We would consider this device/invention simply brilliant. It takes water wasted down your sink drain and uses it for water to flush your toilet.
Not only does it save roughly 6,000 gallons of water per year (2 person household), but if you drop the diamond ring down the sink, no need to panic. Just look in the toilet!
Now the question we’re dying to know. Anybody have one of these in your home?
Neat idea, and smart too! But they really need to work on the design – unless your bathroom was designed at Home Depot forget it.
Looking forward to seeing more like this.
The design has to be pretty complicated. You have to take care of the situation where you need to flush the toilet multiple times and there is no more water in the reservoir under the sink so you have to draw fresh water.
Also, you need an electric pump somewhere as the reservoir under the sink is lower than the reservoir for the toilet.
And make sure you don’t hook it up to the bidet.
So much interesting real estate talk and this is the best we can come up with. Alex, please create me an account so I can get busy here. :-)
[Editor’s note: Smart ass! I’m busy actually getting people in contract, signing up listings and rockin’ the set! Your access has been granted. Get to work!]
is it legal? (in SF I mean).
there is an excellent article on California law(s) in the “fine homebuilding – kitchen & baths – annual issue” (no 199, winter 2008) – page 10-14.
As for me, I think this is total genius, as it doesnt require “lot” of remodeling, and for ONCE, this system is easier to install in low key, tiny, basic bathrooms (where the sink is indeed next to the toilet) – and would probably be a breeze to install in over half of the SF bathrooms. (compared to rain collection which is an utopia in this city [not for tar roofs, Who owns the roof water in multiple units? etc]).
If this is actually possible, contact me/say so. I’m ready for it in our kids bathroom (with 3 kids, there is a lot of brushing teeth, and a lot of flushing).
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side idea. To reduce water consumption, just kneel under the sink and half close the main shutoffs. A tiny sink in a powder room does NOT need hot water at all in the summer time (shut off completely), and does NOT need 40gpm cold water at anytime. Adjust both mains to your needs. Try at first just less than you think would work, then open a little more if you end up swearing one too many times.
or if you are a European fixtures importer home owner, buy the 2-steps water taps: just like you have a step to raise the water temperature above a safe 100F, those taps have a step to raise the Gpm flow from two third to full flow, so most of the time, the tap is only opened 2/3 at most, reducing water bill by a cool 30%.
Now I want to see a system that channels the goo that is created in the kitchen sink garbage disposal straight into a compost bin (and then, miraculously, into the green compost wheelie bin that is emptied by the refuse collectors every other week).
i pee in the sink so this wouldn’t work for me.
You pee in the sink in your yurt ?