Water efficient toilet - retrofitted

Simple, but highly effective

Last week I suffered a common complaint from siphon toilets - that of the failure of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the only thing that can go wrong with siphon toilets - in most systems it is a thin piece of plastic that can be expected to last 10-15 years. This is preferable to a valve system as these tend to leak and hence are not very water efficient. For example, I have had to clean the seal on the valve in my Mothers' house several times in the past couple of years as she has very hard water. This means that calcium deposits 'furrs' up the seal housing and the seal itself and this means that the toilet is often running small amounts of water constantly.

Anyway, I wanted to stay with a siphon system due to their reliability and efficiency. However, I also wanted an even more reliable and efficient system. So, what better than the excellent Interflush Siphon!?

The Interflush siphon has three advantages that suited my tight-fisted tendencies.

1. It has an everlasting diaphragm - basically it is a pivoted solid piece of plastic (see below)

2. It has an interrupter system - this means that there is a small hole in the siphon that is closed when the handle is held down. So you can adjust the amount of water that you use for flushing. Hold it down for a longer flush and vice versa. There can be no more efficient system.

3. It cost the same as a new replacement siphon!

After draining down the cistern it was an easy job to remove and replace the siphon. No leaks! (this is always a worry when you are changing over water based systems). The new system did however have one small issue. Noise. When we use the short flush the pipes started to hum! Not sure why, but I tweaked the water pressure and it was cured. The dear wife was pleased!

I am not sure whether this product is now available from Interflush, which is a shame, but we have several in the Eco Home Centre shop.

A picture below shows the everlasting siphon:

Ventilation Basics Series, why we need ventilation