How To Save Water and Money With Toilets

Lara and I are the proud owners of six toilets at our four properties – one at our personal residence and five at three rental properties. That’s a troublesome amount of flushes every day for which we’re directly and indirectly responsible. Why worry? Because a 1999 study by the American Water Works Association found that the toilet can account for nearly 27% of indoor water usage, and that figure may even exceed 40% if the toilet leaks.

With evermore frequent stories about the water woes in our state of Colorado, and the U.S. EPA indicating that 35 other states expect to experience local, regional, or statewide water shortages in 5 years or less, it has become clear that we (and you?) are long overdue for a comprehensive toilet water consumption study and reduction plan (sounds like an EPA report title itself).

We know from intimate experience that the “necessary” fixture in our personal residence is not a water-efficient toilet. In fact, we currently employ a method of toilet water conservation true to our cabin-country septic system Minnesota roots that would even make Garrison Keillor proud: the proverbial “…if it’s yellow, let it mellow…”

Our recollection of the toilet situation at the rental properties is not so intimate, and actually a bit sketchy. We are pretty sure that we replaced the four original toilets at both two-bathroom rental properties four or five years ago with more efficient 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf) models. And we hope that we’ve done the same at our one-bathroom rental, but honestly can’t recall for sure. Time and business have clouded our memory.

So we’ve contacted all of our tenants and tomorrow evening we’ll make the rounds, with measuring equipment and food coloring in hand, to do a toilet consumption and leak test inventory. They’ll think we’re odd of course, but since they are responsible for paying the utilities, they’ll find our oddness in their interest, if not endearing.

Now, we’ll show you how to leak test your toilet and determine its flush volume in gallons per flush, and we’ll summarize the data for our toilets.

Determining Flush Volume

If you live in a home that was built before The Energy Policy Act of 1992 took effect in 1994, and have not replaced your toilet, it probably has a wasteful flush volume ranging anywhere from 3.5 to 7.0 gpf. If you don’t know the flush volume of your toilet, and you don’t see “1.6 GPF” printed right behind the seat on the bowl (along with the equivalent “6.0 LPF” for litres per flush), there is an easy way to determine it. You’ll need a gallon jug or bucket. With that in hand, just follow the five easy steps at this link from the Marin Municipal Water District to determine your toilet’s gallons per flush.

Checking for Leaks

Leak testing is as easy as coloring the water in your toilet’s tank with something safe like food coloring, waiting for a half hour, and then checking to make sure that none of the coloring has shown up in the toilet bowl.  See Toiletology 101 for more details on testing, significance of leaks, and how to fix them if you find them.

Data for Our Toilets

• Phoenix Street Property – two 1.6 gpf toilets manufactured by VitrA, neither leak.
• Maple Street Property – two 1.6 gpf toilets, one manufactured by Fremont and one by VitrA, neither leak.
• Sunset Avenue Property – one very old toilet, brand obscure, measured flow = 3.5 gpf, does not leak.
• Buckeye Street Property (our residence) – one Crane toilet, 3.5 gpf, does not leak.

So now we’ve got the data we need to build a tool that will allow us to determine our current toilet water consumption, estimate water conservation associated with various modification/replacement scenarios, and calculate payback times.

Displacement
Displacing water in your toilet’s tank is an easy, low-cost way to start saving water immediately. You can accomplish this by using a product specifically manufactured for this purpose, like the “Toilet Tank Bank” depicted above, which saves 0.8 gallons per flush. You can also employ a used plastic beverage bottle filled with sand or gravel to keep it submerged in the tank. Or, as a friend said in a comment about my Facebook feed of Part 1 of this series…” I remember an ecology module in the 6^th grade suggested putting a brick in the tank for water displacement”. Yup, that can work too.

Replacement

From a water conservation perspective, toilets can be classified as good, better and best. Efficient toilets labeled 1.6 gpf/6.0 lpf are good compared to their 3.5 to 7.0 gpf predecessors. High Efficiency Toilets, or HET’s, offer 20% better conservation at 1.28 gpf. And Dual Flush HET’s offer the best water conservation with a 1.28 gpf flush option for solids, and a 0.8 gpf option for liquids.

If you have any questions or would like a Green Home Makeover, contact me at the following:

Lara Williams, Authorized Green Irene Eco-Consultant

TheGreenTeam.FTC@greenteamre.com

http://www.greenirene.com/1093

970-631-2666

Cross-posted from Destination Green.