Tag: New Toilet

New toilet installed

New toilet installedIn our last post, titled new toilet installation, we talked about some of the reasons why we were installing a new toilet and some of the tricks regarding installing a new toilet, that we learned from a plumber at one of the local hardware stores. This post will cover what we learned while installing our new one piece watersense certified toilet.

Everything went really well and the plumber suggestions certainly helped. The most awkward part of installing this particular toilet in our down stairs vanity room was a lack of space. A two-piece toilet would certainly have been much easier to install. The space between the toilet and the wall was no wider than 6 inches and it was difficult to get behind the toilet to connect up the water hose. A person who is thin can definitely do this much easier. I am slightly over weight and found it very difficult to reach around to the water connection.

Follow the New toilet installed  Instructions

We follow the steps outlined in the instruction booklet closely. We placed a towel under the toilet and tipped it upwards so that the base was exposed. Then we attached the wax ring to the toilet. Finally we then dropped the toilet down slowly onto the bolts that were in the ring on the floor. Once the toilet was in place we then tightened the bolts. The most important thing is to make sure that the bolts are not tightened too tight. Otherwise you can crack the toilet. At that point you have no choice, but to purchase a new toilet or install the old one. Both scenarios are not desirable so be careful.

We also looked at comparing the amount of water savings that we would receive as a result of installing this toilet. We looked at the number of flushes per day. Which we felt averaged about 12 for two people. We then calculated the amount of water saved between our old toilet and the new toilet. We multiplied that number by the cost of the water for our city and multiply that times number of days per year to find out what the total cost savings would be.

Once we had that number it was an easy calculation to divide the cost of the toilet by the cost savings to figure out how quickly we would be paying back this toilet per year. It turned out that our toilet would be paid for within two years based on the water savings alone, and my wife is happy with the brand-new toilet that looks modern and very nice. It has an elongated bowl and is higher which apparently is the new trend.

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New toilet installation

New toilet installationWe are about to install a new toilet in our home to replace existing one that we have. My wife’s motivation is to replace existing toilet because it doesn’t look great, it is not modern, and doesn’t fit with her our decor. My motivation to replace his toilet is to reduce the amount of water usage that it currently uses every time we flush. Our old toilet will use up to 12 L of water every time which is about 3 gallons of water. The new toilets use between four and 6 L of water each time they are flushed depending on whether you have a dual flush toilet or a single flush toilet, either way it is a significant savings in the amount of water that you’re using.

The new toilets are also higher than the existing ones so you sit up higher. In addition you have slow close seats so that when you put the seat down you could just let it go. The seat and lid will slowly close rather than slamming down onto the toilet .

New Toilet Installation

In addition there are number of new features that cause the toilet to flush with much more force making it need less cleaning.

Hints and tips

We spoke to a plumber at one of our local hardware stores and he gave us a number of suggestions and hints or tricks about installing a toilet which will make the job easier. Plumbers will know this because they do this every day while the homeowner will not be aware of some of these tricks and will take the much more time or maybe even more parts.

Here are the tricks that we picked up from our conversation with the plumber at our local hardware store. I hope these help you and save you some money if you decide to do the installation of the toilet yourself.

  • You may have to use two wax rings if there are tiles on your floor and the flange is not flush with the floor.
  • You may have to purchase a flexible water pipe connection if the existing one is too short.
  • Sand the bottom of the toilet before installing it to make a smooth finish so it sits level on the floor.
  • The bolts that hold the toilet in place are difficult to install. Use some of the old wax to hold the whole bolts in the proper place in the flange and then place the new toilet on top.
  • Insert the wax ring into the toilet and not on to the flange to avoid crushing the wax ring and enabling leaks.

Upgrade to Dual Flush Toilets

Dual Flush ToiletsWe recently wrote a post about dual flush toilets for a customer of ours. We were so surprised about the water savings and payback you get when you upgrade from your old toilet to a dual flush toilet, we decided to add this post.  I was always of the opinion that upgrading to a dual flush toilet did save money in terms of water usage, but not enough to make it worthwhile from a financial point of view. There are some situations where it makes sense from a purely financial perspective to upgrade your toilet. Of course there are esthetics to consider and also that you now have a modern toilet instead of one that dates back into the 80’s or even older.

If you can remove your old single flush toilet and install the new dual flush toilet yourself, then you probably can break even or even get a payback on your investment in less than 10 years. We did several calculations which will support this assertion, however you will need to adjust it to your own situation in terms of water cost as well as whether you hire a plumber or not. Hiring a plumber significantly increases the cost of the new toilet.

Dual Flush Toilet Costs

Here are the assumptions we made and we would be interested in your views, adjustments we should make to the assumptions etc. Here we go:

  • New Dual Flush Toilet $200.00
  • Installation $100.00
  • Parts $30.00
  • Rebate $oo.oo

Total Cost $330.00

Some states or municipalities may have rebates as an incentive to save water. We do not have an incentive, however if yours does include that rebate above when you calculate your overall cost of installing a new toilet. Also if you can install the toilet yourself, you can zero out the installation cost of $100.

Cost Assumptions for Upgrading

  • Old tank size:  5 (gallons)
  • Water Rate /CC Meter:  $0.565
  • Gallons / CC Meter:  264
  • $/gallon: $0.0021
  • Sewer Rate:  1.66 (Our water rate is increased by this factor)
  • Cost per flush: $0.03
  • Flush per day: 10 (average rate, adjust as you see fit)
  • Cost per day:  $0.28
  • Days per year:  365 (If you are on vacation, you may decrease this number)
  • Cost per year:  $103.89
  • Number of years:  6.5 (Number of years to achieve payback for our scenario)
  • Total Cost:  $675.31
  • Savings Rate/Flush: 0.5 (We used an average savings of 1/2)
  • Net Water Savings: $337.65

Return on Investment $7.65 (This is the savings when it turns positive for us at 6.5 years. You can adjust the number of years until you get a positive result, which is the number of years that it will take to pay for the toilet.

There are some other assumptions that we did not bother to include which could have a significant impact on the results.

Rebates for example could have a dramatic impact and cause the payback to be decreased significantly. Also the cost of water is going to increase a lot over the next 10 years. No one knows how much and it will be different in each state. This will only increase the savings even more as rates rise. Completing the installation will also save you a great deal of money and reduce the payback period even further. finally these calculations assumed one toilet in your house. Most homes have several toilets so you will have to add costs for the number of toilets you have and split the number of flushes between toilets.

Can You Get any Rebates for Dual Flush Toilets

We played around with the numbers a bit and found that if we installed the toilets ourselves, purchased them on sale and received a rebate, we could get the payback period down to 5 years which is pretty good. It does demonstrate just how practical and economical it can be to install dual flush toilets and how much you will save in water compared to your old toilets.

We have not taken into account any advantage we might have gained in terms of resale value of our home. It will definitely have an impact on the sale price, however how much is anyone’s guess.

If you have crunched the numbers for the location were you live and are able to get the numbers even lower, let us know. We are trying to save money and update our homes at the same time.

 

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