Readers of WUWT know that while I have my doubts about the magnitude of AGW and express skepticism and sometimes outright disdain for certain green schemes and products, some of which work about as well as the photo at left, I’ll push a good idea when I see it.
Readers have also seen when I embrace and recommend practical products, especially when the save energy and resources and can pay for themselves. This is one of those products.
Last year when I was touring Australia, I marveled at a simple piece of engineering designed to save water, something obviously necessary in Australia as weather/rainfall patterns differ. It was a simple case of “necessity was the mother of invention”. Living in California, that also has water problems (but not this year) I thought to myself, it would be a great thing to bring back to the USA. Unfortunately I had not the time or resources to develop it myself.
What was this that had me so intrigued? Well, to tell you the truth, I found myself taking apart a toilet in a hotel room in Emerald and photographing the workings. Why? Read on.
Where I live in Chico, California, we depend on ground water wells. Unfortunately, the water table has steadily dropped over the last 150 years as the town has grown, and even though there are years of upticks in recharge, the overall trend is down. Water saving plans that have been suggested include the ubiquitous “brick or water bottles in the toilet tank” suggestion as seen below.
But, given that California hasn’t built any new water storage facilities in 30+ years, the suggestions ring hollow.
What I found in Emerald Australia (and all over Australia I later found) is now available here, and not only saves water, but money too. It’s a win-win. I looked for this product for over a year and when I found it this month on Amazon.com I bought one, installed it and tried it myself, and I’m more than pleased with the result, hence my recommendation.
What is it? A retrofit dual flush system for toilet tanks. Low flow for #1, Full flow for #2.
Yeah I know, it’s hard to get excited about that, except when you do the math and realize how much water and money you are flushing down the toilet needlessly each day. Here in California they get you coming and going. Water use and sewer use, plus loads of taxes and tiers if you go beyond expected usage. Besides watering lawns and taking showers, there’s very little else where water use can be conserved . The toilet is an obvious choice since it gets heavy use.
The problem with the old flush toilet is the mechanism, which is a “one flush fits all” design that hasn’t much changed in the last 100 years. Here’s a typical toilet tank setup.
Note the red flapper, that’s where this new product fits in.
In a nutshell, here’s how it works:
- The flapper is removed, the handle and chain are removed
- A new all-in-one float valve unit is attached to the flapper post and seated onto the flapper seal.
- A new two button flush button replaces the handle, and a remote cable (like an emergency brake cable) goes to the new all-in-one float valve unit.
Install takes under 10 minutes, no tools required, and it works as advertised. The design for retrofit is dirt simple. After getting the first one, and seeing how well it worked, I bought three more for my home and office.
Here’s a pictorial of what it looks like:
Here’s a video from the company about it. There a bit of sensationalism in the imagery, but otherwise it is accurate based on my experience with the product.
Here’s the product flyer:
The kit is pretty simple, and assembles without any need for tools. Pictorial instructions in English and Spanish are provided.
Price? Less than $20, and at that price it will pay for itself in a few months, depending on usage. This system is guaranteed for five years, so I’m pretty sure I’ll not only get my investment back, but a significant return on it. Plus, my kids like it and they were fascinated watching dad replace this thing and now having a pushbutton 1/2 instead of a handle.
Want one? Available here at Amazon Get it, highly recommended.
Here in So. Calif. both Home Depot and Lowes sell dual flush conversion kits (both in-store and online):
http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Plumbing-Parts-Repair/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbqkp/R-202267979/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Plumbing-Parts-Repair/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbqkp/R-202191772/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.lowes.com/pd_334950-320-S2DBL_4294806461_4294933768_?productId=3327720&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Toilet%2BRepair%2BKits_4294806461_4294933768_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1%26page%3D1&facetInfo=
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
June 14, 2011 at 3:17 am
Rats, you beat me to it. Now all I can add is that some sinks are at the right height. 🙂
More serious notes:
1) Our house came with a couple low flow toilets that use a pressurized system that works really well. I have no idea who makes it, but flushing has jets in the bottom that drags along the bowl contents so there’s hardly any mixing. One trigger doesn’t always reset, so that one still needs to have the handle jiggled, but when it starts oscillating, there’s no doubt it needs attention. I opened up the closet and it’s dry inside, but there’s a metal pressure tank, so obviously the pressure comes from the water system.
2) About those bottles in the second photo. They should work better on their side. You want to displace water at the bottom so that what’s left has more potential energy to move stuff. You might want to add sand or something in them to keep them on the bottom.
Not advisable for those with septic systems. The aerobic bacteria that keep a septic system self-sustaining and odor-free don’t do as well in higher uric acid concentrations. The best solution in any case is to piss outdoors on unwanted weeds and ant hills.
My previous company in the small town of Cedar Rapids had these several years ago. Up for number one, down for number two.
These are not touted in the US because the standard methodology for bureaucratic problem-solving here involves increasing taxes and control over people.
I recall being in California back in the late 80’s during a dry spell and the simple solution then was:
“if its yellow, keep it mellow”
If its brown, flush it down”
Kinda like a Russian space pencil solution to water shortages.
Espen says:
“Our modern European toilet at home has an even simpler mechanism: Push to flush, push to stop.”
+++++++++
I didn’t realise Africa was so developed. In all the French speaking countries the standard toilet has a pull knob that lets the water flush until the knob is dropped. So it is a semi-automatic, infinitely variable, number-1-and-2-disposing device with springless auto-return and hydraulic sealing. It also works from the left or right simplifying the number of moulds needed to produce them. Inside it has about 3 parts all of which are cheap.
In my humble opinion, there is only one “green” toilet flush technology that is worth a crap (there, I said it). About 20 years ago, incensed by the absurd low-flow (no-go) toilets foisted on us Californians, I stumbled upon the Sloan Flushmate system, which is available from every major toilet manufacturer. Sloan makes most of the commercial flush valves that we guys have grown up staring at.
In short, instead of a funky tank of water with nothing but gravity to propel it, the Flushmate uses a pressure tank with a bladder inside that charges the flush water up to full line pressure. When you push the flush button, in one and a half seconds, whatever was in that bowl is GONE, guaranteed. In twenty years I have never had to flush twice. They are so effective and reliable that we brought new ones to Panama with us in our shipping container. The only maintenance I have ever done was to replace the push button valve on one toilet, a five minute process.
In our current house, because I had the opportunity to do so, I installed a personal urinal in the entrance to my shower, where the floor gets automatically washed down without any effort. Contrary to what you are thinking right now, it is clean, odor-free and of course very convenient. It only needs about a pint of water to flush, which is just a curiosity here in Panama, where our main problem is getting rid of all the water, but is solved a much more important problem – the toilet seat UP or DOWN controversy. And let’s face it, for men, raining down from high altitude into a bucket of water has never been the neatest process, what with all the splashing and aiming and other fluid dynamics issues involved.
These type of push buttons are very usual here in Portugal. I’ve been noticing that they are the default install for several years… In my case, I’ve even tweaked the buoy, so it doesn’t fill the maximum…
Another great idea for the bathroom is a 5 litre plastic bottle, where I put the fresh water before it gets warm. I then use it to water the plants. Depends on how far is the bathroon from the heating source, but my bottle gets 3 litres (almost) every time I take a bath!
I believe simple ideas like these change the world!
Ecotretas
The Australian capital cities water systems are designed for severe drought. There are histories of eleven year droughts and the designers have this in mind.
We have just been through a severe drought and the damns did exactly as designed. It took more than seven years of drought for the Melbourne dams to get down to it’s lowest level. There are very few major cities in the world with this level of backup.
More than 90% of harvested water is used for agriculture. Two thirds of this water is wasted due to evaporation in open irrigation canals etc etc.
I have my own fresh water supply and wastewater disposal systems so I tend to monitor more closely than most folks my water use. I use about 1000 gallons per month per person. In my experience the clothes washer accounts for nearly half of it. Sears had a sale in January on HE front loader washing machines. Under $500 with free delivery and installation. I bought one for my mother this past winter when her old machine gave up the ghost. I was utterly amazed at how clean the clothes get, how little water it uses, and how little water is left after the high speed spin cycle completes. The less water in the clothes after the spin cycle means the clothes dryer takes a lot less energy. These things are marvelous. I’ll never buy a top loading washing machine again.
You don’t want to know what they do on the backside of Jamaica. Or in the interior of Ensanada.
All of this complexity. Just put a brick in the back of the toilet. Done.
You took apart a toilet? Remind me to have second thoughts on having you as a house guest 🙂
We remodeled our bathroom this Spring. Hearing all the nightmares about the new toilets requiring multiple flushes compared to the old style was a concern. I purchased a Kohler Cimarron toilet and after having it for a few months now I don’t get where all the fuss came from. This toilet flushes WAY better than the 30 year old ‘whirlpool 5 gallon flood’ design and has yet required two plus flushes. WHOOSH, it’s gone!
It might be some of the cheapo brands require two flushes, but I wouldn’t trade this new Kohler for the old “better” design ever. We have well water and thus no water bill so cost savings isn’t an issue, and after all the rain this year our water tables are in no danger of going dry.
When it comes to waste removal and keeping the pipes, backwater valves etc free of sediments and other solids, from clogging up the works, flush frequently.
Canada has 20% of the world’s fresh water. It is 100% renewable also, this year 120% So I pay for what I use and use water constantly.
Flushing isn’t just about removing waste from the P-Trap in the bowl. It is also about providing sufficient liquids to carry the waste 1-10 miles to the sewage treatment plants. As the Romans figured out the pulse of water that initiate in the bowl dissipates and lengthens along the way to the treatment plant, reducing the flow velocity and mass around the solids, thereby its momentum and hence its cleaning ability.
Sewer systems are not connected to grey water and run-off systems…. but that waste water ought to be diverted to assist in purging the ever increasing more solid waste in the sewer pipes.
Another seemingly good idea that is deeply flawed… typical reasoning from the green religion.
Smart as it is, it’s a mandatory installation in every toilet over here in Germany.
Anyway, it’s good to see that the USA has finally entered the 21st century.
A couple of years ago, at the insistence of my esteemed spouse, I replaced an olive green 1960s toilet (they don’t make ’em like that anymore, and there is a reason. Even I thought it was ugly) with an inexpensive toilet from the local hardware store. Turns out that the new toilet has a simple dual flush system. If you just press the handle, the flapper closes after about half the tank has flowed. If you hold the handle down, the toilet flows until you release it.
It turns out that using it properly quickly becomes instinctive.
Or how about what water-challenged Caribbean islands do:
“In this land of fun and sun,
We never flush for number one”.
Problem solved. No need to purchase and remember which button to push. Who knew?
The flush must have enough water to remove waste to the main sewer line or else the pipe from the toilet will clog up and the saving will go to the plumber and then some.
@Dave Springer: When we moved to the US 19 years ago, we were absolutely amazed at how antiquated almost all domestic appliances were. Was “tubs”, that had disappeared from England in the 1960’s, low resolution TV, freezers guaranteed to lose all their cold air ach time you opened the door, separate spin dryers (again, vanished in the 1960’s elsewhere) that seemed incapable of spinning fast, quietly and without excess vibration. Toilets with flapper valves, vacuum cleaners looking like something my mother threw out when I was a kid etc. etc.
Things are getting better. America is up to probably 1980’s technology now.
If the US were really interested in efficiency, saving power etc., they would dump the ridiculous 110v power system and start using 240v systems. Much less copper in the house wiring, much smaller lighter electric motors (ever compared the weight of an EU electric hand drill to a comparable power US unit?
They would require the use of power factor capacitors in fluorescent light fittings, dump the concept of central air conditioning/heating with a single thermostat for the whole house for a system that allows individual rooms to be separately controlled – dump open-plan houses for more efficient to heat/cool housed with rooms etc. etc.
I didn’t have time to read all the comments so it likely has been mentioned but one of the causes of poor toilet performance can be traced to low water pressure. Ask your local water engineer if the water pressure to your house is adequate. If you are supplied by your own well consider an electronic pump control for your well pump; expensive but well worth the cost.
I can’t believe that this isn’t in every toilet in the world!
I live in Australia, on the West Coast, which is considerably dryer than the East Coast in these La Nina Oscillation years, and I have never seen a toilet which doesn’t have the dual flush mechanism.
Ever!
This is kind of crazy to me…
A real eye opener.
I think you need to take care that the “flush volume” is compatible with your pan. Older pans had larger capacity U bends so fitting a low capacity flush will not clear it – hence the double flushing problem.
Can’t wait for the new “smart saver” water usage reporting meters….