Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Saving water ...

Ever since I did the big remodel in the house, I've been in conservation/green mode. Every bulb in the house is either a CFC or LED, even the yard floods. I've insulated to R-49 to save on oil too. Worth every penny when the oil company we've been with for 45 years calls up and asks if we're using someone else because we use less than 100 gallons/quarter.

The thing that was bugging me was the old toilet in the "guest wing" bathroom. It is 50 years old, original to the house, and it's like unleashing Niagara Falls every time someone flushes. When I built the master suite downstairs, I put in a 1/2 gallon/flush unit, but the guest bathroom is the only room I haven't done any work to aside from paint and a new sink. I've been waiting to replace the toilet until I redid the room (next spring or summer), but the waste of water was getting to me.

So today I got after it. I overhauled the old "throne" with a dual flush system from these people, along with a new fill valve. Seriously easy installation and only minor adjustments to calibrate. Took me less than an hour and it works amazingly well. Can't wait for Suffolk Water to call and ask if I've dug a well. Heh ...

7 comments:

Gordon said...

Outstanding! Although I think ya shoulda waited until after I've come to visit. Sometimes Niagara Falls ain't near enough...

Our PUD has a free toilet exchange. Maybe next year.

We've gone to curly bulbs everywhere we could but the LEDs are still a little pricey for us. They're the thing of the future though.

Gordon said...

Suffolf County is more likely to come out and see if you've jumped around their meter. Heh.

My 'hood got water meters last year. Prior to that water was $60/mo period and that's the minimum now. I haven't gone over the minimum and had to pay on the meter yet, but I do get to pay $5 extra/mo just for having it. Grrrr...

Gordon said...

Suffolk Water, not County.

David Aquarius said...

I use CFL bulbs exclusively. I have 12 of them (46w) and 6 T5 24" bulbs in the spare bedroom closet right now!

My guests say the bedroom smells funny.

Gordon said...

Reminds me of a line from an old Johnny Cash song:

"Gonna stay up late come pickin' time!" ;-)

Anonymous said...

How difficult and expensive would it be to recycle the gray water from bath tubs, showers, and bathroom sinks to use as toilet flushing water?

(I would love to have that fix done at my house but I'm afraid to even ask about the cost.)

Jay in N.C.

John said...

Installed the 2-flush toilet 6 months ago and the bill almost went in half, but those damn mercury-filled curly bulbs, my wife bought enough for the whole house MAINLY [I believe] due to the touted "7 to 10 yr. life span".
Welllll, the damn things barely outlive regular lighting and are apparently dangerous [environmentally] to boot !

John from SoFlo