Good Lord! Why on earth don’t you use high-volume, low-pressure units? If you are really worried about water use try dual flush systems like we have in Aus, with user selectable half/full flush?
A toilet that used the system that the Consumer Product Safety Commission calls a “laceration risk.” (Source: CPSC website)
In June, the Flushmate III was declared a “laceration risk.” The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall notice for more than 2.3 million of the water-conservation devices after learning that 304 units had blown up. The explosions shattered the commodes, caused home flooding, and, in some cases, sent porcelain shrapnel flying.
Auerbach, who so far has not had any trouble with his, is disconcerted, worried he may be sitting on ticking time bombs.
“So far I haven’t had a problem,” he said. “I’m hoping I don’t in the future. I’ve got 15 more years to live!”
A San Francisco lawyer filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Flushmate, owned by Sloan Valve Co. The complaint seeks more than $5 million in damages.
“Fundamentally, you can’t have toilets that are blowing up,” said the lawyer, David Birka-White. “How much do we need to say about that?”
The systems are designed to conserve water.
A photo on safety commission website SaferProducts.gov shows just what kind of damage the explosions can cause. The back of an alleged victim is held together with 20 surgical staples.
“I required dozens of stitches for an extremely deep wound because of the exploding porcelain,” the alleged victim, 26, reported in September. “Because I am a bigger person, I was able to absorb the brunt of the force. Again, had this happened to someone elderly or a child, the outcome could have been catastrophic.”
“A San Francisco lawyer filed a lawsuit”
Yes. The Doctrine of Unintended Consequences strikes again. This story is just the best, it keeps on delivering.
See, San Francisco mandated low water flushing. First result, the city’s sewers clogged up with er, excess solids because there wasn’t enough water to flush the sewer mains through. Then in their wisdom they used 12,000 tonnes of sodium hypochlorite to detox them.
Now you tell me that low flush toilets are exploding? All I can say is Murphy has a sense of humour and just loves San Francisco.
Not to mention having to flush them three or four times times to do what a normal toilet would do with one flush and much less water.
On summer in Denver it was pouring rain and had been for a couple of days. Underpasses were flooded and gutters were running over. We went to a restaurant for breakfast and there were signs on every table; “We do not serve water to our customers unless they demand it, we are conserving water.” I looked out the window and the automatic lawn sprinklers were going full blast adding to tthe already flooded gutters.