Five Percent: Conserve Energy

A reader sent me a gizmo (in a regular envelope) that saves almost 10%, each flush, called the WaterSaver. It’s a small bit of plastic, costs $5, and installs in a matter of seconds (no, really). On a low-flow toilet, that’s about 1/3 cup of water per flush.

I was skeptical. For one, my toilet is the kind that make people hate low-flow toilets. It sometimes doesn’t work in, eh hem, certain cases. We have lived with the toilet’s shortcomings for a while. So anything that might reduce efficacy further seemed like a bad idea.

But I put in the WaterSaver anyway, just as a test, and measured. The simplest way is to measure fill time. Before installation fill time for my toilet was a bit less than a minute; afterward it was about 52 seconds. After three flushes, I calculated that I used about 10% less water. I rushed off to write this blog post, but was distracted by reality. That was four months ago.

But is my forgetfulness is the ultimate endorsement of this product. (more…)