Low flush toilets?? Research??

[Pablo]

Has anyone done the stats, run the numbers? Do these cans really save water?

I have 3 shiit@rs in this house. Let me just say I own 6 plungers. We all know, even the daintiest of us, flush the waste, then do the paperwork and flush the paper. Papa bear needs three flushes some times, a royal flush.

If not there is white paper and floaters on the hardwood in the kybo again!!! Sometimes it's mainly just one square of paper over the required 3 max (saving trees), even after the first straight flush.

So can anyone really tell me this is really saving water. Because I know it isn't.

 

[simple_gifts]

A commonly smuggled item from Canada.

You can always take up smuggling. Make sure you fill the tank with XD-3 as you come across the border.

 

[Pablo]

I had heard about that.....the border isn't that far.....

 

[mcrn]

Well according to King of the Hill they do not work!

 

[Al]

Quote:

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So can anyone really tell me this is really saving water. Because I know it isn't.

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I disagree..obviously you don't have an American Standard Champion. We have ours a couple of years. I don't ever recall needing to flush it twice. You probably can throw away your plunger.

 

[huffmuds9320]

Well I can't say I did a research since when my family moved in we installed a low flow toilet. We have 2 low flow toilets in the house both are 1.6 gpf (gallons per flush). From what I hear toilet is one of the larger water uses in the household, followed by the washing machine and showering. Non low flow toilets are something like 3.8 gpf so the low flows are really using less water. I remember back before they were trying to phase out the 3.8 gpf models people would put like a brick in the toilet to reduce its capacity to save water.

Ok now why does the 1.6 gpf not save water in some cases. Sometimes I find you need to flush it twice to get all that solid waste out. 1.6 gpf is probably the absolute minimum amount you need to use. I believe in commercial applications (ie frequently used) they install some compressor on it so it will use less water with more power. But in short you should save water in the long run. If you want to try to save additional water, you can install low flow shower heads, faucet aerators, and practice other conservation stuff.

Some of my sources below.
http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/16/MSC_ID/171/C_ID/3274/ListID/3
http://pge.com/res/energy_tools_resources/tips/index.html

 

[CivicFan]

I am staying at a Holiday Inn and it's a low-flow toilet. It works pretty well but it's a little scary. It's like a small explosion each time you flush. Pushing the handle is like pulling a trigger. BAAM!

 

[H2GURU]

Pablo,
I've wondered the same thing as this just appears to be another great idea in the conference room...but in the real world it just doesn't work. I think maybe a 2-stage CRAPPER CONTROL... 1 jigger on the handle for #1 (with a lesser flow and 2 jiggers for #2 with extra flow so this device can do its job???

 

[oilyriser]

No-flush toilets:
composter#1
composter#2

 

[The Critic]

We have three 1.6gpf toilets in our house. One Eljier and two Kohlers. They are all of the gravity flush type. I don't know what kind of Walmart toilet you own, but only once in a blue moon do I had to flush it more than once in order to remove everything.

Quote:

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We all know, even the daintiest of us, flush the waste, then do the paperwork and flush the paper. Papa bear needs three flushes some times, a royal flush.

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Wow, what a waste of water. I usually just wait until the end and flush it once only.

 

[JTK]

I've got 2 Eljier brand toilets in the house. Got them from Home Depot 2-3yrs ago. One was over $100, the other slightly less. Heavy 'deposits' do require more flush. If you hold the handle down on the 1.6'ers, you will get more than a 1.6gal flush, which usually does the job.

Joel

 

[wileyE]

Had one of the low flow pressure jobbers at work and it was always getting backed up. Replaced it with a standard and no more problem. Some of it was the users though. You can't pull off 1/2 a roll to do you business. You can't blow your nose or do your makeup and leave the paper without a flush or the next time you flush it won't make it (this was the real problem IMO). So if the king is a double log stacker, or you have a housefull of queens and princesses, I'd stay with the full flow and buy the water.

 

[wileyE]

Quote:

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Pablo,
I've wondered the same thing as this just appears to be another great idea in the conference room...but in the real world it just doesn't work. I think maybe a 2-stage CRAPPER CONTROL... 1 jigger on the handle for #1 (with a lesser flow and 2 jiggers for #2 with extra flow so this device can do its job???

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Seen em in Australia, #1 and #2 flush foot pedals, which I thought was a great idea all around. They were also elevated slightly unlike ours that are flat to floor. Ours by the time you discover a gasket leak it's too late the floor needs replacing.

 

[sprintman]

Dual flush toilets are the norm here. A great idea IMO. Saves heaps f water. I'm getting one for home soon when we do toilet upgrade to match bathroom we rebuilt

 

[edhackett]

Take a look here: http://www.cuwcc.org/MapTesting.lasso for some info before purchasing a low flush toilet. Some work, some don't.

Ed

 

[NJC]

I think mine are stock 13 liters per flush but I have the float adjusted down + filled with rocks and at least one of them is good for about a ~5L flush.

 

[moribundman]

I haven't found a US motel or hotel toilet I won't clog. I've done it more often than I care to remember, and it's been the biggest burden on the relationship with my better half. We have gone on road trips, and I would clog the throne, and almost as often flood the bathroom, every night in another motel. I've left a trail of clogged toilets and flooded bathrooms throughout the US!

The worst incident occurred in August 1998 in a Scottish Inn during a trip across Florida. I flushed that puny hobbit toilet, which promptly failed to properly take care of the workload. Somehow the filling mechanism did not shut off and the sewage rose quickly to flood stage level. An attempt to shut off the water supply failed when the corroded wheel snapped off on contact with my panicky fingers. My mind racing, with feet already wet, I rolled up a bunch of towels and shoved them against the gap between door and floor in an effort to prevent all too-well-known and dreaded bathroom leakage to the bedroom. I popped the lid off the tank in an effort to manually override the fill valve. Unfamiliar with this particularly antiquated 1940's design, I plunged my arms boldly and deeply into the abysmal tank where I fumbled madly, trying to defuse this antique waste disposal device. My increasingly desperate screams for help went unanswered. By the time I had managed to mcguyver an emergency plug from an empty shampoo bottle, a washcloth and the paisley shower curtain, the water (and probably more) was already running into the parking lot.

Let's just say I'm not welcome to stay at any Scottish Inn in Florida anymore.

PS: Las Vegas hotels have much better toilets than hotels anywhere else in the US. I guess it has to do with the cheap dinner buffets.

 

[moribundman]

PPS: She always goes first now -- just in case.

 

[moribundman]

I really "stalled" this thread. MWAHAHAHAHA!

 

[sprintman]

I think you mean you stooled this thread