Going European

Travelling across the Pond gives one the perspective that things can be different in so many ways. Cars can be smaller. Vacation can be a given. Flushing can be customized. That's right: instead of the unwieldy one-size-fits-all, six-gallons-on-every-flush handle most Americans have on their toilets, Europeans--and, by our experience, especially the Brits--enjoy the option of a "light" flush or a "heavy" flush, depending on what type of product needs to move down the pipes. For most of December and January, our upstairs toilet ran on and off even when we were nowhere near the handle. An old fatigued flapper allowed water to seep through until the tank refilled itself every hour or so. Not only did this sometimes keep us awake at night, it drained our water treatment tanks faster than we'd like. At last I trundled down to the local hardware store to find another flapper. As I perused the shelves for the cheapest option, my eye alighted on a box whose front face announced, "Save Water." That convinced me to pick it up, at which point I noticed the familiar face of a two-button flush handle allowing for different excretory circumstances. Save water, spend less time tending to the chlorine tank, and teach our daughter that less can be more, all in one purchase? Count me in! I brought home and set about installing this complicated contraption in place of the original rubber ring:

Push the small upper button when you only need to incite a stream; push the lower button (marked with two dots for the blind?) when you want to open the sluice all the way.

We've had it in for a month or so now, and it seems to be working well. Even if we're not saving that much water on each flush, the random running has stopped, which makes for quieter nights and fewer trips to the cellar for the chlorine tank.

Thank God for tips from across The Pond!

~ emrys