Save Water When Flushing Toilet
Save Water When Flushing Toilet
Find out more about Hippo the Water Saver and Save-a-Flush.
water | carbonEveryday millions of gallons of expensively treated potable water is flushed down the toilet in the UK. Ideally we would all use
rainwater to flush our toilets however this is not considered a practical option for most people. An alternative is to
reduce the amount of water used in each flush.
Modern toilet
cisterns use around 7-8 litres of water per flush, with pre-1993 models typically getting through 9-12 litres. This is far more than is actually necessary to flush a toilet fully and so one of the following products can be used to reduce the amount of water used per flush by 1-3 litres.
NEW - Click here to read our new article on the
Interflush WC Water Saving Device suitable for retrofitting to toilets with a
syphon flush.
Hippo the Water Saver
Hippo the Water Saver is a robust polyethylene bag which is sat at the bottom of the cistern. When the toilet is flushed, up to 3 litres of water is held in the Hippo preventing it from going down the toilet. To prevent the water in the Hippo from stagnating, a small hole in its bottom lets water slowly circulate throughout the cistern.
Saving
3 litres per flush is enough to reduce the water usage of an average family by 10-15% (according to independent research). If the Hippo is to be used with a very modern small water efficient toilet cistern, then it can be easily be adjusted (with a pair of scissors) to reduce the amount of water held back with each flush.
Free Hippo Water Savers
A FREE Hippo can be obtained by visiting the Thames Water
Order a water-saving device form. Customers of
Thames Water can request up to
fifty FREE Hippos, everyone else has to content themselves with just the one.
More Hippo Water Saver Information
More information and purchasing instructions for the Hippo can be found at the official
Hippo the Water Saver Website.
Save A Flush
The
Save-a-Flush (aka
Waterman or
cistern bag) is a bag which is placed in the bottom of the cistern underneath the flush float. Within 6 hours its contents swell up displacing one litre of water. Therefore every time the toilet is flushed, one litre less of water is used up.
Note that the Save-a-Flush is only suitable for toilets manufactured before 2001 with a flushing volume in excess of
7 litres. Toilets manufactured since 2001 typically have flush volumes from 4-6 litres.
Full illustrated
instructions for using the
Save-a-Flush are printed on the bag itself.
Free Save-a-Flush Bags
Severn Trent Water will send out up to four Save-a-Flush bags FREE of charge. Click here to view the
Order a Save-a-Flush bag page.
Thames Water (with the Northmoor Trust) will send one FREE bag. Click here to view their
Claim your Free Save-a-Flush System page.
More Save-a-Flush Information
More information and purchasing instructions for the Save-a-Flush are available at the official (and colourful!)
Save-a-Flush website. The
installation instructions which are printed on the bag can be viewed by clicking here.
Article Last Modified: 13:31, 1st Sep 2008Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
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