Poor man's flush counter

Thought I would pass on this tip. As part of my water use reduction project I've wondered how often per day any given toilet is flushed. Numbers range from 6 to 10 times/day per person in various sources. Of course this varies depending on how much one is actually at home, among other things.

Trying to keep track of it manually was likely to miss a lot of flushes. So I started thinking about a way to make a flush counter and realized I had an ultra-cheap pedometer handy. I clipped it to the toilet lever arm and voila, a poor man's digital flush counter.

 

Oh, it's hidden alright, inside the tank on the flush arm. Nobody ever looks there but Dad.

I was surprised that it worked. I wasn't sure if there would be enough of a jolt to register. Plus I thought I might have to wire/tape/rubber band it in place, but the clip worked just fine. I'm using a $5 pedometer from Target that I've had for a few years.

 

Hadn't thought of that...it might have turned into some sort of twisted pay site without our knowledge.

I haven't really considered it. I'm only monitoring the number of flushes out of curiosity for my household water balance. I'm not doing it to say, "You've exceeded your flush quota for the day!" Some folks are willing to take conservation a lot farther than I am. I'm not even on board for the "if it is wee, let it be" approach. I worked too hard to get my little ones to start flushing the toilets...

I wouldn't want to put gray water through the toilet fill valves and my toilets really aren't designed for through the bowl flushing. I don't care for the idea of having soap scum, toothpaste, etc. in the toilet tank and bowl 24/7.

I would probably opt for using roof runoff collection and pumping first.

On the other hand, any other substantial reductions in my water use would probably have to adopt graywater reuse and the "only flush a deuce" approach (that and asparagus wee.)

 

Didn't say I was going to change it. What I am doing is measuring it so that I know how much is coming from the source.

It's called rationalizing the model. Untested assumptions aren't worth much. I've got a pretty good overall balance, and I am checking some assumptions for various components. Having good numbers provides a sound basis for deciding what makes sense in the future.

Why would I do that? I've got 1.28 gpf high efficiency toilets now. I rejected the complications of a 1.6/0.8 dual flush in favor of these. With two females in the household I figured the 0.8 wouldn't get much use anyway.

If I used a brick I would have to dangle the brick in the top half of the tank for it to reduce the flush volume in these (since the lower half remains.) If these flush perfectly for 6 months to a year, then I might reduce the water level a notch, but it is way too early for that.

Perhaps you should actually see a proper U.S. toilet sometime. My new Totos (from Georgia) have nice wide waterspots about 4x the area of the Australian Caromas...yet with a small overall water volume because they are shallow up until the trap. The Totos have a nice short positive flush...way shorter and cleaner than what you posted. My old toilets had a waterspot like those Australian toilets. Dirty awful things they were.

What whoosh? It's more like a continuous roar. Here is a whoosh (no I'm not the videographer)

Apparently Aussies like the smell of their own feces. What I learned from my work in Southeast Asia was that it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better to have it covered by some water. :bolt:

My Toto's don't swirl either.

You are proud of those contraptions? They look horribly wasteful and messy--about like a 3 gallon flush. They ran forever compared to my Totos. It looks like they are spraying contaminated water everywhere! :shocked: No wonder folks who have bought them here complain about the mess from the Caromas! Imagine a courtesy flush seated on one of those. Is that what you call an outback bidet?

And here, an observation about Australians and toilets

Listen to about 1:10 for the answer.

 

Here's a view of one of the brand new Aussie toilets flushing with blue water in it. Problem with Caroma Dual Flush Toilet Nothing like having toilet water and crap splashed all over the seat and bathroom! "Uh, Honey, are you sure you don't want me to leave the seat up for you?"

 

That's not what the Caroma users in the states are reporting.

A bit of diarrhea or some flatulence with the poo and there is no way it will all hit that tiny water spot, even with precision bombing. My old toilets had a waterspot almost exactly the size of the Caroma and this was a major issue. I'm glad to be rid of them. :cheer2: However, the very large trap on the Caroma might have held all of the contents underwater that reached the splash point wheras the small trap in the Gerber could not.

I considered the Caromas briefly until I read reviews. The real killer was the splashing back out of the bowl.

I don't doubt that they flush extremely well with the large trapway. However, flush capacity is only one of the requirements.