Free Toilets

My procrastination has paid off! The city of Austin has resurrected the Free Toilet Program. If you live in the Austin area and have a commode installed earlier than 1996, look into replacing it with a high-performance HET (high-efficiency toilet) that uses only 1.28 gallons with each flush.

We recently replaced the 5 gpf toilet in the guest bathroom with an efficient 1.6 gpf model under the normal Toilet Rebate program which only cost us $25 after the rebate. Beforehand I wasn’t entirely sure of the performance of these more efficient models – which is a common concern. I can now say with much assurance that I’m not disappointed.

That being said, the 1.6 gpf models have pretty much the same mechanics as the old models. The Niagara EcoLogic however uses a “flapperless” design. I’m not sure what’s in store should it start to fail, which I hope doesn’t happen in the near future. There aren’t too many reviews on this particular brand but HETs are becoming widely used in new homes. Regardless, it’s a free toilet. So, in our small efforts to “go green” (and save money) we’re going to take a leap of faith, put our trust in the city of Austin, and replace the remaining two “water-wasters” in our home with HETs.