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Lionel Mandrake

(4,073 posts)
Sun May 10, 2015, 05:07 PM May 2015

A simple way to save water.

Most of the rest rooms at Calif. State U. Long Beach (where I spend a lot of time) have automatic-flush toilets. The damn things seldom work properly. Either they don't flush when they need to, or they flush when they don't need to. So water is wasted, and some toilets are effectively unavailable, including those in stalls designed for people in wheelchairs. The same problem occurs in many other public restrooms in California.

The remedy for this problem is obvious.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shioiri-clark-drought-phantom-flushes-20150510-story.html

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A simple way to save water. (Original Post) Lionel Mandrake May 2015 OP
I've encountered this problem, and it is idiotic to let it continue. CaliforniaPeggy May 2015 #1
Kick... Agschmid May 2015 #2
K and R Another would be to revisit..... Smarmie Doofus May 2015 #3
Depends on the toilet design. jeff47 May 2015 #5
Thank you. bigwillq May 2015 #4
Back in the 1960's in Los Angeles Binkie The Clown May 2015 #6

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,308 posts)
1. I've encountered this problem, and it is idiotic to let it continue.
Sun May 10, 2015, 05:16 PM
May 2015

As you say, the solution is obvious. Someone needs to pay attention.

 

Smarmie Doofus

(14,498 posts)
3. K and R Another would be to revisit.....
Sun May 10, 2015, 05:37 PM
May 2015

... the unrealistically low limits on water capacity in toilets in general. ( It's a problem in NYS... I don't know about elsewhere.)

If the legal max is INSUFFICIENT to.... ummmm.... do the job ( i.e . flush the toilet and the contents therein completely) then one has to repeat the process two, three, four times.

How does this save water?

Another idea from the not too distant past.... that actually made sense: Timers on showers. Used to have them in the 1980s-90s in the gym I went to. One pushes a button to get wet. The water stops after about 30 secs. One soaps up with the water off. One pushes the button again. One rinses off and the water automatically stops again.

What could make more sense?

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
5. Depends on the toilet design.
Sun May 10, 2015, 08:24 PM
May 2015

Get a Cadet series from American Standard, and it'll flush whatever you can...put in it. Get a Champion series from the same company and you'd swear it could flush a bowling ball.

A lot of companies went "cheap", and didn't bother with testing or designing specifically how the water flowed through the toilet. So they took the old 5 to 7-gallon designs and just had them fill with less water.

American Standard and Kohler figured out how to make it work. The downside is their toilets are more expensive.

I'm....productive, shall we say. And both a Cadet and Champion have always handled it the first time, and never required a plunger.

 

bigwillq

(72,790 posts)
4. Thank you.
Sun May 10, 2015, 05:40 PM
May 2015

We have automatic-flush toilets at work in CT.
It flushes before I am finished, and then again when I really finish. Such a waste. I dislike anything automated. We have automatic paper towel dispensers in the bathroom as well and it always dispenses too many towels.

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
6. Back in the 1960's in Los Angeles
Sun May 10, 2015, 11:07 PM
May 2015

the company I was working for decided they were going to save money on their water bill. They adjusted the toilets in the entire 12-story building to use 20% less water per flush. Their water bill promptly went UP 60%.

The 80% flush was not enough, so everybody got in the habit of flushing twice. 80% + 80% = 160% means 60% more water than before.

Sometimes an idea sounds good, but turns out to be bad.

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