Guerilla Plumbing: Hack Your Friends' Toilets (NOT)
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.25.08
EarthThreat suggests that the next time you are at a party, hack your host's toilet by lifting the tank lid and bending the rod connected to the float so that the float is a little lower, shutting off the water a little earlier. "Think about all of the water that could be saved with this trick. Toilets get flushed a hell of a lot. If one gallon of water is saved per flush, and that toilet is flushed six times a day, you will be responsible for saving over 2,000 gallons of water per year. Abuse five of your friend’s toilets and you will save close to 11,000 gallons with a six flush daily average."
Um, maybe not.
First of all, as one commenter pointed out, the float arm is screwed into a socket so if you bend it, the water pressure on the float ball will probably cause it to rotate so that it is bent up, raising the water level, possibly high enough that it will stay running and flow down the overflow tube, wasting thousands of gallons of water.
Secondly, in many modern toilets, the arm is plastic and won't bend. A much better hack is to carry a screwdriver and adjust the arm position. But wait, there's more.
Thirdly, modern toilets are designed to use only 1.6 gallons of water and some models don't work that well to start with. Cut the water volume down and people will start double flushing to compensate.
Fourthly, the math has got to be wrong. " If one gallon of water is saved per flush" then the toilet isn't going to work, that is two thirds of the water volume in a modern toilet, or in a pre-1994 toilet, almost a third of the water.
Fifthly, our measurements of a tank's inside dimensions of 7" by 14" would yield only 98 cubic inches of water; a gallon contains 231 cubic inches, so you would have to drop the water level two and a half inches to save a gallon of water and the arm would probably break if you tried to do that.
So in summary, stick to your own bowl and don't abuse your friend's toilet; it is probably counterproductive and doesn't save as much water as it is purported to.::Rethos Thanks anyways, tipster Graham!
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Just don't do what a rocket scientist friend of mine did. He hung a weight on the end of the float arm by the float ball to force the ball down farther in the water (He couldn't bend the plastic arm). Well, after a couple dozen flushes the extra weight snapped off the valve at the other end and the toilet ran for days before he got around to fixing it.
Many modern toilets have arms with an adjustment in the middle of the arm to allow changes. I've tinkered with mine, but found that my toilet is new enough/small enough that it doesn't work any better to make the changes.
-Lego
My trick in our house was to place a previously enjoyed bottle of Bailey's (filled with water) in the tank, sort of underneath the flush handle assembly on the left side. A zip tie keeps it tethered in place.
The toilet still only requires one flush for 95% of circumstances. So if you want to hack your friend's toilet during a party, bring a zip tie, and place an unopened beer bottle or refilled juice bottle in there. (Note: Bailey's is about the largest diameter bottle that will fit in a standard tank without any mods.)
Well if we're at a party, how about just filling a beer bottle (from the sink, please!) and dropping it in the tank. The volume displaced will be the water saved every flush. Cheap motels in the US have done it for years!
When replacing the toilets in our house we opted for dual flush Toto toilets instead of "hacking" a normal toilet.
hilariously, as part of "Ecomagination week" (see if you can guess which global brand I work for) we were all given a "toilet water saving device". I've already got one in the cistern, I call it a brick, it takes up space and nicely saves me water.
The "device" we were given though was a plastic bag with an inner bag filled with silicon sand and water absorbing crystals whcih expands to fill the bag. hmmm so an eco product to save water uses silicon sand (not exactly eco) and plastic and weird crystals, sounds like a great idea global mega corp.
In France we just put a brick into the tank. "System D" at its finest.
Attempting to bend the float arm is a very bad idea.
First if you damage it your now not happy friend will not be encouraged to go greener.
Second this will not only lower the volume of the flush it will also lower the power of the flush. The power of the flush is partially determined by the height differential between the top of the water in the tank and the top of the water in the bowl. So by lowering the top of the water in the tank the bowl may not be able to clear itself as effectively leading to more flushing not less.
One of the previous post suggested the best answer i know of, a bottle full of water added securely in the tank. this will keep the hight of the water the same wile reducing the amount used each flush. This will also minimize the chance of damage to the tank.
... and what is the net benefit when your friends all start flushing twice to make up for their lack of flow?
How about NOT hacking your friends toilet. Instead offer to reduce the water usage with one of the above mentioned techniques.
If you are that much of a guerrilla plumber, post an ad on craigslist offering to fix leaky faucets free of charge.
The best idea is to put a big 2L coke bottle in there full of water, so that portion of the tank is always full. Make sure it doesnt block the flushing mechanism in any way.
Another good hack is for the sink. Reach underneath it and close the valve for the hot and cold water about half way. Most sink faucets have too much flow and water splashes everywhere. When you close those valves some you can reduce the waste on splashed water and when they leave the water running while brushing, shaving, etc...
Hmm, I don't think I agree with messing with someone else's property. What is this Greenpeace or PETA? Are we forcing our opinions on other people now? I think this is a wonderful idea and should be SHARED with all of your friends.
IMHO
I had someone modify my toilet, so I had to flush twice to get it flushed. So I used almost twice the water instead of a little less.
Fix your own toilet, leave mine alone.
It is an extremely bad idea to do unrequested modifications on other peoples plumbing. It IS an excellent way to lose friends, piss people off, and make them hostile to many varieties of sustainability.
Better to call them up the day after the party, thank them for a wonderful time, then say "you know, I couldn't help noticing: old, inefficient toilet; amount of water being wasted; poorly performing toilet mechanism; etc." And then offer to help them repair, upgrade and save thousands of gallons of water and much money.
Lot's of people hate the whole idea of conservation due to the poor performance of the first crop of 1.6 gallon toilets.
The filled bottle/can or a brick/stone is probably the easiest and cheapest way to save a bit more water. And you can add more until you run out of room or the toilet stops flushing effectively, then back off slightly. This will give your friend a better understanding of how various systems work and their ability to interact with them.
I am thinking through collecting and using shower water and rain water to flush the terlets and water the grass. I have space under the house to gang together plastic barrels (easily findable) and rig up tubing to let gravity do its thing, it's just getting the water back up again. I was thinking of using bilge pumps like they have in boats but I am not sure if they can lift 2 or 3 floors in height. The hose, even at 1/2 inch will still contain a lot of water and it will get heavy when filled.
I would love to be able to shut off the water to the toilets and use stored water.
vsk
Better yet! - piss in the garden!
To really save water;
1. turn off the valve to YOUR toilet.
2. put a large bowl in YOUR bathroom sink.
3. take the lid off the toilet tank.
$ pour the water you wash or shave with into the tank.
5 repeat step 4 as needed.
(I cut my water bill by 70 %by doing this.)
"Better yet! - piss in the garden!"
ROFL! :)
But I love the idea of Guerilla plumbing! Now if I could just hack the automatic towel dispenser at work to deliver smaller pieces...
vsk, if you could rig up a storage tank on the top floor. Even in the attic if you live where it doesn't freeze that could feed the toilets, you'd need to retrofit some new plumbing but any good well pump should lift the water to the tank. Just make sure you've got a redundant shutoff for when the tank is full and an overflow (back to your greywater tanks in the basement).
We just do the ol "yellow mellow, brown down" in our house. Saves water cause means only flushing a couple times a day.