65
I am DELIGHTED
And here I thought I was being clever. Thanks for sharing! That was great.
And either way, eventually someone from the city would probably show up to ask why you're using 40 tons of water every day.
lol
Wow. I never thought of bottling and selling water.
Was surprised xkcd didn't mention steam boiler turbines.
Wow. I never thought of bottling and selling water.
ah. yes. the nestle way.
Love this article, but they kinda bury the lede making the Coca-cola joke about bottling and selling water.
Most bottled water you buy in stores is, in fact, tap water. If you think they're getting it from a mountain spring, even if there's a mountain on the label, you would be mistaken. You wouldn't want mountain water (with bear piss) anyway, the water you buy bottled is filtered and treated. It's good tap water, but it's still tap water. So next time your water bottle runs out, just refill it from the tap. Assuming your tap water is potable and doesn't taste like shit.
I grew up drinking mountain spring water. It’s way better than “bear piss”. Filtered and treated doesn’t mean better. Some natural water from springs is perfectly fine.
some
Oh shit, mine gives me free heat......I could just strap a Stirling engine to my radiator!
Think harder next time. They'll be able to figure out that you're not filling an Olympic sized pool every week and water/sewer use that excessive is gonna be a breach of contract aka eviction.
What if I live in a country with renter-friendly laws where landnobility can't just kick out their tenants but have to give them opportunity to correct their behaviour? And also there is a reason that right now eludes me why my landnobleperson or anyone else won't be checking water consumption for the foreseeable future?
If they're paying the water bill they're going to know.
Yes but that's future me's problem. Present me wants to know if the thing OP is suggesting would work now.
Sort of. You could probably get enough out of it for lights and maybe an appliance, but eventually if you're using a lot you'll hit a power consumption ceiling where the water pressure even with the valve wide open is insufficient to turn the generator. In case you don't know, as demand increases the windings of a generator (any generator) get harder to turn.
You could cheat a little and have the water turn a big heavy flywheel that in turn turns the generator, it would be slow to start up but more resilient to demand spikes once it's up to speed.
There's also the noise any of it would make turning and vibrating but that can be future you's problem too.
Noice. You're now tagged as "dis dood hydrates" :D
I'm OK with that 😆
Well, there’s one way to find out: make it happen, cap’n! No time like the present, no day like today!
Unfortunately I do in fact pay for my water. Not to mention I lack the technical knowhow.
Looks like you’re faced with a current you problem. Best kick that can down the road for future you to solve, eh?
Oh definitely. I'll be waiting for future me to learn all that stuff so we can demolish my bathroom. It's going to be absolutely smashing.
You sure future you isn’t expecting current you to do all that learning stuff? Could be a bit awkward when your timelines inevitably converge and you both find out neither of you did what both of you could’ve done. Also,
demolish
smashing
ICWYDT
From experience, I know that future me won't be expecting shit from what will be past me then. Past me is a dumbass and we both know it. So I'm not worried.
Turns out: nothing really.
Nice to know that someone already did the math (the monster math!)
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You would be that asshole who ruined it for everyone else.
Not to mention considering most water pressure in... well, any country. They may be able to charge their phone and run a lamp at best.
No tv, no water heater, no fridge, no ac or heat, no white noise fans to fall asleep to.
Wth water running 24/7 there's no need for a white noise machine any more, just listen to the water.
Sure but there wouldn’t be enough power, especially if you need things like AC.
You're thinking too small: water cool your apartment
The water can even directly drive the fan!
You could stick a windmill on top of your car and build up power as you drive to go faster if you drive faster
For high rises, why not stick a turbine on the outlet for waste water at the bottom of the building? You've already spent the energy to pump it up dozens of floors why not recoup some of it when it falls back down?
Mine used to give me free water and natural gas. I filled my waterbed with hot water when I moved in.
Years later, they changed it over so that the whole building was metered and the price was divided.
That's a legal. Metered utilities can be either included in the rent, or metered on a per unit basis. In this setup, if your neighbor uses a lot of utilities your bill will go up. That's why this is illegal.
It's illegal everywhere in the world?
Seems an odd thing to come together on
looking into my state code, it's legal if it's in the lease and they did ammend the lease on renewal to include it.
Morale? no. Legal here? it would appear to be.
Best fucking idea ever!
If you ever get free gas too, I have an idea for a wind turbine.
Free gas? You (and nearly everyone else on earth) are walking around in and breathing loads of it right now.
Unlikely, but if any main power lines run past your walls or floor where they are regularly carrying substantial current, you can probably use a wire coil to light an led or something.
Most apartments with water included in the rent price (Sorry kids, there's no such thing as "free water") closely monitor their usage on a per building or floor basis. Whenever they detect irregularities they schedule inspections with the tenants to check for things like leaking toilet valves and such.
"free water" just means that they've calculated the cost of installing the meters and additional plumbing and determined that monitoring global usage and including it in the price of rent is cheaper.
Source: I have water included in my rent, I pay about $50 more a month than a similar apartment without.
When I moved to Tennessee a few years back I looked all over trying to figure out where our gas bill was. Water/electric/sewage/internet, I actually got through one company now which is kinda neat, but our heater is natural gas, and I haven't been billed for it yet, which never makes sense to me. I keep wondering if the management company just covers it or something, but I should see a usage bill I would figure somewhere...
Small towns don't manage much though. They came by to do an inspection a couple months ago and I was like oh shit, they had not stopped by since I moved in back in 2021. (Guess a new management company absorbed them). I've got a chicken coop and put chicken wire up around about 1,000+ square foot and I was wondering what they were going to say about it. They never ended up even going out back. Next year's problem I guess.
I bought a house two years ago and had a plumber come out to install a new water heater. He asked me where the water meter was and I had to say "fuck if I know". He said lots of people just let their water account lapse and then remove the meter and tap directly into the water line in the street and get free water. He assumed that the previous owner of my house had done this; I was pondering whether this was a bad thing or not when he found the actual water meter out in the yard under a metal cover. Good news? Probably not -- it turns out my house water is supplied by a very cheap independent local water authority, but they had to go into bankruptcy along with the city and apparently some Saudis are planning to buy it to provide water to grow alfalfa for their racehorses.
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this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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