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Dulley's Money-Saving Tip #1109

Put brick in toilet
(related Dulley column topic links - (721, 796)

Flushing toilets is the greatest water consumer in most homes. Most people do not realize that, in the winter, it uses a lot of energy too. This is because the incoming water from the water main is cold. While it sits in the toilet tank, it warms up by drawing heat out of your house.

Everyone has heard about putting a brick in a toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush. This is effective because the water still fills up to normal height to give the proper amount of water pressure when the flush starts.

I recommend using a smaller brick and then fine tuning the flush volume by rotating the float (ball) on the end of the rod. Bend the metal rod a just slightly so that turning it varies the ball's height just a little. Adjust it so that you still get a satisfactory flush. If you have to double flush often, this will more than use up any of the savings.