Efficient Living Forum - Ultra Low Flow Toilets

In the real world, where things don't flush like they do in the movies, it can take two, three, or, in the case of my wife, Peggy Hill, six flushes to completely remove solid waste

- Hank Hill

King of the Hill is one of my favorite TV shows. In the episode Flush the Power - Season 4, Episode 2, Hank Hill installs low flow toilets in his house and soon realizes that the new toilets require more flushes than conventional toilets to get rid of solid waste. He then join a zoning board in an attempt to get the regular flow toilets reinstated.

This episode brings to mind the current state of low flow toilets. The Energy Policy Act enacted by President Bush Senior went in effect in 1994 and mandated that toilets in household do not consume more that 1.6 gallons per flush.

Low flow toilets are said to save a family of 4 as much as 22,000 gallons of water a year.

There have been significant advances in low flow toilet technology over the last few years. I saw this video on Youtube of a Water Conservation Manager for the City of San Antonio, flushing a Russet potato down a Caroma toilet with a 0.8 gallon flash - half the efficiency standard mandate.

To Hank Hills concerns of multiple flushes to get rid of the waste; I am sure if Hank used one of these newer toilets he would not complain as much and could use the water saved to water his lawn. We all know how important a green lawn is to Hank!

This video also makes you think about how much more water you could be saving with one of these ultra low-flow toilets. Living efficiency covers several areas in the household - even your toilets.

Note:
There are some exceptions to the low flow efficiency mandates

The federal water efficiency standards for plumbing fixtures and fixture fittings set forth in the Energy Policy Act are shown in Table 1. Exemptions to the standards were allowed for products such as safety showers and toilets and urinals used in prisons, which requiere unique designs and higher flow rates. "Blowout" flushometer commercial toilets are allowed a higher water-use rate until they can be redesigned to operate reliably at a lower volume. White gravity tank-type toilets used in commercial settings will not be required to meet the 1.6-gal/flush maximum-use standard until 1997. It is not yet clear whether the state or federal rules will prevail in states whose existing water-efficiency requirements for fixtures exceed the act's standards. DOE has the authority to allow states to pre-empt the federal standards if the state's requirements are more stringent, and DOE is expected to issue regulations to clarify this matter late in 1993.