{"id":6055,"date":"2010-10-05T07:29:23","date_gmt":"2010-10-05T14:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blitransfer.wpengine.com\/?p=6055"},"modified":"2017-06-21T14:20:55","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T19:20:55","slug":"green-home-remodeling-flush-dual-flush-toilets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/2010\/10\/05\/green-home-remodeling-flush-dual-flush-toilets\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Home Remodeling: Low-Flow or Dual Flush Toilets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you live in an older home or apartment, the toilet in your bathroom uses between three to four gallons of water each time you flush. \u00a0In fact, your toilet is the “largest daily user of water<\/a>” in your home. \u00a0Some water conservationists respond by only flushing down bowel movements and posting signs for visitors reading: “If it’s yellow let it mellow; if it’s brown flush it down;” however, the smell and sight of a urine filled toilet is not pleasant. \u00a0 New installations and remodeling projects are left with two flushing options: \u00a0low-flow toilet or dual flush toilet.
\n<\/p>\n

Photo by NatalieMaynor
\n<\/a>\"Dual<\/a>
Dual flush or low-flow?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toilets manufactured after 1992 are mandated by US federal law to “to meet or beat” efficiency standards of 1.6 gallon per flush<\/a>. \u00a0Once considered the “bane of the bathroom<\/a>“, early low-flow toilets had a bad reputation for requiring multiple flushes to get solids down, thus frustrating consumers and not conserving water in the process. \u00a0Newer models are much more efficient, and many allow consumers to adjust the water output to the perfect amount for their personal use. \u00a0Instead of relying on gravity, like older toilets, new low-flow toilets may use pressurized air.<\/p>\n

Dual flush toilets are different than low-flow toilets in that they give you two options for flushing. \u00a0DIY Network<\/a> explains, “The world’s driest continent \u2014 Australia \u2014 brings us dual-flush toilets, which give you a choice: push one button for flushing liquid waste (.8 gallons of water) and another for solid waste (1.6 gallons).” \u00a0DIY eco-friendly dual flush toilet retrofit kits<\/a> are available, or you can buy a toilet that is already equipped with this option.<\/p>\n

We recently put an addition on our house, and both of our bathrooms feature each kind of water conserving toilet described above. \u00a0Our low-flow toilet was very expensive. At first we hated it, as it used such little water that the toilet bowl was always dirty. \u00a0We then discovered the water adjustment, and we have had no more problems.<\/p>\n

Our dual flush toilet was a one-fifth the cost of the low-flow toilet, as we were able to buy it at a large warehouse store versus a local plumbing supply shop. \u00a0Although it is better to shop local, sometimes you have to save money when doing home repairs. We are happy with our dual flush toilet, but in the middle of the night, I just press whatever button without paying attention. I suppose as I become more familiar with the toilet, I’ll remember which button to use.<\/p>\n

Of course, you can avoid water consumption all together by installing a composting toilet, but low-flow and dual flush toilets are more acceptable to many people. \u00a0ABCs of Toilets<\/a> reports that if everyone switched to water-efficient fixtures, we could reduce water consumption by 30%. \u00a0In these times of pressure on dwindling fresh water supplies and reservoirs dropping to 40% of capacity<\/a>, we all should be using water conserving toilets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you live in an older home or apartment, the toilet in your bathroom uses between three to four gallons of water each time you flush. \u00a0In fact, your toilet is the “largest daily user of water” in your home. \u00a0Some water conservationists respond by only flushing down bowel movements and posting signs for visitors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[13,30,32],"tags":[2854,569,602,981,1257,2185],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/abandoned-toilet.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6055"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelivingideas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}