[Greenbuilding] History of toilet flush volume

[Stephen Collette]

Thanks Reuben, that's a great article!

Stephen

Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP
Principal
Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
705.652.5159



On 21-Apr-08, at 11:49 PM, Reuben Deumling wrote:

> This has been most instructive. Thank you all for your links and  
> insights. Via Mark Piepkorn, and Gary Tjader of <ThisOldToilet.com>  
> I eventually chanced on at article (link below), by R. Bruce Martin,  
> which of the several dozen I've read today seems the most  
> authoritative. Interestingly, although it confirms my suspicion:
> "Massive flush consumption of the typical North American water  
> closet was not always that way. Back in the 1920s, for example, the  
> common toilet used about two gpf. Because its storage vessel affixed  
> to the wall up by the ceiling, the greater head pressure resulted in  
> a much higher injection velocity of water into the bowl."
> Mr. Martin also asserts that:
> "Throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s, water closet consumption per  
> flush continued to increase until reaching a plateau in the 1960s of  
> five to seven gpf for two-piece close coupled WCs and eight to 12  
> gpf for one-piece units."
>
> http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/Archives/ 
> 639a46a3ab697010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0
>
> Reuben Deumling
>