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A water saving story;
when my dad was growing up, my grandpa installed a urinal in his house
to save money on water. He got it from a building that was being
demolished, and with 3 guys in the house, it cut down the water bill
and saved septic space.

maybe a new environmental trend could be some sort of household
urinal for homes with a lot of men; when they urinate, it only
requires a little water to flush.

As with all products offered in any store there is good, better and
best. Glacier Bay is good but with it's flaws. Kohler or American
Standard is preferable as they offer fully glazed and wider traps.
This is what will move the waste without flushing twice. Also your
city/town has some control of water pressure delivered to residents. A
little known fact that has a great impact especially in an older house
where city owned pipes are detriorating with age. If on septic a
Kohler/ American Standard is for you.

My toilet, only 3.5 years old, is 1.6 gallons per flush (or 6 litres).
It works amazingly well. Kohler brand.

Maybe "staging" your flushes would work better if using paper or
defecating.
If it is an instance using paper, flush smaller quantites.
If defecating, flush the excrement upon completement of its expulsion,
then flush the resulting paper from the cleanup.

I saw an interesting tip on television the other day on how to save
water in the toilet. They showed that putting a small bottle of water
in the tank would cause the toilet to use that much less water per
flush and save $$ over time. Haven't tried it but I think it sounds
pretty good.

This is why it is better to keep the old toilet and repair its insides
rather than getting the new "Environmental" junk they sell now.

Mine may use more water, but at least I dont have clogs or floaters
after a flush.

But then again the new toilets are so fancy looking.....whatever.


Good Day

You bought a crappy toilet, but it is functional. Therefore I think
you are stuck with it. I bought a low flow Kohler about 13 years ago.
It wasn't cheap, and it does a lousy job (which I won't detail).

The only thing you may be able to do is if it has an internal baffle
like the old ones did, you can cut part of it out, effectively
increasing the amount of water the tank holds.

There are superior low-flush toilets but you have to pay for them.

This reminds me of a particular "King of the Hill" episode, also set
in Texas!

Maybe this is government's way of forcing us to switch from three
squares to six smaller meals a day. ;)

GRRR!!! Water saving toilets are a great concept with horrible
execution. My friend had one installed a year or so ago, and removed
it within six months for the very reason you cite.

I have heard of many, many complaints on these things. Manufacturers
say people should use less paper. I can go into many reasons why this
is not always feasible, however, will refrain.

I'm not a plumber, but here's what a plumber told me a few years ago
when he replaced our wonderful toilet with a "water efficient" one
(required by law).

The "water saving" mode is not intended for solid waste. It's for
liquid only. In other words, a single flush is intended for, well,
only liquid. If you have more solid products (including paper),
additional flushes are need.

In the end, unless 100% of your toilet uses contain solid matter, you
WILL have water savings. In other words, flush as many times as
needed, but no more than needed.

Some toilets actually two multiple levels or buttons to make this
easier. I've seen this toilets in Europe, although not as much here.
You use the "water" button for light flushing (liquids) and the other
button for a bigger flush for solids. You can, as I said, simulate
this yourself by flushing once. It is works, you've saved water. If
not, flush again.

You can actually adjust some toilets, however, to use more water
without any conversion kit. It involves adjusting the tank valve to
fill the tank higher. My plumber said that he couldn't legally set it
this way, but he was happy to show me how to do it.

Of course, some toilets may not have valves that can be set this high,
such as those with smaller tanks or with specialized hardware.

If you're really into saving water, but want the maximum bowl
cleaning, consider a power/vacuum assisted flush. These are the ones
that give a great big whoosh when you flush. Some require
electricity, some don't. They cost significantly more and, if you
have an electric model, you need to consider the additional
environmental consequences. Maintenance of these toilets also, I
hear, tends to be higher.

In any case, what you have now isn't broken. It's simply setup to
give the user the decision making power as to how much water to use.
If your old toilet was old, even 2 (or 3) flushes of this new toilet
may STILL use less water than your old one. However, if you don't
want to have to make a case-by-case decision, then you'll have to
settle for using more water overall... or go with a power-assist
flush.

Before you give up and replace the toilet (I doubt Home Depot will pay
for the plumber to do the replacement), at least look into adjusting
the valve to let more water into the tank. Maybe this'll make a
difference.

Last tip from my plumber: they still sell water-wasting toilets in
various parts of the world. There are people that will sneak in
illegal toilets from Mexico and whatnot. Not that he or I recommend
you do such a thing... but apparently some people will find people to
sell and install these toilets.