With the BBC, some radio and water companies stating that dual flush toilets are losing more water than they are saving – Is this a fact or an extreme over/under estimation?
I would agree that some of these devices can cause issues and can be extremely difficult to repair or replace. The programme pointed out that these toilets have a drop valve instead of the siphon system used in older toilets. It claimed that these are inherently more prone to leaks. From our experience these do in fact stick more than the original siphon but some simple tips can help the customer to fix these issues as and when they happen.
Our data has shown that overflowing toilets, new and old, are the number-one cause of excessive water usage within buildings as they can be overflowing for days or weeks until they are seen and rectified. Given our current climate, these facilities can now be overflowing for months within buildings before a problem is identified and it is much too late.
What is the potential solution to this issue?
- Better designed siphons?
- Go back to the old siphon toilets but reduce their flush capacity?
- Have an instant alert system for when these issues happen?
- Have no cistern or siphons but have a mechanism that only allows a set amount of water into the bowl?
- Educate staff and home owners on how to fix these issues?
They have estimated the UK are losing 400 million litres of water per day with 5% to 8% of dual flush toilets being identified as faulty and consistently overflowing.
We are monitoring toilets overflowing and wasting up to 4,000 litres of water per day in some instances. It therefore would not take long for a relatively small number of faulty toilets to reach the 400,000,000 liters per day reported in the UK. But it is not just the dual-flush toilets that are to blame – That blame can be attributed to current plumbing and pipework procedures.
Issues are always likely to occur with the vast array of different toilets on the market. The quality will vary drastically depending on the manufacturer.
I think the dual flush has been used as a scapegoat on this one. If we had plumbing systems which alerted you to any issue these figures would be non-existent.
Our SMART FLOW solution has the ability to do just that.
With water scarcity and water sustainability becoming a hot topic, it is only a matter of time before all plumbing systems will become smart.
