House hold water usage

o1d_dude said:

Did you work at the Dam?

Retired from the state myself.

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I worked in the warehouse on Glen Dr., about 2 miles from the Dam. Initially Warehouse Worker and eventually Purchaser (Business Services Assistant). Started service at Youth Authority Parole and moved over to Water Resources where I retired.

Got my bill yesterday and me and my wife used 1240 gals and cost was $43.50. We are on rural water system that has one big well for our whole neighborhood.

I installed dual flush retrofit kits on all of our toilets. lift up on the handle for #1, push down for #2. I've seen a difference in our bill since doing that.

This is the one I bought: https://www.fluidmaster.com/our-pro...h-converter-toilet-repair-kits/duo-flush.html

belfert said:

There are toilets now days that have an air bladder inside the tank to have very powerful flushes like a commercial toilet. Somehow they use the water flow to pressurize the tank.

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That's Sloan Flushmate. It's used in several toilet brands. There's no bladder. The incoming water compresses air inside the tank as it slowly fills and then lets it out all at once when you flush. They've been the subject of a recall or two. The tank is plastic and made of two halves glued together. There were instances when the halves came apart, flipped the china tank cover on the floor breaking it and sending water every where.

CarVac said:

Is it an American Standard Champion 4? My family got those and they are amazing. I have never once needed to flush them twice, ever. There are newer toilets that use 1.2 gallons instead of 1.6, but when they clog, there goes the water savings.

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No its the cheapest handicapped toilet from Lowes... $99 bucks...

Later! OL JR

We have one of the American Standard Champion 4 toilets in the master bath and the original (35 years old?) old school flusher in the main bath.

This thread got me to thinking...

I bet the water bill would be dramatically lower if I replaced the antique. Mrs. OD and I are making plans in that regard.

Thanks to OP for bringing this topic up.

o1d_dude said:

We have one of the American Standard Champion 4 toilets in the master bath and the original (35 years old?) old school flusher in the main bath.

This thread got me to thinking...

I bet the water bill would be dramatically lower if I replaced the antique. Mrs. OD and I are making plans in that regard.

Thanks to OP for bringing this topic up.

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I wish I could share your outlook of this thread. All it reminded me of was the nasty ring forming in my own toilet and the fact that there is only me to address it.:sad:

billspad said:

The Toto 1.28 gpf toilets work amazingly well. Toto was the company that figured out that changing the flush valve opening from 2" to 3" made a huge difference. 3" is pretty much the standard now.

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I don't know about the new Totos, but we do have a slightly older 1.6 gallon one and it is no contest.

The Champion 4 has a 4 inch opening and an additional 6ish inches of hydraulic head due to the slightly elevated tank and the valve opening being well above the bottom of the tank.

If anyone does buy a new toilet I highly recommend an elongated toilet like pretty much every public bathroom has. The cost isn't much more. The builder who built my house puts them in all his houses and I am glad he did. I am planning to buy another house very soon and I will be replacing the toilets on day one if they are not elongated toilets.

belfert said:

If anyone does buy a new toilet I highly recommend an elongated toilet like pretty much every public bathroom has. The cost isn't much more. The builder who built my house puts them in all his houses and I am glad he did. I am planning to buy another house very soon and I will be replacing the toilets on day one if they are not elongated toilets.

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Elongated toilets are fine if you are installing them in large bathrooms. In small telephone booth sized 1/2 baths not so much.

What is the advantage of an elongated toilet, other than the fact that you can obviously drop more elongated poops?

o1d_dude said:

Elongated toilets are fine if you are installing them in large bathrooms. In small telephone booth sized 1/2 baths not so much.

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There are compact elongated toilets.

I'm somewhat comforted to know that even the non rocketry threads can wander from the original topic in just a few days. All we need is a video.


[video]https://www.americanstandard-us.com/assets/videos/FlushForGood.mp4[/video]

For what it's worth, I just got my water bill. We used 9000 gallons in a 31 day period. That's a bit more than I thought. But, water is plentiful where I am, and it's cheap. The bill was ~$34. This is all indoor use; no grass watering or gardening. Seems like quite a bit, but we all like long showers / baths, run lots of loads of laundry, run the dishwasher at least once a day, and flush the toilet a lot I guess!

Marc

o1d_dude said:

We have one of the American Standard Champion 4 toilets in the master bath and the original (35 years old?) old school flusher in the main bath.

This thread got me to thinking...

I bet the water bill would be dramatically lower if I replaced the antique. Mrs. OD and I are making plans in that regard.

Thanks to OP for bringing this topic up.

Click to expand...

There are some rebate programs for updating to more efficient appliances. For instance, if you're a MWD customer:

https://socalwatersmart.com/index.php/qualifyingproducts

Alternately, for older toilets, you can usually squeeze a couple of two liter bottles (or even a gallon) into the tank to cut down on the volume of water in the tank. Just fill the bottle up with water, with some ballast in the bottom.

Mike

TopRamen said:

I use as much as I like because I have three Wells and one Hand Dug Well/Pond. My Property is on top of Cold Water Springs, so I have infinite Water, and never pay a Cent.

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Only if it is all gravity fed . If you have any pumps..you pay electric,unless you are of the grid?
Anywhoo-dont take this wrong, but your statement I have infinite Water is a liitle disturbing to me. I just hope your not wasteing it and think it will never run out,cuz thats the mindset of to many people now.I also have nice clear cold well water,we had a 4" pump on it trying to pump it down to inspect it and throw in some chlorine. The water table is so high and plentyfull where the well is,the pump almost could not get the water out faster than it recovered.
The plumber dude that was with me could not believe it. Now,even with that kind of water supply,I do not take it for granted and I do not waste it.

Kehoes23 said:

So I got a water bill from September to March and according to the electronic read out my family and I used 23,000 gallons of water, does this sound right?
I have three children my wife and I and my house is a one floor rancher, about 1,000 square foot.
How much water do you use?
I feel like I got it up the rear.

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Thats a good "Q". I should figure it out. Im on a well. I could throw in a meter? I have some "Niagara" turbine meters at work on the shelf,I could hook one up at home here and see what we use. I know our old top load rag washer uses a lot more water per load than newer models.