get toilet to use less water?

[mommacanary]

I remember someone telling me once how to get your toilet to use less water. Something about a jug of water in the tank? Has anyone heard this? A gallon jug will not fit in my tank but some small water bottles would. Can doing this cause my toilet to break?

Also someone told me you can bend that metal thing attached to that black rubber thing. Hahahaha Ok Yes don't know what I'm talking about. Please help. I really don't want to waste water. Just seems like my toilet uses so much. The tank fills all the way to the top and that seems like so much water for one flush.

[Aradia Paganus]

Anything you use to displace the water in your tank will help to save water.

You could place a brick in the tank (carefully!) or a 32oz yougurt container (empty and clean, of course! :P) (Let the container fill with water and then leave it.)

Basically instead of filling all the water into the tank, the object will take up space that would have been filled with water, then emptied when you flush.

Your toliet will use less water to flush, and require less water to fill.




And you can adjust the floater (looks like a big rubber or plastic balloon) lower in the tank, so that less water is required fill the tank. (The floater floats on the water to a certain level, then when it gets to a certain height the metal rod attached to the floater acts like a lever, shutting off the water to the tank.) However, if you are going to put something in the tank to displace water (like the brick or yougurt container) this may be unnessacary. (Unless your toliet is one of those mammoths.)

[Aradia Paganus]

How to adjust the floater valve...

if you have an older floater valve (the metal arm with the plastic or rubber bulb on the end)... twisting the screw will change the level at which the level shuts off the water to the tank. If you can't adjust it (if the screw is as far as it goes) then you can try to bend the metal arm.... just be gentle

If you have a newer floater valve (the plastic floater is attached to a vertical column) simply squeeze the clip that attaches to the thin metal rod and lower the floater.

Good luck!

[mightymoo]

Keep in mind traditional toilets do require a certain amount of water to flush, so you may want to change it in increments until you find the point where its no longer flushing properly, then back off.