Toilets
Toilets account for approximately 30 percent of residential indoor water consumption—by far the main source of water use in the home. Replacing a pre-1994 toilet with a new high-efficiency model can reduce water used for toilets by at least 60 percent and save about 16 percent of total indoor water use. Savings for a typical household would be more than 10,000 gallons per year—enough to fill a backyard swimming pool!
Commercial properties can save even more water from replacing old toilets. New toilets are an easy way to increase water efficiency. Your toilets may be using 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush. Replace with a 1.6 or a 1.28 model to increase water efficiency. Each toilet replaced will save approximately 18,000 gallons of water per year. Replacements have the potential to offer a payback period of less than four years in residential-type applications, such as hotels and dormitories. Facilities may achieve quicker payback when: they experience high water and/or sewer costs, have a relatively high number of users per toilet or if they currently use high water consuming (pre-1980) toilets.
Toilet Performance and Efficiency
Finding and Fixing a Toilet Leak
Toilet Retrofitting
Toilet Recycling
Rebate Program
Toilet Links
Toilet Performance and Efficiency
Greeley 's Water Conservation Program recommends that you purchase a toilet with a Maximum Performance (MaP) score of 500 or above to ensure you receive a high quality model. MaP testing provides performance information on more than 720 toilet models. MaP testing provides a quantitative assessment of real toilet performance. Visit The California Urban Water Conservation Council's web page with a listing of toilets, performance ratings and more information on testing procedures.
Some low flow toilets manufactured in the early 1990s often had problems and a reputation of not working well. Since then, manufacturers have invested in research and development to design low volume toilets that work as well as or better than the ones they replace. Customer satisfaction surveys confirm that owners of low-flow toilets rate them very highly about 90 percent of the time.
Under federal law, toilets must not exceed 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf). High-efficiency models also called ultra-low-flow toilets go beyond the standard and use less than 1.3 gpf. Recent advancements have allowed toilets to use 20 percent less water than the current federal standard, while still providing equal or superior performance.
WaterSense , a program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is helping consumers to identify high-performance, water-efficient toilets to reduce water use in the home and preserve water resources. The WaterSense label is used on toilets that are certified by independent laboratory testing to meet rigorous criteria for both performance and efficiency. Only high-efficiency toilets that complete the third-party certification process can earn the WaterSense label.
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Finding and Fixing a Toilet Leak
Tank-type toilets should be checked annually for leaks, because about 50 percent of toilets have leaks. Can you hear your toilet running? That is water leaking into the bowl. Even if you don't have a running toilet, you can have a leak. These are silent leaks, but the amount of water can account for 15 gallons per day or 5,475 gallons per year.
To check for leaks, use the dye tablets available from the water department or use ten drops of food coloring.
Check for leaks in a residential tank type toilet by following the steps below:
- Carefully lift the lid off of the toilet tank.
- Drop the dye tab in or put 10 drops of food coloring in the tank. Do not flush the toilet. Just leave it sit for at least 20 minutes.
- When you come back to check if the blue color shows up in the bowl, if it has, you have a leak.
Now how do you fix it?
Most of the time, you can just change out the flapper to fix a leak. Chlorine in the water or chloromines in cleaners will degrade the rubber and break the seal between the tank and the bowl. You can pick up a flapper from a hardware or plumbing supply store or at the Water Department for less than $5. If you can't fix the leak on your own, please contact a professional plumber.
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Replacing and Retrofitting
Greeley Water customers are encouraged to replace old toilets and are eligible for rebates when purchasing new models. If you have a high water use toilet, you can retrofit for efficiency, until you are able to replace it with a low flow model. During the 1970s drought, people were told to put a brick in their tank to save water. This practice is no longer recommended because the brick breaks down and can get lodged in some of the mechanical parts of the toilet.
Displacement Devices
Installing displacement devices in older tank-type toilets, will save water until new toilets can be purchased and installed. At home, you can use an empty 1 or 2 liter pop bottle (you may have to experiment which works best). Fill the bottom 1-3" with pea gravel for weight, then top off with water. Use this as a displacement device in your tank. The 1-2 liters of space that the bottle takes up would otherwise be flushed down the drain each time. The Water Department also has displacement bags that hold one gallon of water and will do the same thing. Toilet dams will also displace up to a gallon of water each time you flush depending on where you can locate them in the toilet tank.
Retrofitting Commercial Toilets
Flush valve toilets use water line pressure to flush. These models consist of a valve and a toilet bowl fixture. Most larger facilities use flush valve toilets, especially in high use areas. Valve inserts are available and can reduce flush volumes by 0.5 to 1.0 gallons per flush. Some of these devices consist of plastic orifices, perforated with holes in a wheel and spoke pattern. Others actually replace the existing valve mechanisms of a 5 gallons per flush unit with a 3.5 gallons per flush valve without changing the toilet bowl fixture. In general, as is the case with gravity toilets, full replacement of flush valve toilets provides greater water savings than retrofits.
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Toilet Recycling
In an effort to not add to the waste stream by trying to conserve water, the City of Greeley now offers free toilet recycling at the Greeley Green Cycle Center . The Water Conservation Program, the Public Works Streets Division and Natural Resources have teamed up with the Greeley Green Cycle Center on this project.
Dispose toilets, urinals and sinks at Greeley 's Green Cycle Center on East 8th Street , one mile east of Highway 85. To be accepted for recycling, the seat cover and any metal or plastic parts must be removed from the toilet. Only the porcelain can be recycled. After toilets are dropped off for recycling, the Streets Division will crush the ceramic tank and bowl. The porcelain is used as an ingredient in road base.
Once a toilet is dropped off for recycling, you receive a voucher to present when you apply for a Water Conservation Rebate . Rebates are available to Greeley Water Customers who purchased a new toilet in 2009 and file 90 days after purchase. The purpose of the rebate program is to get rid of inefficient toilets in the community. When you apply for a rebate, you need to show proof of proper disposal to make sure the toilet will not be reinstalled at another location. Please provide a photo of the toilet broken in at least two pieces or a recycling voucher from the Green Cycle Center when applying for a rebate.
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Toilet Links
Toiletology 101
Terry Love's Consumer Toilet Reports
Kohler Water Conservation
American Standard Water Conservation
Caroma Dual Flush System