What Is A High Efficiency Toilet

Performance Really Does Equal Savings

Do you feel as though you can’t lower your water bill no matter what you try? It might be your toilet. Many people struggle to offset their water bill costs because of the amount of water their toilets use to flush. If this sounds like it could be the case in your home, keep reading to learn more about how the right toilet could save you money!

Today’s valve toilets use only 1.28 gallons of water per flush. Most of us casually drink at least one gallon of water every 2 days. Toilets in U.S. commercial buildings consume about 1.2 billion gallons (4.5 billion l) per day. Placed in proper context to you as a consumer, The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct92) mandated a maximum of 1.6 gallons of water per flush (gpf; 6 liters per flush, or lpf) for most toilets beginning in 1994 (and for flushometer-valve toilets beginning in 1997). In spite of all the initial problems, performance has improved dramatically in the past ten years. Desires for even better efficiency now fuels demand for toilets that use at least 20% less water than standard 1.6-gpf models. This is what we are discussing, these termed high-efficiency toilets (HETs) and why you need to have them installed in your home.

What Kinds Of HET’s Are Available?

These new State of the art High-efficiency toilets today are easily available with gravity-flush, pressure-assist, and flushometer-valve mechanisms. These High Pressure-assist toilets, which compress air at the top of the refill tank to increase the flush velocity, use as little as 0.8 gpf and typically achieve excellent performance. Flushometer-valve toilets, which use direct water pressure without a tank, more are common in commercial buildings, but newer products are being selected in homes as well.

What does this mean to you? Less water is used which saves you money.

In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced WaterSense*, a voluntary program designed to promote the market for water-efficient products and services. Now, more than 130 HETs have been certified to bear the WaterSense label. To carry the WaterSense label, HETs must be independently tested using the Maximum Performance (MaP) testing protocol that measures the ability of toilets to remove standardized test media.

The Plumbing industry as a whole is constantly changing to offer better products to their customers. It’s possible HETs may become standard nationwide in a few short years. California has already passed legislation that will mandate that all new toilets sold or installed in the state after 2014 be HETs. According to Barbara Higgins, executive director of the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute, the plumbing industry is lobbying to make this requirement the new federal standard – with a clearly defined schedule that gives manufacturers time to modify their products.

So how does this affect you? Change is coming. Have you installed High Efficiency Toilets in your home yet? Call us today at Action Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning and Electric, Inc. to find out more about the Action Go Green Program for your home or business. We have a solution to begin that process for your home today.

If you need some Action now, you can click here to schedule service online now!