A New-Fangled Contraption? Not Really. It’s Just A Bathroom Fixture with Additional Water-Saving Feature

When visiting friends in Florida recently, Paul said to me: Hey, Mr. LEED Green guy, let me show you something you might be interested in seeing.

Out to the garage he led me. Nope, nothing new that I could immediately spot, like a Nissan Leaf. He pulled open the door to the water closet. There, he said. Where, I thought? Ever see anything like it? You mean that toilet with the spout coming out of the tank. Is that it? Yeah!

Turns out that his toilet, shown in the pix to the left, is a conversion of an existing single-flush toilet. The molded plastic sink and faucet are a tank top kit that can be found for sale on the web.

My friend went on to tell me that a toilet with sink–what one Australian company calls the Toilet Suite with Integrated Basin and shown in the pix below–is an increasingly common plumbing fixture in that island country where fresh water is a precious commodity. This kind of toilet is also becoming common in Japan where the hole in the floor is virtually a thing of the past.

Well, I’m fascinated! And, want one for my house. (Have to run the idea by my wife, first.) In the bathroom I have in mind, there’s a hand-towel hanging nearby, so I’d just need a bar of soap if selecting the conversion kit or a soap dispenser if springing for the brand new dual-flush toilet pictured here. (For the bigger picture on how this toilet fixture connects with your new building, please read the complete post.)

At the Caroma website, the company says this new toilet was researched and progressively refined in collaboration with the Brisbane City Council. Imagine that? With local government?! The company claims that this device adds another 10% savings of total bathroom water usage.

Flushing with gray water– Just in case you’re wondering, the company also states that testing confirms the presence of soapy water in the tank has no adverse effect on internal tank operating componentry. A local plumbing fixture dealer told me that soaps here in the U.S. may be harsher, and that a piece of soap falling into the tank may lodge between the flapper and the evacuation pipe, leaving the tank running. (But then he offered dire warnings about our new dual flush toilet which to date operates flawlessly–and saves us about 1,400 gals. of well water per year.) My Florida friend told me he’s had no problem with his toilet fixture in the garage bathroom. One downside for some may be that the hand-washing fill water will not be warm.

Now, by no means is this a promo for Caroma products, but with a certain bent, you might dig this graphic:

At this point, Caroma is the only manufacturer of this kind of new toilet. (It can be ordered on the web for about $500 plus shipping.)

The last metric of necessity for this fixture is the water savings/flush. In the LEED rating system, it’s called gallons per flush. No problem with the Caroma. Its full flush uses 1.28 gallons and the half-flush uses 0.8 gallons of water; the flush buttons are located to either side of the faucet.

For your Education/Formation facility– There will be numerous water savings devices installed throughout—to the extent that the Design/Construction Team has already forecasted blowing by the LEED Water Efficiency Prerequisite of 20% savings against the consumption baseline to a for-sure 35% savings. This savings rate will generate 3 points on the LEED scorecard. A 4th point, for 40% savings, is in the “?” (maybe) column as it will be subject to further study. Importantly, using less water means less energy consumed by the well pump in delivering the water to fixtures all over the campus.

Just so’s you know. The fresh city or well water comes directly into the spout, then into the tank for re-filling.

Still wondering how it works? Check out this YouTube video showing a retrofit of an existing toilet- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X3cTyvfJAE8.

By the way, this can redefine the half-bath, can’t it?! Less space needed with the small sink eliminated. But, I hold no illusions that this will be the new 1st floor powder room—‘though I have seen pictures of these commodes that show a flower vase or flowering plant off to the side of the tank top sink. That’d be a nice touch, eh?