recent article I read regarding receeding ground water levels. It could turn out that global warming is the least of our worries. Water shortage will do more than just raise the price of drinking water.

Bob p
3 years ago
Reply to  Larry Lee

Global warming is a part of the present administration scare tactics. Back in the late 1970’s we were heading into another ICE AGE, in another 10 years we’ll be heading into another ice age. The earth goes through a 100 year heating and cooling cycle of 50 years of getting warmer and 50 years of cooling. By 1985 it was starting it warming cycle, by 2035 we’ll be into the cooling cycle and chicken little will be saying we’re all going to freeze to death. Remember my words!

Tom
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob p

👎

KellyR
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob p

Global warming or not, I have had my well go dry and had to drill another to the tune of $7,500. We watch how much water we use no matter where we are. No more water at 25 feet – had to go to 160 feet to find water again. Haul water for a week and half from the neighbors just to flush toilets and you will realize how scarce our resources really are.

Sue
3 years ago
Reply to  KellyR

This is something people on municipal water will never believe until their taps run dry. I cringe when I am at someone’s house and they leave the water running when they wash dishes.

KellyR
3 years ago
Reply to  Sue

You are so right Sue. Wash dishes, brush teeth, wash hands, etc., and then having to go to the neighbors for a shower. When the water level drops below your well, it makes you think. I don’t care what the resource or the reason it has disappeared, we have to respect Mother Nature and what she has to give us.

Skip
3 years ago

If it’s only a quick rinse. But, if I’m trying to get oil, grease, paint then I wet my hands turn the water off grab the brush and turn the water back on and rinse. Always have.

Spike
3 years ago
Reply to  Skip

Same here.

Bob R
3 years ago

We have a septic tank at our stick house as well, so we are very aware of water use.

Bob p
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob R

Why? Water is what the septic tank needs to keep it working.

KellyR
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob p

Septic systems do need water, but not too much water.

Jeff Craig
3 years ago

Boondocking, no, unless I’m trying to get hot water across the lines from the tank. FHU, yes.

Ray
3 years ago

Yes, i let the water run, a habit, in these times of water shortages, i should break.

Neal Davis
3 years ago

I usually do turn on the water right after applying soap. I guess it is a habit borne of using bars of soap for years before switching to liquid soap. It is a habit I am working to change so that I turn on the water much nearer the point of actually using it.

Rebecca
3 years ago

Nope, never. We have a holding tank at home. At $160 per pump, we have all kinds of ways to save on the amount of water that goes down the drain. This is one of them.

Don Capellani
3 years ago

So how do you turn the water off and on with soapy hands???

Bob p
3 years ago
Reply to  Don Capellani

Elbow

Don Capellani
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob p

Not if they twist

Michael Galvin
3 years ago

The intro recognizes that practices are probably different in sticks-and-bricks v. in RV, but the poll unfortunately doesn’t differentiate.

Sue
3 years ago
Reply to  Michael Galvin

My sticks-and-bricks has a well, so I turn it off in both. The habit is so ingrained, I do it in public washrooms too.

Tom
3 years ago

If working on something that will get
My hands really dirty I put water in 2 buckets,1 with soap to wash 1 to rinse. I do this for at home or in RV.

Leslie Smith
3 years ago

In my RV I turn the water off when washing my hands. At my stationary home I sometimes turn the water off and sometimes not.