Boston Plumbing and Heating Blog

Last week we discussed low-flow toilets, and how your home’s plumbing may not be able to accommodate them. However, if you can replace a toilet with a low-flow toilet in your home, you can shave as much as $90 off your annual utility bill and send thousands fewer gallons of water down the drain.

In 1994 low-flow toilets became popular. While they saved water, they weren’t great at actually flushing. Today’s low-flow toilets work better. Many are better performers and some also use even less water than the federal standard. If you’re in the market for a new toilet, it pays to consider high-efficiency toilets (HET). You’ll save a lot of money (and water).

Look for high performing toilets

The EPA’s WaterSense label identifies HETs that have been certified by independent laboratories. They’re rated according to Maximum Performance (MaP) testing protocols, which measure the toilets’ ability to remove waste. MaP scores range from 250 to 1,000.  The EPA has adopted 350 grams as its minimum performance threshold, and anything over 500 is very good.

Choose how to flush

Like standard low-flow toilets, HETs come with different flush options. The one you choose depends on how “green” you want to be, how much you’re willing to spend, and your tolerance for noise. Most residential toilets in the U.S. are gravity-flush, which relies on the weight of water flowing into the bowl to help remove waste. Pressure-assist toilets compress air at the top of the tank to increase flush velocity, so they can do the job with as little as 0.8 gallons of water. While this makes for a powerful flush, they are loud.

Some low-flow designs like the Kohler Hatbox is so streamlined that it doesn’t even have a tank and flushes with the aid of an electric pump. While it is efficient with less noise, it is a more complicated installation and costlier maintenance.

Your savings

Toilets account for about 27% of a household’s indoor water usage, so trading up to a high-efficiency toilet can yield big savings. According to the EPA, a family of four that replaces its home’s older toilets with WaterSense-labeled models will, on average, save more than $90 per year in reduced water bills and $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilets. And, of course, you’ll be saving a lot of water. Pre-1994 toilets send between 3.5 and 7 gallons down the drain with every flush. For a family of four, that adds up to about 76 gallons a day.

For more information on replacing toilets in your home, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.

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Seeing as this month we celebrate Earth Day, we thought we could give you some ideas on how plumbers can help with water conservation in your home. You can actually make some small changes that can have large effects with water conservation.
 
For your home, there are plumbing fixtures that save water or use less water.  Low-flow plumbing fixtures are permanent, one-time solutions that provide water conservation automatically with little or no additional cost. And, in most cases they can save you money over the long term.

Low-Flush Toilets. Homes account for about three-quarters of urban water demand and indoor water use is about 60% of that. Toilets use about 3.5 gallons of water per flush, which turns out to be about 40% of all indoor water usage. Can you believe that more than 4.8 billion gallons of water is flushed down toilets each day in the United States!

In new construction and in remodeling you have the potential to reduce that water usage by installing low flush toilets. Low-flush toilets use 1.6 gallons of water or less.
 
Even in existing homes replacing standard toilets with low-flush toilets is a practical and economical alternative.

Toilet Water Displacement Devices. Plastic containers (such as plastic milk jugs) can be filled with water or pebbles and placed in a toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush. By putting one of these containers in the tank more than l gallon of water can be saved each time you flush.

Low-Flow Showerheads. Showers use about 20% of indoor water. For $5 you can replace standard showerheads with low flow showerheads and a family of four can save about  20,000 gallons of water per year.

Faucet Aerators. Faucet aerators break the flowing water into more fine droplets. They have the same effect and are very inexpensive. They can be installed in any sink to reduce water use by as much as 60%.

Water Pressure Reduction.  Flow is related to pressure. You can reduce the amount of flow from a water fixture. This is done by installing pressure reducing valves. These valves alone can reduce the amount of water used in your home.  If your home uses a well, reducing the water pressure can save both water and energy. However, washing machines and toilets need a controlled amount of water so a  pressure reducing valve will have little effect on these appliances.

For more information on reducing water usage in your Boston or Worcester area home, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.