I’m surprised the kitchen sink escaped scrutiny;
Plus, like so many environmental rules, the old regulations made people’s lives worse without delivering improvements: “The tighter rules didn’t lead to energy savings for customers. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers estimated that they actually increased water consumption by 63 billion gallons, as households would have to run their dishwashers multiple cycles, or pre-rinse their dishes by hand, in order to get dishes actually clean.”
Do you mean like the efficient 4.8 gallon toilets that we have to endure?
Why 4.8 gallons, you ask? Because I have to flush my 1.6 gallon toilet 3 times to get it finally clean.
But we’re in Michigan, and right now have an over abundance of water.
Yeah, contractors were not allowed to put old style flush toilets in new buildings, had to buy the new three flush types. When I had to buy a new toilet at Homed -deepot and asked for the old style, I was given a lecture on environmentalism by the salesman.
Resistance was futile as they didn’t have any of the 4.8 gallon type in stock any more.
“Resistance is futile” is right. Leftists are very much like the Borg. You will be assimilated – or else.
Any sales person or any service person who lectures me doesn’t need my business. Otherwise I’ll give them a political harrange the likes of which they’ve never experienced.
” . . . I have to flush my 1.6 gallon toilet 3 times . . .”
Q: And after you have flushed it three times, how much water have you used up?
A: None. Not so much as a molecule.
Years ago, my father replaced the original toilet in his house with one that was low-flow Rona house brand unit. Over time, that line was discontinued and spare parts are now hard to come by as I found out. The plunger in the tank doesn’t work properly because the seal at the bottom has stretched and I can’t get a replacement for that seal. Even a generic seal is just a touch too big, preventing the plunger from moving.
I spoke about it with a contractor that I’ve dealt with while I’m settling my father’s estate. He didn’t have a high opinion of the low-flow toilets.
You’re LUCKY! Here in my N.CA County … I can’t have a john-Crapper that uses more than 1.4 gal. per flush. And … I just tried to order a new shower head from Amazon … but was blocked from doing so … because my State hasn’t “certified” that shower head for sale in CA.
We have to save water here in CA … because; Global Warming … Right? Nevermind 20M illegal squatters. Nevermind the DUMPING of our reservoirs for non-native baitfish. No … you must be punished for using “too much” water. After all … our “perpetual drought” as declared by Jerry Brown is a … “Health Emergency”. And ANYTHING can be done to the Proles by the Elites … during such an EMERGENCY!!!!
We sheep have to find new Shepards
A standard low-flow shower-head can accidentally meet a drill press with a 1/4″ bit that goes right through the plastic flow controller. Or so I’ve heard. Just make sure you have a good way to keep the little bits of plastic from falling into the head and warping the flow. Or so I’ve heard.
Don’t tell my State officials … but every single one of the low-flow filters/restrictions have been (as you described) … drilled OUT of my fixtures. I’ve done it to my HansGrohe kitchen faucet, and my collection of Restoration Hardware bath fixtures.
BTW … I found the same showerhead that Amazon WOULDN’T sell me on eBay … and it is now POURING cozy HOT water on our heads each morning. FU State busybodies. I am reclaiming the CA I grew up in … the CA of the 1960’s.
“Flush With Power”.
One of the classic episodes. King Of The Hill.
now just help me find a washing machine that fills all the way up to the top…..super capacity….heavy duty….with a damn agitator that works
We fortunately bought probably the last Speed Queen in Calgary that does what you want, about 8-10 years ago. Full size agitator, heavy duty machine. The problem with the front load types is that eventually they leak and the newer vertical ones have an “agitator” that extends about an inch or two from the bottom of the drum. This one is full size, like you see at the laundromat. Only the first inch of the load is “washed” on the newer machines, the rest sits in a lump above the “agitator”. We reno’d both bathrooms years ago and research led us to buy two TOTO one piecers, low flows. Best toilets I ever used with one flush. Not cheap, but worth the price. First time every time, any size load. I should know!
American standard cadet 4 or whatever they’re called now are the same, low flow, solid performance, I have 4 that have been flawless over 12 years. Life hack: if you’re buying a toilet, look up the MAP ratings before you buy it. They actually flush simulated turds down and rate them by function. Toto and AS one piece toilets used to be top of the list.
+1 for speed queen, we purchased its sibling, the Huebsch Commercial. It is top loading with a 2 speed agitator. We bought it in Olds Ab. As the appliance store there was hundreds of dollars cheaper than at trail appliances.. Excellent machine with analog controls that can be adjusted and repaired. The water level switch can be adjusted, but it fills to the top! One thing you can do is drill out the restrictor in the hot water line inlet, they do have one there, to reduce the use of HW..
It replaced an aging Maytag top loader that was a bit small in capacity. I think the best washer we ever had was an Inglis. I remember that washer being moved many times as we lived in different houses. Should have kept it, it had a recirculating water lint filter too, one thing I haven’t seen in a washer in ages, why not catch the lint at the start of the process instead of after?
Need to take the drill to the kitchen faucet as well, so slow to fill, pathetically small stream of water!
And to interest Mr. Kenji, as a travelling mechanic, who has stayed in a few hotels from time to time, have been known to bring my tools back to the hotel, to “repair” the shower heads using the method outlined..
Eco-anything on the label is synonymous with “crap”.
Dual-flush toilets are actually a decent idea, as long as the “big” flush isn’t anaemic…either a proper, large-tank flush, or a pressure-assisted smaller one. Other than that, all of these water-saving ideas are pretty dumb.
just had two friends trash their perfectly good washing machine and dryer…..to go super low water use
…they are on a well and septic…a closed loop
I put in a new dishwasher 2 years ago. Quiet as a library and takes 3 hours to cycle. Dishes come out cleaner than with the old one. But it cost +$1000.00. I’m surprised the ecotards aren’t more concerned with those Cascade pods.
Meanwhile Mayor Jim Cock In Ass Watson raises the Water and Sewer rate by about 8% every year – not an exaggeration – because they are obviously extremely vital and you just can’t win that argument.
My $1,200.00 Bosch DW is dead silent and has a 60min. cycle that leaves the dishes spotless clean. However … you MUST use a rinsing agent as that cycle does not heat-dry the dishes … as that would violate State of CA maximum Energy Use for a dishwasher or something
Ours is the same in Calgary AB. Same make, same price range, same great results (with the rinsing agent). Small world sometimes.
I remember walking along the Via Merulana in Rome about ten years ago on a very warm late Fall afternoon. There were little pipes with spigots all along the sidewalk with water pouring out continuously into the street. The Via Merulana is a long street.
I asked a local whether the water was potable.
“Of course,” the Roman replied.
“Why?”, I asked.
“To use, naturally,” was the (obvious) answer.
I don’t know anything more about this practice, or whether it continues today, and I’m making no comment about whether it is wise, but I thought at the time North Americans were definitely being conditioned for Agenda 21.
And now of course for Herr Schwab’s Reset.
Added to the seemingly ineffective “high efficiency” dish and laundry washers is the fact the soaps are generally crap. Some time ago in Washington, Oregon or some other granola crunching state a GOP led initiative banned the addition of phosphates to detergents. Phosphates prevent gunk from sticking, even after washing, to material.
A simple solution is to add some TSP powder to your laundry and dishwasher.
Our low flow toilets have dual flush buttons, one for liquid waste and one for the heavier, uhhh, dispensing. After putting up with loose seals (…you picked a fine time to leave me, loose seal), I found that just using the liquid flush button works just as well as the heavier flush button. YMMV based on what you’re depositing…
Phosphates were banned in dishwasher detergents for Canada as well. I don’t remember when, 2005 area I think.
I’m a plumber, and when people ask me what they should do about this problem in their old dishwashers that weren’t designed for “modern detergents”, I sometimes tell folks to put a tablespoon of TSP, available at Home Depot for under $10/litre, in with the wash cycle.
I don’t know if telling folks about this is against the law, but at the moment going into a store without a mask is also against the law and both my respect and willingness to “obey” is falling through the floor. Our imbecile PM has floated the idea of canceling Christmas if “we” don’t get our new Chinese flu numbers down. I don’t have sufficient command of the English language to tell you exactly how I feel about this. Something in a “F” seems to not actually draw blood, and I feel actual blood being drawn would be effective in this matter.
TOTO toilets are mentioned above by PO’d in AB, they’ve been making toilets since 1917 and are highly recommended, though more $ than the others. Same goes for Speed Queen and a very few other manufacturers. Most are crappy crappers, and the manufacturers have long figured out that folks only stay in one house for an average of 6-7 years. The “house brands” are never recommended.
My dishwasher came with the house when I bought it, 18+ years ago. So you have to figure it’s probably at least 20 years old. Cleans dishes like you cannot believe. My clothes washer also came with the house, it looks to be at least 25 years old. It leaks water from the bottom, so I propped it up on a pallet with a shallow pan underneath. My furnace I just had to replace, which also came with the house, and I figure had to have been installed sometime in the 1970s. So my point is they certainly don’t make things like they used to. Sigh.
My experience with all appliances is that each has a half-life of the previous one. Such is ‘progress’ as we are told to update to keep with the ‘improved environmentally friendly’ model.
When I moved into my current apartment more than 30 years ago, the style and layout were the original design. Where I have an under-counter cupboard, people now have a dishwasher. (I know because the one in the unit immediately above me leaked several years ago and I had a damp spot on my ceiling.)
Whenever I’ve renewed my apartment lease in recent years, I’ve been asked about my dishwasher. I get some bewildered looks when I hold up both of my hands and remind them that I don’t need electricity to wash my dishes and that they’re done in a few minutes.
I have old toilets and an old agitator front load washer.
We wash dishes by hand.
My 4.8 toilet has a bowl of slurry to send to Ottawa.
Flush twice, for fun.
We wash dishes by hand as well. It help keeps the finger nails looking super clean.
Hey Stevie.
Heh. Washing machines. Just as I said, away back when …
http://canadianlandowneralliance.ca/articles/Jamie-MacMaster-Swamp-Land.html