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<br />WATER EFFICIENT TOILETS AND URINALS <br /> <br />There are basically two types of toilets manufactured; tank-type and flushometer-type. Urinals <br />are also manufactured with a flushometer design. <br /> <br />TANK TYPE TOILETS <br />Tank-type toilets are categorized into two basic classes. One type uses static pressure and one <br />operates using system pressure. These two types are described below. <br /> <br />1. Static Pressure <br />The typical toilet has been for years designed using static pressure. The basic principle is to use <br />the atmospheric pressure exerted on the water in the tank to provide the hydraulic pressures <br />necessary to move water from the toilet tank to the toilet bowl. This system does not depend <br />upon high incoming pressure for effective waste removal because the engineering and design of <br />the toilet bowl and tank ensure an effective flush. As long as a model passes applicable ANSI <br />standards, performance will not be affected by incoming pressure. <br /> <br />Design of ultra low volume (UL V) toilets are much the same as tank-types. The internal working <br />parts of a UL V are primarily the same components that manufacturers have used for years. The <br />basic changes in the design of the UL V are in the trap seal, wet spot of bowl water area and rim <br />wash design. Some ULVs do have a design that incorporates a special flush value not commonly <br />available from off-shelf sources. <br /> <br />2. System Pressure <br />Toilets with a system pressure design have a special tank which is comprised of an inflated <br />bladder within the upper portion of the tank, a special fill valve and a special flush valve in the <br />lower portion of the tank. The tank is the key operating factor in this design. The bowl design <br />is more flexible due to the hydraulic force for waste removal. The operation uses the system <br />water pressure to compress air trapped in the special tank. Pressure is then used for flushing. <br />This design uses what ever pressure is available from the water supply system to effect a good <br />flush. Along with better hydraulic performance, however, comes a higher initial investment and <br />greater maintenance costs to maintain life expectancy. <br /> <br />The performance of the pressurized tank-type toilet is comparable to that of the flushometer-type <br />toilet. However, it is not typically cost effective to replace flushometer-type toilets with tank- <br />type toilets (pressurized or static) or visa verse. This is due to the extra cost associated with <br />adapting the water supply lines. <br /> <br />TOILET REPLACEMENT: THE ULV <br />In recent years, a popular way to decrease water use of tank-type toilets has been to replace <br />them with ULV toilets. The ULV models are designed to use a maximum of 1.6 gallons of <br />water per flush. <br /> <br />Older toilet models were typically designed to use 5-7 gallons of water per flush (gpf). In the <br />late 1970s/early 1980s, manufactures responded to drought conditions and water supply shortages <br />throughout the country and the production of the 3.5 gpf toilet became the norm. This "second <br />