subject: Low flow toilets [print this page] The low flow toilet may be the biggest improvement in bathrooms since the day they moved the plumbing inside the house. The early low flow toilets of the mid-1980's really didn't do the job, manufacturers simply put smaller tanks on their 13-litre bowls and hoped for the best. It's easy to understand why low-flow toilets have such a bad reputation. In fact, many of the early low-flow toilets were pathetically inadequate. Some models actually used substantially more than 6 litres per flush, despite advertising claims to the contrary..
The low flow toilet is maybe one of the cheapest and most cost effective ways to save money there is.
Why install a low flow toilet? Over 25% of the household water is used to flush the toilet, an older toilet will use 13 to 22 litres per flush compared to 4 to 6 litres per flush for a low flow toilet. A single house could save up 40,000 liters of water a year or more. Some municipalities tax sewer on water consumption, so not only do you save on water you save on the sewer tax as well. If you have a well and septic look at the work you save your pump and disposal field. .New low flow toilets have proven to be efficient and reliable over many years of use. There are dual flush toilets that can save you even more money.
Without a low flow toilet you are literally flushing your money down the drain. If you measure only indoor appliances, the percentage of water used by toilets is 38 percent, or more than a third of the water, utilized indoors in the typical U.S. home.
High-efficiency toilets use even less water than standard low-flow models, some as little as 1.1 gallons. Dual-flush toilets, which have separate flush modes for solid and liquid waste, are another water-saving option.
Gravity-assisted flushing is the term for how Adamson's invention worked; water from the tank cascades into the bowl and carries away waste. Up until about the 1930s, the toilet tank was placed high on the wall behind the toilet to maximize the water's gravitational force. Gravity works well with a lot of water, but not so well with the mandated 1.6 gallons. So today's gravity-assisted toilets often have design adjustments, such as wider flapper valves (the hole in the center bottom of the tank where the water flows down into the bowl) and trapways (the hole at the bottom of the toilet bowl). Glazing or finishing the trapway to cut down on friction and ease the way for waste is another design change.
Since gravity can only do so much with so little water, pressure-assisted flush toilets use pressurized air in the tank to push the water into the bowl more forcefully, which helps to make up for the lower water amount. This type of toilet works well in disposing of waste, but it tends to be a little noisier than other types of flush toilets, sometimes needs an electrical power source, and can require more maintenance. American Standard's Fontaine is one such model.
So you use less water and have a toilet that really flushes, what more could you want?
