Retrofit Your Toilet

In the average American home, 45% of the total water usage occurs in the bathroom, with about 27% of that being used by toilets.  Fortunately, your household can decrease its toilet water usage by checking and fixing leaks and retrofitting toilets.

In 1994, The Energy Policy Act became a law and mandated a maximum flush volume of 1.6 gallons for toilets manufactured and installed after this date. If your toilet is more than 23 years old, chances are that it is using between 3.5 – 7 gallons of water with every flush.

Over the last twenty years, there have continued to be efforts to decrease the amount of water used in toilets. There are high-efficiency toilets that use 1.28 gallons per flush or less. You may also be familiar with dual flush, grey water, or composting toilets.

However, if you are not ready to install new toilets, you can retrofit the ones you have. An easy option is to install a toilet tank displacement bag in your toilet tank. Once filled with water, the bag will displace about .5 gallons of water in your toilet tank so that it will use less water each time it is flushed.

Another option is to install a fill cycle diverter. The fill cycle diverter is a plastic device that directs more water to the tank and less to the bowl while they refill so that they finish filling at roughly the same time.  When a toilet is flushed, both the tank and the bowl need to be refilled, and in many cases the bowl will fill sooner than the tank. In this case, the water will continue to run into the bowl until the tank water level is high enough to shut off the fill valve. Once installed, a fill cycle diverter will save about .5 gallons of water with each toilet flush. It can be used in conjunction with the Toilet Tank Bank.

A third option is to install a new toilet fill valve. The Hydroclean toilet fill valve is the only valve that solves the two biggest reasons for water loss in toilets – miscalibration and leaks. The patented mini-valve allows pinpoint calibration typically saving 30-ounces of water per flush in high efficiency toilets and 60-ounces per flush in older, larger toilets. Its’ unique bowl filler adjustment also detects silent leaks and the patented Float Lock allows minor repairs in the tank as well as flapper leak detection without shutting off the water.

Simple, inexpensive retrofits for your toilets will allow you to save both water and money!

One thought on “Retrofit Your Toilet

  1. kanika says:

    This blog is really very nice as lots of information has been shared for toilet. We have also worked for water saving solution which are really wonderful for all.

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