Water-Saving Toilet Fill Valve

I've recently come across a device that should save water from a source that normally is not thought of, the toilet fill valve.

Under normal operation, the refill valve directs water two ways. Most should go towards refilling the toilet water tank, as it should. Some is directed directly into the overflow pipe which then flows directly into the bowl. You need to have the proper level of water in the bowl after a flush to have a proper flush the next time around, also to keep unpleasant odor from seeping through the siphon. It is here where some incremental savings can be had. Notice that most of the time, the water level in the bowl is already at an adequate level, but since the tank is not full, water continuous to flow through the overflow pipe into the bowl. What happens to this excess water? Nothing, the excess water just flows directly out. This is wasted water.

There are a few things you can do about this.

1. Direct all the water from the refill valve into the tank. I have tried this and it works fine as long as you have one of those older toilets that use more than 1.6 gal/flush. Otherwise you run the risk of not having enough water in the bowl at the end of the flushing cycle.

2. Replace your refill valve with a water-saving refill valve from MJSI. This device has a mini-valve that lets you control the amount of water flowing through the overflow pipe into the bowls during the flush cycle. And the device also detects silent leaks.

3. If you have already installed a water-saver like the brondell SimpleFlush, you may decide to just wait until you need to replace your refill valve. I have observed that the water flowing into the overflow pipe when using the 1/2 flush setting on the SimpleFlush is just enough to adequately fill the bowl.

For me, the incremental savings I would get by replacing a perfectly functioning refill valve would not be worth it. It makes more sense to just wait until it is time to replace the existing fill valve.

Home Water Use

Water is something we seem to always take for granted, maybe because there are at times where it seems so plentiful. We go to a river and we see all this water available, or when the rain comes we feel it is always enough to replenish our supply. We open the tap and it is always flowing, easily available. This abundance of water is a gift that we take for granted, despite realization that there are areas of the world where the search for clean drinking water is a constant and often daily struggle.

In recent years, the occurrences of drought has become more often lasting longer than before. This and the ever increasing demand for water due to increases in population and for industrial use is going to continue to stretch the existing supply. It seems only right that we do our share to conserve this resource...and save a little money along the way.

Danco Perfect Match 36416B Faucet Aerator With On/Off Switch

I've always had this feeling of guilt whenever some one leaves the water running while washing their face or brushing their teeth. The reason for leaving the water running is understandable. You just took the time to get the right mix between hot and cold water so you have water at just the right temperature to wash your face, your hands or brush your teeth. No one wants to take the time to redo this a couple of minutes later, especially if you risk getting soap in your eyes! After searching through the local home improvement stores I finally found a possible solution on the internet, the Danco Perfect Match 36416B. I bought initially only to try it out and see how effective it is, and whether it was easy to use. First things first though, where to install it? There is really just two places in a home that you can install an aerator, the kitchen or bathroom. After considering our particular situation through the power of observation, I decided to try this in the bathroom.

Why the 36416B?

The 36416B is actually described as a kitchen aerator, and it is labeled as such. There are plenty of other aerator specifically designed for bathroom use. Most tend to have a lever that extends to allow an automatic on/off feature. Close observation of how we might use the on/off switch seemed to indicate that the lever may end up being an annoyance in the long run. The shorter switch of the 36416B located to the side of the faucet is actually a better option in our case. You may come to a different conclusion depending on your particular situation. I still do intend to try out the aerator with auto on/off feature at a later date. 
 

Installation and Use

The tools you need are simple, an adjustable wrench or pliers. That's it! Simply remove the old aerator and install the 36416B, then test. Start by hand tightening the aerator, using the wrench only as a last resort. Be careful not to tighten too much, and don't tighten it by pushing on the on/off switch, you may end up damaging the aerator.


 Performance

The aerator performed as expected. You adjust the hot/cold water supply and once you get that right mix, turn off the aerator. Not rocket science. The device sometimes drips but I can live with that, compared to what the alternative was. The hardest thing to learn is to remember to actually always use the device, not just for myself but the whole family.

A Word of Caution

While discussing the aerator with a buddy of mine, he had this idea to use the aerator as a permanent on/off switch, kind of like setting the faucet once, never turn the faucet off, and use the aerator instead to turn the water on and off basis. Something to remember, this is for short term use only, as needed. Do not expect to set your hot/cold faucet, and come back 8 hours later expecting the same water temperature. Leaving the aerator at the ON position is like connecting the hot water tank to the cold water source, there is going to be interaction between the two. You might end up spending more on heating water. And I doubt the device was actually designed to be used as an alternative to faucets.

 Simple Flush by Brondell

A major source of water use is the toilet. In the olden days, people would reduce the amount of water used per flush by adding bladders, or stones into the water tank. This reduced the volume of water and thus, the amount used. We've come a long way from those days, with the advent of those low water, 1.6gal/flush toilets, but more can be done.  There have been, in recent years, a push to use toilets that have dual flush function. Dual flush toilets use different amounts of water for handling solids and liquids. Depending on your usage, a family of four could be looking at saving a substantial amount each year. Let us do the math. If you save just 30%/flush, that amounts to 0.48gal/flush saved for low water toilets. For a family of four, using the toilet to flush liquids only, five times a days, that would equal 9.6gal/day or 3500gal/year!

Before deciding to use the Simple Flush by Brondell, I actually considered replacing my existing toilet. Price became an issue because most of the dual flush toilet cost over $300.00, not an amount I was willing to pay. The next option was a converted I ran across at the local HomeDepot store, the Drop-in Dual Flush Converter by MJSI. The concept was simple enough and I was excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, it did not fit my toilet. The device was too tall so I could not properly close the toilet lid. I also wasn't too sure that the seal was very good. What I needed to find was a different way of implementing the ½ flush. As luck would have it, I came across the Simple Flush while watching a “The Early Show”, or was that, or was that “The Today Show”? Doesn't matter, it looked right the right solution for me.

Installation

The installation instructions were easy to follow. And with the exception of the adjustable wrench, you pretty much got everything you needed with the converter kit. Unlike most other dual flush converters I know of, a device needs to be installed at the water source to control the direction of the water flow. That means a power source is required to operate the device and the flush adjustment, AAA batteries to be precise. 

I followed the instructions provided almost to the letter. I had to make some minor modifications (http://www.squidoo.com/dual-flush-toilet-converter) to make it work with the toilets situation. Other than that, the process is simple and straight forward.

Performance

The Simple Flush performed well, in my opinion. You do need to make some initial adjustments to the full and ½ flush levels. The default was set to 10 but after some tests I finally settled down to a full flush setting of 7, and a ½ flush setting of 4. I did a quick measure of the low level flush and estimated that I was saving around 30% on each flush. The trick is to push the right button consistently.

As with the aerator, using the Simple Flush requires some educating. At first I simply thought I would just install it, leave the original handle installed and let the emblem speak for itself. Nope, people continued to try to flush using the handle and called for help when it didn't work. I finally removed the handle and that seemed to work. With the settings I have, I have noticed that there will be times when there will not be enough water in the ½ flush to completely flush toilet paper. So effectively using this device may also include a change in the way toilet paper is used, perhaps throwing it in the trash instead of the toilet when you would normally just expect to flush down fluids.

Alternatives to Telephone Land Line

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) has been the main stay of communication in our homes for many decades. And despite the upgrade from using live telephone operators (does anyone remember that?) to mechanical switchboards to the current digital switchboards and telephones, the principle had remained relatively the same. Your telephone basically ran a telephone line from their switches to your home.

The arrival of cellphones is, for many people, a viable alternative to maintaining a POTS at home. Most of the younger folks I assume are comfortable enough not having. I am not one of those. I still long for the security of having an actual phone tethered to a wall socket, that I will not leave somewhere in the Mall and get washed with my dirty clothes. What I did not want was the cost associated with this lines.

The internet and the development of Voip (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony has made it possible for alternative to POTS. Voip, which allows the transmission and reception of voice over the internet has improved greatly since I first tried it out years ago. My first experience with Voip was not very good. The latency (time between the moment a voice packet is transmitted and the moment it reaches its destination ) and the echo was so bad I compared it to using CB radios with only one person talking while the other listened. My next attempt was to use the then popular AIM (AOL Instant messaging) and Skype. Unfortunately until the networks got fast enough, the delays and echos were still bad. In addition, the computer actually had to be on, and somehow, the party I was trying to call also had to be logged on.

Vonage was the first service I tried that showed me that it was possible to get rid of my POTS. I did find it to be a bit expensive at the time (I think I paid $24.99 for 500 mins) and, since it practically cost the same as my POTS, I decided against continuing the service. But I thought it to be a good start. I eventually progressed to Sunrocket and was happy with their service (despite the occasional bad audio quality) up until the time they filed for bankruptcy.

I then tried MagicJack. The earlier version of MagicJack required the use of a PC to make calls, and this could be an issue. So I decided to experiment. I left my PC on for 3 days to see if it could, in essence, replace my land line. But for some reason the MagicJack would always shutdown. I decided it too was not ready for prime time. I eventually switched to ITP and have been very satisfied with it. But I do continue to look for cheaper alternatives and I have now heard that MagicJack Plus does not require a computer to work, just plug it into your router. And you can now even port your old phone number, wow! I am planning on giving this new MagicJack a try as the prospect of paying only $19.95 / year vs ITP $15.95 / month is too good to pass on. If everything works well, then maybe I will go as far as actually port my current phone number.

A Voip service I have not tried is Ooma. The premise behind this is that you pay for the unit in full, then pay whatever taxes and fees a regular POTS would cost but then be able to make free local and long distant calls, for life! State fees as of Nov 2011, amount to about $3.50/month in the state of Maryland. The catch of course is that you pay upfront since the unit costs up to $200 for the base unit. A concern I have is with the voice quality and the companies staying power. Ooma works very much like Skype in that it depends on a peer-to-peer network to operate. So as more and more people use the service, there is a need for faster internet connection between hubs. What happens when there are just too many users? Would the voice quality degrade? As far as the stability of the company is concerned, would they reach a point where there unit sales aren't growing anymore because those who want to use the service already have their own units? It seems to me at that point that they would either close shop or start charging something, somewhere. Perhaps they already do. In any case, if you do the math. If Ooma closes down 10 months after you buy and start their service, you probably would have broken even, already. After 10 months it is all savings.

How about Google Voice? At the moment Google Voice isn't a phone service. I do use it manage calls rather than to make calls. There are ways to make free US calls through Google Voice but at the moment, I do not find it to be worth the hassle.

One question some people may be asking is whether there were any services that are given up when you switch from the POTS to Voip. In most cases, there are none. Caller ID, voice mail or call waiting are, for the most part, tossed in for free. I actually had to pay for these services when I was still using POTS. So, the whole point here is that even for those who do not want to give up their landlines, there is hope. Voip services are now just as clear as the traditional telephone and can be substantially cheaper if you are willing to experiment to find a service that works for you.

Cellphone Plans

Almost every person I know owns a cellphone. Quite a few have made this into their only means of conversing with people and therefore spend a lot of time on the phone. So why do you need to keep that land line then? Why indeed. A number of people (including a relative of mine) has made the jump, saved themselves a bundle by getting rid of their old telephone lines in favor of their trusty cellphone. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. Making emergency 911 calls can be a little tricky without a land line, and dropped calls is certain to be an issue. Then there are the times you just want to have a long chat with your inner circle of friends, how much is that going to cost you? Fortunately there are some options available.



Or you can all decide to use the same carrier and take advantage of the free mobile-to-mobile plan being offered by most US carriers. This isn't too difficult now a days since phone numbers can be ported, allowing you to keep your old number. Just be certain that you do not have any contracts that may impose a hefty penalty for switching before the end of the contract period. Another option available for you if you (or your friends) cannot live without your current carrier. Some carrier offers plans that allow you to make unlimited calls to a set of phone numbers if you purchase a minimum plan amount and register the phone numbers you intend to call, usually up to a total of 10. Below are two of the most popular cellphone plans for you and your friends.




Verizon Friends and Family (As of Nov. 11, 2011)
Stay in touch with the people you call most – without using your minutes. Add up to 5 or 10 people on any mobile network or landlines.

Sprints Any mobile, Anytime (As of Nov. 11, 2011)
Unlimited domestic class from the Sprint network to AND from any US mobile phone, regardless of carrier. Any network, Anytime

Unfortunately, as of this writing, it appears that AT&T and T-Mobile no longer have plans that compete with the offerings from Verizon or Sprint.

Ditch those Bank fees by switching to a Credit Union

Bank fees on everything, from loan fees to the cost of maintaining an account are typically higher than their Credit Union equivalent. For example, some banks require you to maintain at least $5,000.00 in your account or you are charged a monthly maintenance fee. Credit Unions typically require $5.00. See the difference?

If you decide to switch from your bank, I do have a couple of suggestions that have worked for me.

1. Do not start off by closing your bank account. Like most of us, you probably have your direct deposit salary deposits, automatic payments and debit setup and running smoothly.
2. Leave enough funds in your bank account to cover at least a couple of weeks payments. Depending on how meticulous you are at maintaining a record of all those payments, you may find that you could leave less.
3. Open your credit union account.
4. Transfer your direct deposit, automatic payments and debit to your new credit union account.
5. Check your bank account for the next month to make sure nothing unexpected gets debited from the account.
6. If everything looks goo, then close your bank account. You have now fully transferred to your Credit Union.

To find out more about Credit Unions or to find a Credit Union to join, visit www.CUNA.org. To compare bank and credit union rates , you can also try Creditunion.coop.

Now will Credit Unions be always better for you? Chances are no. Depending on your situation, there are just things that a big bank would turn out to be a better choice. But for all those other services that a typical household would need, a Credit Union is a better choice. I've been using one for over 14 years and have not yet regretted it.