Sep 15 2009
Do You Need a New Toilet? Part 1
As we are considering what changes to make during our upcoming renovation, one of the things I’ve heard from contractors and others is that we should replace our toilet – a standard white fella from the 90’s in perfectly fine shape – with a new, more efficient and presumably more low-profile version. I’ve been wondering whether we are being better stewards of the environment by trashing our existing model for the new. Yes – I do have aesthetic considerations as well – it would be nice to have a streamlined, new version in there – but it’s a balance, after all.
Pressure Lite® 1.0 gpf Elongated Toilet from Kohler
During my research, I came across a post by The Passive Dad who explored this in detail, comparing his existing toilet water usage to the cost and water usage of a new high efficiency toilet (HET):
“Let’s say my current toilet uses 2 gpf and we use it 20 times a day. 40 gallons with brick vs. 24 gallons with Kohler HET. My current water usage rate per gallon is .0054. The HET toilet would save me 480 gallons a month or $2.60. With the Kohler rebate, [his county provided a rebate for this HET toilet] it would take 4 years to recover the $125 cost of the new HET toilet.
The environment. Even if it doesn’t make financial sense to purchase a new HET toilet now, what about the impact on the environment? Using an additional 480 gallons a month can be considered wasteful.”
What about the option of just tuning up your existing toilet? You know, with a brick, maybe some new internal hardware.
Upon further investigation, I realize this isn’t just a simple purchase. For some basic toilet-shopping how-tos, visit H2ouse for a very helpful guide that covers the basics to get started.
In the meantime, I’ll be back with some more info on this tomorrow…
