Half the Water, Twice the Flush!
(Page 2 of 3)
August/September 2006
By Steve Maxwell
Toilet Testing
RELATED CONTENT
The U.S. Department of Energy's work with the city of Greensburg, Kan., over the past year is beari...
. . . ENERGY FLASHES...... ENERGY FLASHES...... ENERGY FLASHES. . . September/October 1982 POPEYE W...
A new study predicts we could have one quarter of our energy needs from renewable sources by 2025, ...
Which renewable energy technology has the best potential to combat global warming and power our fut...
Missouri creates a stronger market for renewable energy by passing a clean energy initiative....
Finding a low-flow gravity-flush or pressure-assist toilet that performs well is now easier than ever, thanks in no small part to a guy named Bill Gauley.
Gauley publishes toilet performance results several times a year in a report that has become the industry standard for rating toilets. For a list of the top-rated low-flow toilets, see the chart at right. Gauley’s reporting on toilet performance also has pushed the toilet industry to improve its products.
Gauley’s an engineer by training, and back in the mid-1990s he was curious to know how much water his new low-flow toilet actually used. Although the unit was rated at 1.6 gallons per flush, Gauley found it used a gallon more than that. Surprised by the results, he tested other so-called “water-saving” toilets and found they all used significantly more water than the amount mandated by law. Most flushed pretty poorly, too.
Sensing an opportunity, Gauley launched a new career testing and reporting on low-flow toilet performance. The firm Gauley founded more than 10 years ago — Veritec Consulting — has helped revolutionize the toilet industry. The toilets that enter the Veritec test lab all face the same technical challenge: They must prove how much human waste (simulated with extruded soybean paste) they can flush away cleanly. The threshold for acceptable performance under Veritec analysis is 250 grams of waste cleanly expelled in a single flush (almost twice the weight of an average “deposit”).
Many toilets can successfully flush that amount and much more — the toilet models listed on the opposite page all flushed up to 1,000 grams of waste. But a surprising number of toilets currently on the market fall significantly below the 250 gram level.
“The marketplace is really beginning to demand better performing toilets,” Gauley says. “For example, the U.S. EPA is currently initiating a water efficiency labeling program to parallel their popular Energy Star program that will require models to flush a minimum of 350 grams of waste. Right now, the best-performing 1.6 gallon toilets can eliminate 1,000 grams or more of waste cleanly in a single flush — far more than many of the older 3.5 gallon toilet models that flushed with more than twice the volume of water.”
By choosing a low-flow toilet that works well, not only will you save money on your water bills, but you will get a reliable toilet that helps conserve water.
