The EPA has stated that an estimated 4.8 billion gallons of water are flushed down the toilet every day.
According to the American Water Works Association, the average household uses 20 to 28 gallons every day just to flush the toilet.
It might seem odd to think that a new toilet could save you money, but it can. Every time you flush your toilet you're spending money on water unless you have a well, like we do, and then you will spend money on electricity to pump the water into the house, like we do everyday.
Our bathroom still had the original toilet that was installed when the house was built in 1986. It was an old American Standard toilet that used five gallons of water to flush. An extreme amount of water when you consider today's new toilets.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 took a step in reducing water waste by mandating that all new toilets produced for home use conform to a 1.6 gallon-per-flush standard, which was intended to do away with the conventional 5 gallon-per-flush toilets.
Here is a calculator to determine how much water your family uses on flushing:
http://www.flushmate.com/watersense/calculator.html
If you have a 20 year old home with original toilets and 4 people live there. The calculator says that you'll save $99 in one year and conserve 16,000 gallons of water.
Generally the older toilet is then the more worthwhile replacement will be. If your toilet was made after 1994 then it is already a water saving model. But if your toilet is over eighteen years old then it is likely worth the cost to switch to a new toilet.
Our toilet was 26 years old, a real dinosaur, lol. It was in need of repair anyway because whenever we flushed, it would take a longer than necessary time for the tank to fill. My Dad bought and replaced our toilet for us in November right before our Thanksgiving company came to visit. Our new toilet flushes using only one gallon of water and the tank fills quickly, which I just love. We are definitely saving both water and electricity with this new model, and therefore saving money in the process.
Belinda
© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
Belinda, I agree that it a wise, financial move to replace water hogging toilets. Landlord paid to replace a toilet that ran constantly (I had turned the water supply off awaiting a repair). THis old toilet also needed repair, parts were hard to get, made more sense to just replace it. Glad that the handyman who works for her chose an Aqua source brand one, from one of the big box stores. I saw it advertised for $99. Works great, flushes well and like you, we are on a well, so while I am not paying water charges, my electric bill thanks me.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Carol! Sounds like you have a really good landlord as he seems to repair/replace as needed. We've made several changes here lately that have helped to reduce our electric bill. As you know, every little bit we can do helps. :)
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