Low Water Use Toilets Might Be Too Effective

You may be envisioning old school outhouses or the dreaded port a potty but modern composting toilets are easy and odorless to operate.

Low water use toilets might be too effective.

They even look somewhat like regular toilets minus the water. Low flow toilets are increasingly available as an option for newly constructed homes. If you live in an old house the diameter of your waste pipes may be too large or your pipes may be too steep for effective low flow. You may have to remove the toilet to get a good look at the subfloor.

Toilet manufacturers changed designs enough to ensure that toilets used the requisite 1 6 gallons of water but made no design alterations to help propel waste away using only about half the water they previously did. Composting toilets use anaerobic processes for the decomposition of waste and a system of evaporation since human waste is about 90 water. Replacing an old model can easily cut your toilet s water usage in half and cut overall indoor water use by 16 percent according to the environmental protection agency savings of 15 000 to 20 000 gallons for most families. Selecting a low flow toilet.

You may find that your toilet water level seems a little low. The most efficient low flush toilets bring that number down to 1 5 gallons per flush. Flushing waste became an unsure thing when law mandated only 1 6 gallons of water per flush gpf be used. Homes built in the county since 1992 have been required to use low flow toilets.

When selecting a new toilet look for models with the watersense label. The lighter flush option uses 1 1 gallons of water while the heavier flush uses 1 6 gallons which is still far better than having to double flush as you might with other low flow toilets. How to fix a poorly flushing low water use toilet. Still that s a lot of water moving through your pipes daily.

The one piece toilet is easy to clean and made from white vitreous china which is less prone to fading cracking and abrasions than standard porcelain. Some cities states and counties also offer a rebate to homeowners who replace their traditional toilets with low flow models. However there s a trade off to saving water. One toilet flush uses approximately 3 5 gallons of water with every flush.