A New Standard in Green Toilets

Niagara is a company that continues to bring breakthrough green products to market at reasonable prices. An earlier product, its shower head with a 1.5-gallon-per-minute flow rate, was, and still is, best in its class and with a price tag of roughly $10 per unit. This product has made the company renowned for its water conservation solutions.

After the shower head, Niagara decided to create the best water-conserving toilet. Toilets account for 30 percent of indoor water use in the U.S. The Federal government mandated a maximum of 2.5 gallons per flush (GPF) several decades ago. Many brands operate at this water flow level, but the Environmental Protection Agency, through its WaterSense certification program, has encouraged manufacturers to better the minimum standard not just with toilets, but across an array of water consuming fixtures and appliances.

Niagara has created two award-winning toilets that perform at an entirely different level from all other toilets. One, its single-flush stealth toilet, consumes only 0.8 GPF, less than a third of the maximum allowed water standard. This is the only single-flush toilet in the industry with such a low GPF rating. Its other model is a dual-flush unit that uses 0.5 and 0.95 GPF flushes. Both toilets are WaterSense certified and have received rave reviews from consumers.

These toilets incorporate three innovations. First is the pressure-assist flush mechanism. It harnesses the energy of the water filling the tank to pressurize and trap air in a tube. This pressurized air creates an accelerating force on the flush water when the button is pushed. Once the flush is complete, the system refills and re-primes the air transfer tube ready for the next flush.

The second innovation tackles the vacuum-assist sound issue. Vacuum mechanisms are notorious for the accompanying swooshing noise. In this design, the fill valve is always submerged in water, never exposed, thereby dramatically reducing noise. The manufacturer claims it is the quietest toilet on the market.

The third innovation is the design of the toilet bowl. It has specialized rim holes and a siphon jet — the jet for fast evacuation of the bowl and the small holes for water to thoroughly clean all the bowl surfaces. The sophistication of the design surprisingly has fewer moving parts, and this, combined with the strategic use of ceramics, makes these toilets low-maintenance fixtures.

Perhaps the best thing is the price. These units range from $200-$250, low enough that they could replace many toilets that conserve less water. The replacement offers an ultra-high-efficiency experience that delivers a powerful and quiet performance. The wasteful problem of double flushing is a thing of the past.

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