In some Southern California cities and jurisdictions, the rule is that your toilets must be either 1.28 GPF (gallons per flush) or 1.6 GPF. Cities in Southern California differ. The city of Los Angeles requirements is 1.6 GPF, while the city of Burbank and Manhattan Beach are 1.28 GPF. Most other cities are 1.6 GPF. Here is the link showing the state-wide rule on the current water conservation law.
But low flow toilets are yucky, as you sometimes have to flush multiple times for everything to flow correctly. Low flow toilets are not ‘fan favorites’. That said, if you want to convert your 3.5 GPF or 5.0 GPF non-low flow toilet to low flow, follow these steps:
- Firstly, measure the flow of the toilet to see what the approx GPF is, here is an easy way to do that, then …
- Adjust, or replace, the flapper with a new adjustable flapper, and set it to the lowest level.
- Purchase a ‘fill valve diverter’ from Amazon, this will fill the bowl and tank at the same time, saving about 1/2 gallon
- Put a used plastic water container containing water in the tank that will displace water when the tank fills up.
This way you may be able to convert a 3.5 or 5.0 GPF toilet to a 1.6 GPF, or a 1.6 GPF tank to a 1.28 GPF one. You have to play around with all three methods as you don’t want to save too much water per flush, since you are now making the toilet less effective in removing the waste when using these techniques.
Are these methods acceptable for city certification? Yes, since the goal is to reduce the water used when flushing and not necessarily replace an older toilets with a newer one if you don’t have to.
More on these methods here from our friends at the home and garden website The Spruce.
Have questions? Call us at 310-800-4418 with any low flow toilet questions you may have.
