LeakBird

 
One only need flip open their local weekly to come across countless, sometimes useful ways and means to save water, go green, reduce energy — let’s admit, thou shalt conserve is the eleventh commandment.
Often times, the toilet is mentioned once or twice, but usually in passing.  Hence, I thought it might be useful to create a laundry list of the most efficient water conservation devices for conserving water in your toilet, if you’re a tenant or a landlord.

Of course, the toilet is the single largest water wasting and consuming fixture in the household.  So we can safely conclude that like a credit card payment that eats away a hefty portion of your monthly budget, if we more effectively manage the water flowing through our toilets, we stand to benefit tremendously.

When it’s running or leaking, it’s going through 2 to 6 or 7 gallons a minute.  And if it’s more than a few years old, it uses at least 3 gallons per flush.  In the average home, it consumes 27% minimum of the total water budget or span, though some say it’s more like 30% to 40%, a number I think is more accurate.  14% of all indoor water usage can be attributed to leaks, and guess what?  90% of these leaks can be attributed to the toilet!!!

So what is it percentage-wise when looking at the amount of water consumption for leaking or running toilets?  By my calculations, 10%+ of all indoor water consumption is due to a leaking or running toilet.  Now that’s an astounding fact you won’t learn at school or in textbooks, and it’s even tricky to get that number from research, because everyone is saying different things, referencing different sources.

Another fact: 6% of all toilets in cities are leaking or running at full volume!

There are many ways and means, such as Do Not Do’s (you know, don’t use the toilet for extracurricular activities, or don’t ignore it when it’s running) or administering leak detection dye tablets to your toilet on a regular basis to determine if your toilet has a silent leak.  But rather than discussing methods, I’m going to keep this post tuned to technologies or devices that you can install in your toilet (unless it’s replacing the toilet itself) for water savings results, from the mundane makeshift to the somewhat sophisticated:
 

1. The AQUS Greywater Recycling System: This much talked about greywater recycling system will take your bathroom sink water and recycle it into your toilet tank.  It’s LEED certified, fairly easy to install, compatible with regular toilets (not dual flush or one piece toilets) and runs less than $300.00.  Each household can save 10 to 20 gallons of water per day with the AQUS installed!

 

2. Toilet Tummy, Old Bottled Water Bottle or Leak Displacement Bag: Do you hate bottled water bottles?  Well, here’s an interesting use for them, though the side effect is their leeching into your water supply.  Go figure!  Simply place the bottle or bag or device afloat in your toilet tank.  You’ll save 1/2 to 1 whole gallon of water every flush.  You could also use a brick wrapped in a plastic bag, jerry rig a Toilet Displacement Bag, or if you’re wanting something especially made for the purpose, how about a Toilet Tummy for less than $2?

 

3. Install a Dual Flush Toilet: These aren’t popular in the US yet, though they are in Australia or Japan.  You’ve got the #1 and the #2 buttons.  A new Caroma dual flush toilet could save you 18,000 gallons of water per year, and run you from $100 to $500+ (but that wouldn’t be your toilet running).  ;-)  Or you could simply convert your toilet into dual flush for $30 with SelectAFlush, though to my knowledge this may be somewhat problematic as clogging is likely.

 

4. Fill Master Fill Cycle Diverter: This puppy will save 1 to 1.5 gallons of water per flush, claiming to cycle most of the water that shoots down your overflow pipe back into the cistern and costing under $4.

 

5. Dual Flush Water Conservation Kit: Costing about $40, this kit includes the SelectAFlush dual flush toilet converter described in #3.  Be prepared to hear the sound of a running toilet when you visit their website.

 

6. Leak Detection Dye Tablets: You’ve probably heard of administering these colored dye tablets to your toilet tank, then waiting 5 to 20 minutes for coloring to seep or not to seep through to your toilet bowl.  This method comes most highly recommended from water utilities — in fact, all you need is a tiny bottle of food coloring from your local grocery store.  It’s recommended that you schedule a monthly dye test at the very least, as those silent leaks (silent to you only because you can’t be inside your toilet tank with a stethoscope, which is what the LeakBird acoustic leak detector is for) can be deadly and siphon away your cash when that water bill hits.

 

7. Fluid Master Leak Sentry Pro Fill Valve 400LS: Though somewhat complicated to install, yet running from $10 to $14, the 400LS basically prevents the automatic refill of a leaking toilet tank, so it’s an anti-siphon safeguard mechanism for running toilets.

 

8. H20 Guard “Fill-O-Meter”: Measuring the exact amount of water needed to fill a toilet tank, the H20 Guard, like the Leak Sentry, will not allow a toilet tank to refill if there’s a leak.

 

9. Make Toilet Water Flow Adjustment: You can always make a water flow adjustment to your toilet, such as updating your flappers so as to avoid the “Ghost Flush”.

 

10. Water Bank Toilet Dam: This product from AM Conservation Group costs about $5 and dams about 1 gallon of water per flush in your toilet tank.

 

11. The LeakBird Running Toilet Leak Detector: This is the product that we’ve been developing.  You affix it just above the waterline in your toilet tank and it is trained to listen for a running toilet condition.  After a predetermined amount of time, it will alarm the tenant to a running toilet condition, motivating them to action, either to stop the leak or to call the landlord and report the running toilet ASAP.

 
If you are interested in How You Can Increase Your Cash Flows by $2,500.00 Every Year and Never Pay for High Water Bills Due to Your Tenants’ Running Toilets, sign up for our Free Report here.

Abendigo Reebs is the VP of Business Development for LeakBird Industries LLC in San Francisco, CA. He may be reached by email at ben@leakbird

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