What appliance in your home uses the most water per year? You’d likely guess “the shower,” but that’s not correct. (Unless you take ridiculously long showers—which you should stop doing right away!) No, the correct answer is “the bathroom toilet.” The toilet accounts for 40% of all indoor water use. This means that a toilet that uses too much water is the biggest source of household water waste. If you have an older toilet (more than 20 years), we recommend looking into having it replaced with a special low-flow model, also known as a low-flush toilet. But a low-flow toilet is also a good idea as a replacement for newer standard toilets. The difference in water use is still significant.
What’s the difference in water usage with a low-flow toilet?
A toilet that’s more than two decades old is probably a major water waster, using up 4 to 6 gallons of water per flush. By comparison, the current federal standard for a toilet is 1.6 gallons. So even if you don’t purchase a low-flush model, getting rid of the old toilet is a good idea.
A WaterSense certified low-flow toilet only uses 1.28 gallons per flush, which is 20% less than the required standard. And there’s no change in performance; you won’t notice any difference except when your water bill arrives. Depending on the type of toilet you’re replacing, your household can save nearly 13,000 gallons of water every year. You can expect to save $110 in water bills per year and over $2,200 over the toilet’s service life.
We install many types of fixtures for bathroom plumbing in Cincinnati, OH. If you’re interested in saving water and money with new low-flow fixtures, contact our office today and speak to one of our professionals. We also handle new construction plumbing services for those larger bathroom plumbing jobs.
Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. serves Cincinnati and the surrounding area. We have 24-hour service available.