Archive for H2Option
H2Option Declared Product of the Week by HousingZone.com
Posted by: | CommentsThe Professor’s enthusiasm for the dual flush H2Option toilet from American Standard and the power of its siphonic action flushes has never been a secret. Finding other experts who share this opinion is always icing on the cake.
The most recent example is HousingZone.com, which recently honored the H2Option as a “Product of the Week.” As the editors note, the H2Option was the first truly siphonic dual flush toilet to be introduced – and of course it remains the best, in the Professor’s opinion.
Dual-Flush Retrofit Kits: Do Their Claims Hold Water?
Posted by: | CommentsThe recent popularity of water saving, dual-flush toilets has inspired several models of “retrofit” kits, which purport to be able to convert standard toilets (which can use up to 5 gallons of water per flush) to dual-flush by allowing homeowners to choose between a full flush or a half flush, meant to handle liquids only. The desire to conserve water is always a good thing, but the Professor couldn’t help wondering if the claims made by the manufacturers hold water or if consumers would end up flushing their money – not to mention their water savings – down the dual-flush toilet.
After doing some research into the matter, the Professor is not particularly optimistic about these devices. There is currently no independent evidence that these retrofit kits will actually save any water and they may even end up wasting more water than a standard toilet. The main issue is that removing and replacing an original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM) flush valve with an after-market product changes the full flush characteristics of the toilet fixture. The full removal of the contents of the bowl is dependent upon delivery of the right amount of water at the correct rate. Changing either of these factors can adversely affect flush performance, which may increase the need for double flushing, thereby increasing water use.
If dual-flush retrofit valves were performance tested with each model of the gravity-fed toilet into which they would be installed, this wouldn’t be an issue. But because such extensive testing would be expensive and largely impractical, it generally isn’t done for dual-flush kits
The Professor also notes that the half-volume flush is particularly vulnerable to providing an unsatisfactory flush because there may not be a complete exchange of water in the bowl. This makes it particularly likely that waste – and toilet paper especially – will remain in the bowl and require a second or even a third flush, completely negating any expected water savings.
The moral of the story: invest in a real, WaterSense-certified dual-flush toilet! They may cost more than a retrofit kit but they can produce real water savings, and will save you money in the long run.
American Standard: The Groovy Years
Posted by: | CommentsThe Professor is honored, once again, to be part of the Bathroom Blogfest. This year’s theme, in a nod to Mad Men, is “Stuck in the 60′s,” an era when the Professor was in potty training, not toilet science.
American Standard was already a mature market leader, however, following a merger of the American Radiator Company and Standard Sanitary Supply Company in 1929 (see American Standard History). American-Standard, as it was then known, was an early leader in advanced toilet engineering, as seen in this 1968 ad featured on AdClassix.com.
Courtesy of AdClassix.com
If you think the ad is groovy, American Standard was doing quite innovative marketing at the time. Ever hear of an industrial musical? The Professor hadn’t either, but they were popular from the 50s to the 80s and were typically songs created to rally employees and excite customers.
American Standard actually cut an album in 1969! You have to listen to this classic cut called: My Bathroom.
That would have been a tough era for the Professor. Not a singer.
It was also a tough era on the environment, with toilets still sucking down a full 7 gallons of water for each flush. Contrast that with H2Option, the American Standard siphonic dual flush toilet which uses just ONE gallon on the lowest setting while outperforming the old water guzzlers.
Note: This post is part of the 2010 Bathroom Blogfest, now in its fifth year. This edition has brought together 33 bloggers from the U.S., Canada, the UK and India. For more information about the blogfest, visit Bathroom Blogfest. Look for the tag “#BathroomEXP” on flickr, del.icio.us, Technorati, Twitter and Google, or ‘Like’ on Facebook. A list of participants is below.
| Blogger | Blog Name | Blog URL |
|---|---|---|
| Susan Abbott | Customer Experience Crossroads | http://www.customercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/ |
| Paul Anater | Kitchen and Residential Design | http://www.KitchenAndResidentialDesign.com |
| Shannon Bilby | Big Bob’s Outlet | http://blog.bigbobsoutlet.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | Carpets N More Blog | http://blog.carpetsnmore.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | Dolphin Carpet Blog | http://blog.dolphincarpet.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | From The Floors Up | http://fromthefloorsup.com/ |
| Shannon Bilby | My Big Bob’s Blog | http://blog.mybigbobs.com/ |
| Toby Bloomberg | Diva Marketing | http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/ |
| Laurence Borel | Blog Till You Drop | http://www.laurenceborel.com/ |
| Bill Buyok | Avente Tile Talk Blog | http://tiletalk.blogspot.com/ |
| Jeanne Byington | The Importance of Earnest Service | http://blog.jmbyington.com/ |
| Becky Carroll | Customers Rock! | http://customersrock.net/ |
| Marianna Chapman | Results Revolution | http://www.resultsrevolution.com |
| Katie Clark | Practial Katie | http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/ |
| Nora DePalma | American Standard’s Professor Toilet | http://www.professortoilet.com/ |
| Nora DePalma | O’Reilly/DePalma | http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/ |
| Leigh Durst | LivePath Experience Architect Weblog | http://livepath.blogspot.com/ |
| Valerie Fritz | The AwarepointBlog | http://www.awarepointblog.com/ |
| Iris Garrott | Checking In and Checking Out | http://circulating.wordpress.com/ |
| Tish Grier | The Constant Observer | http://spap-oop.blogspot.com |
| Renee LeCroy | Your Fifth Wall | http://yourfifthwall.com/ |
| Joseph Michelli | Dr. Joseph Michelli’s Blog | www.josephmichelli.com/blog |
| Veronika Miller | Modenus Blog | http://www.modenus.com/blog |
| Arpi Nalbandian | TILE Magazine Editor Blog | http://www.tilemagonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian |
| Maria Palma | People 2 People Service | http://www.people2peopleservice.com/ |
| Reshma Bachwani Paritosh | The Qualitative Research Blog | http://www.onqualitativeresearch.blogspot.com/ |
| David Polinchock | Polinchock’s Ponderings | http://blog.polinchock.com/ |
| Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond | Scarlet Opus Trends Blog | http://trendsblog.co.uk/ |
| David Reich | My 2 Cents | http://reichcomm.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
| Sandy Renshaw | Around Des Moines | http://www.arounddesmoines.com/ |
| Sandy Renshaw | Purple Wren | http://www.purplewren.com/ |
| Bethany Richmond | Carpet and Rug Institute Blog | http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/ |
| Bruce Sanders | RIMtailing Blog | http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/ |
| Steve Tokar | Please Be Seated | http://stevetokar.wordpress.com/ |
| Carolyn Townes | Becoming a Woman of Purpose | http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com/ |
| Stephanie Weaver | Experienceology | http://experienceology.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | Flooring The Consumer | http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | Simple Marketing Blog | http://www.simplemarketingblog.com/ |
| Christine & Ted Whittemore | Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog | http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/ |
| Christine B. Whittemore | The Carpetology Blog | http://carpetology.blogspot.com/ |
| Linda Wright | LindaLoo Build Business With Better Bathrooms | http://lindaloo.com/ |
Dual Flush Toilets Make it Big in the Big Apple
Posted by: | CommentsGreat news out of New York City, where the City Council just passed a bill aimed at improving water efficiency in the five boroughs. One provision of the bill, which is expected to save a whopping 1 billion gallons of water per year, has the Professor especially excited: all homes and apartments that are being built new or remodeled would be required to install dual flush toilets.
A recent post on Gothamist, the ultimate NYC Blog, celebrates the announcement by posting one of the ever-entertaining videos of a flushing demonstration of the H2Option from American Standard.
The Professor offers a tip o’the hat to the City Council for taking this bold action to improve water efficiency in New York, and hopes that all NYC residents enjoy the dual flushes in their future!
DIY Installation and performance of Low Flush Toilet
Posted by: | CommentsA big shoutout to Todd, who has just replaced an old American Standard five-gallon flusher with H2Option. Todd is going to save more than 10,000 gallons of water in the next year, according to our water saving calculator
Here’s Todd in his own words:
WOW!!!!
I can not believe the efficiency of this thing. Try as we might we have not been able to get it to clog or not fully flush even with the .9 gallon flush. Read more: DIY Installation and performance of Low Flush Toilet.
Dual Flush Retrofit Kits for Dual Flush Toilets – Do They Work?
Posted by: | CommentsSadly, no. This is one to file under, “Too Good to Be True.”
There are several aftermarket retrofit kits available today that promise to transform a standard toilet into a dual flush model that can “save more water than a high priced high-efficiency toilet.”
Unfortunately, these gadgets simply regulate the amount of water entering the bowl and do nothing to alter the water flow in or out of the bowl. Since bowl design is the most important factor in a toilet’s performance – and even more critical in low-flow toilets – these kits promise far more than they deliver.
As the Professor has previously explained, standard and dual flush toilets have different flushing mechanics. While standard toilets depend on siphonic action to “pull” waste out of the bowl, dual flush toilets rely on the “push” of water to clear the bowl. More advanced technology, such as the WaterSense-certified H2Option Dual Flush Toilet, combines the traditional siphonic “pull” force with the newer “push” action associated with the washdown flush.
Because standard toilet bowls are not specifically engineered for less water, homeowners will have as much luck using these retrofit kits as they would adding a brick to the toilet tank. Both strategies try to “trick” toilet science and will likely result in incomplete flushes. Worse, users will likely overcome this problem by – you guessed it – flushing again. Multiple flushes eliminate any possible water savings.
In addition to voiding the American Standard warranty on toilets, installing these types of gadgets will frustrate homeowners and discourage any future use of proven water saving technologies such as HETs and dual flush toilets.
Physics, as it turns out, is it right up there with “can’t fool Mother Nature.”
Toilet Myth Busting: Water Saving Toilets Carry The Load
Posted by: | CommentsMany plumbing professionals worry about the ability of water saving toilets to sufficiently carry waste to the sewer. While architects typically determine the sizing, pitch and venting requirements for drain lines, Professor Toilet and other toilet scientists focus exclusively on the science of effective flushing.
Coined “Drain Line Carry,” the ASME Standard requires that every toilet – regardless of water volume used in a flush – be able to drive 100 ¾-inch polypro balls down a 3-inch rigid pipe an average of 40 feet. All of American Standard’s water closets meet this standard and many, including Champion 4, Cadet 3, Colony FitRight, Evolution2 and H2Option, exceed that requirement by more than 16 feet. Here’s where we test:
Helping to transport waste through drain lines is what engineers term “supplemental flow,” or additional water generated from faucets, showers, clothes washing, etc., which is obviously more prevalent in residential than commercial applications.
In other words, drain line clogging isn’t likely to be caused by a water saving toilet. Other common causes of drain line clogging are broken or misaligned pipes, buildup of grease or grit within the drain, as well as flushing inappropriate materials.
Special note to commercial building professionals: Installations with extremely long drain lines (e.g., shopping malls or industrial sites), may require evaluation on a site-by-site basis, especially if no supplemental flows are available.
Green Lodging News ~ Torn in Two About the Benefits & Challenges of Dual Flush Toilets
Posted by: | CommentsFollowers of Professor Toilet know that dual flush toilets can be a mixed blessing. On one hand, dual flush toilets can save both water and money.
Glenn Hasek of Green Lodging News, notes the downside to some models regarding the small area of water in the bowl also known as the water spot:
“…some dual flush toilets do not clean the bowl as efficiently as traditional single-flush versions. Be sure to ask vendors about this. Without getting into too much detail here, you obviously do not want to leave your guests with a bad impression and you do not want to add to the work load of your housekeepers.”
Hasek echoes what the Professor has said before about dual flush toilets. “Dual flush toilets that use a siphonic design have a water spot the size found in standard toilets.“ Learn more from Toilet Scientist Jim McHale and follow Hasek’s blog at Green Lodging News:
H2Option Toilet Demo and Comparison by American Standard
Posted by: | CommentsStay clean while going green. H2Option is first dual flush toilet with jetted bowl cleansing. Using as little as 0.8 gallon of water on the low setting, H2Option scours the sides of the bowl to remove every last trace of paper and waste. The Professor believes everyone deserves a clean bowl with every flush.
A Better Dual Flush Toilet
Posted by: | CommentsJim McHale, Ph.D. is one of toilet scientists behind Professor Toilet. Jim explains the challenges in perfecting water saving dual flush toilets.
