Can Your Toilet Flush Four Tennis Balls?

Green Blog
Greenovationtv.com
Posted on Wednesday 16th September 2009

Click here to listen to the Greenovation segment on The Environment Report on your local NPR station

Two rules of thumb for deciding whether to replace your toilet:

  1. if your toilet is old enough to vote, or
  2. if the tank is avocado or gold . . .

It's time to get a new generation high-efficiency toilet.

Sit on this for a while . . . your family of three will flush the toilet over a 1/2 million times in your lifetime. Now consider that the oldest toilets use about 8 gallons per flush and toilets installed before 1992 use at least 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf). And by the way, that's fresh drinking water you're peeing in.

So with all that money going down the toilet, it's time to upgrade to a new generation high-efficiency toilet.

WHAT IS A HIGH EFFICIENCY TOILET?

A High-Efficiency Toilet or (HET) is a toilet that uses 1.3 gpf or less. The State of California now requires that all new toilets meet this standard. Dual flush toilets take it to the next level by offering a lower flush option of only .8 gpf.

DO THEY COST MORE?

Dual-flush HETs do not cost more. Although they have a slightly higher up-front cost (between $250 - $500), the water savings make them far less expensive over time. According to PottyGirl, if a family of four replaces one 3.5 gpf toilet made between 1980 and 1994 with a WaterSense toilet, they can save $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet.

Check out the return on investment for a dual-flush HET.

DO THEY WORK? . . . A GUIDE TO LIVING A PLUNGER-FREE LIFE

Yes. They work. They flush better and waste less.

Plumbing guru Terry Love says "with the changes in the water usage laws of 1992, many encountered plumbing problems. The first round of low-flow toilets were not quite ready for prime-time. Customer complaints were many and plumbers were in the bad position of installing products that nobody wanted to use. Recently, things have changed. Some of the new plumbing products work better than the old water wasters."

The latest model dual-flush toilets have the option of using 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf) or a meager 0.8 gpf (around 12 cups).

In our Greenovation segment for the Environment Report on NPR we tried the Caroma Sydney which has a unique 4-inch trapway. The 0.8 gallon button flushed virtually everything including 4 tennis balls, 4 potatoes, and even an entire t-shirt. No plunger required.

[MORON ALERT: Don't try this at home! If you get a tennis ball and your old Michael Jackson "Thriller Tour" t-shirt stuck in your sewer drain . . . don't come crying to me].

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Look for the Water Sense label. This will ensure not only efficiency but also high performance.

HOW MUCH WILL YOU SAVE WITH A DUAL-FLUSH?

Try out a free cost-savings spreadsheet.

FACTS:

  • On average, 30% - 40% of a family's water bill goes down the toilet.
  • By 2013, 36 U.S. states are predicted to experience catastrophic water shortages
  • Advances in toilet design permit WaterSense HETs to save water without loss of flushing power.

LEARN MORE

(or "Everything you ever wanted to know about ridding your life of poop but were afraid to ask")

WHERE TO BUY A DUAL FLUSH TOILET

Watch this video:

*** This article originally appeared on www.greenovationtv.com and is reprinted with permission.

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