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.