How to Convert Any Toilet to a Low Flush Toilet

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Last Updated: September 28, 2024

Toilets use the most water in our homes. Every day, Americans flush 4.8 billion gallons of water down the toilet. Reducing the amount of water that your toilet is flushing away will go a long way to saving water in your home and helping to conserve it generally. With one easy adjustment, you'll save money, water and the environment… one flush at a time.

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A plastic bottle (juice/milk) is ideal. Remove any paper or plastic label on the outside of the container. Fill it at least partially with pebbles, sand, or gravel - whatever is handy. Then add water if more weight is needed. If you just fill it with water, though, the container will move around in the tank and interfere with the mechanism.
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Flush away. The New York Times reported that a sealed half gallon container will save half a gallon on each flush. If you, like most Americans, flush 5 times daily, your family of 5 will save 350 gallons (1325 liters) of water every month ^{[1]
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Research source}. These savings will significantly cut your water bill, too.
Such an easy answer to saving money and protecting our water supplies is something to share around!

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How do I save water per flush on a toilet?

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In addition to a low-flush toilet, you may want to consider a product called Sink Twice, which uses the soapy water from washing hands and brushing teeth in the toilet tank to flush with, and makes most toilets more efficient using fill cycle diversion.

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Can an existing flushing mechanism be converted to low-flush without changing the toilet?

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No. It's best, easiest, and least invasive to limit the amount of water used for a flush. Messing with the flush valve can ruin the toilet's overall performance.

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A floating thing will not be flushed properly with a low volume of water. What should I do?

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Take the filled bottle out of the tank and let the tank fill to the proper volume before flushing.

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Tips

As an alternative to modifying an existing toilet, a new low flush toilet can be purchased for under $100 and cost $200 to $250 to have installed.^{[2]
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When your toilet tank fills, so does the bowl. The bowl however fills faster than the tank, and gets full first. So until the tank gets full, the water sent to the toilet bowl goes down the drain. So, consider getting a fill cycle diverter. It will reduce the amount of water sent to the bowl, and thus the wasted water. Also, because you reduced the tank's volume, you reduced the amount of time the tank takes to fill, which also in turn leads to less water wasted.

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Try filling the bottle with loose coins (making sure to seal the bottle completely). When the time comes that you need a few bucks, that money will always be there.

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Warnings

Make sure the bottle does not interfere with any of the moving parts in the tank.

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Don't put a brick in the tank unless you know it's one that won't break down after a long time in the water. The brick may dissolve and particles of it can clog and possibly seal off the drain.

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If you use water to fill the container, a couple of drops of bleach added to the water will help keep it from growing gunk inside.

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If you find your toilet is not flushing properly, with waste remaining in the toilet and water ending up on the floor, take the bottle out. Not all toilets can flush properly with a reduced quantity of water. Consider installing a low flush toilet.

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Many plumbers do not recommend this modification. Low flush toilets are designed differently, and less water flushing in a toilet not meant to do so can mean more frequent clogs, overflows, and extra flushing to remove the same amount of waste. (Which can waste more water than you are saving)

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A leaking toilet can waste up to 250 gallons (946 litres) of water a day^{[3]
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Research source}. To see if your toilet is leaking, place a few drops of food coloring in the tank and wait for half an hour. Check the bowl - if the food coloring appears, you have a leak. Get a plumber to come and fix it.

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