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Dual Flush Toilets – Government Rebate 2010

yoursydneyplumber — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:40:41 +0000

Dual Flush Toilets – Government Rebate

Don’t just sit on it – Now is the time to upgrade with the NSW Government offering a $200 rebate on new dual flush toilets.

The NSW Government is offering a $200 rebate on installations of new dual flush toilets that have a 4 star or higher water efficiency rating. This is a water saving initiative that was presented to parliament and passed in January this year as part of the NSW Home Saver Rebates initiatives.

This government rebate is sure to push all the right buttons in your household! If you install a dual flush toilet, you’re definitely not flushing your money down the drain. The added advantages of installing a dual flush cistern are that they are less prone to blockages and require less maintenance with a more efficient flushing system.

On average, Sydney Water estimates a single flush toilet uses around 12 litres of water per flush. A 4-star water efficient dual flush toilet uses less than half this amount. Along with the handy $200 rebate, you could potentially save around 25000 litres of water per year and that’s no bull.

To be eligible for the rebate, dual flush toilets must be installed by a licensed Sydney plumber such as Highlander Plumbing and we will complete and sign Sections 4 and 5 of the application form so you are able to claim the rebate. There is a limit of one 4 star dual flush toilet rebate per property.

Saving water and money just got a whole lot easier with the government rebate. Decrease your yearly water consumption with eco-friendly and wallet-friendly dual flush toilets. Highlander Plumbing, with their experience and buying power are able to offer you great deals on the best toilet suites available. Take advantage of the Government rebate and get a fully installed dual flush toilet for much less than you think!

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Wels Rating

yoursydneyplumber — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:16:55 +0000

Why WELS?

Choosing more efficient products helps Australia save water.

By 2021 Australians could save more than $600 million through reduced water and energy bills by simply choosing more efficient products. By 2021 it is estimated that using water efficient products will help to:

reduce domestic water use by five per cent or 87,200 megalitres each year; and
save about 610,000 megalitres (more water than in Sydney Harbour).

Nearly half the water savings will come from more efficient washing machines, about 25 per cent from showers and 22 per cent from toilets.
By choosing to use more water-efficient products in the home, Australians will save water and reduce their water and energy bills.

Did you know?

A water-efficient washing machine may use only one-third the water of an inefficient model.
An old-style single-flush toilet could use up to 12 litres of water per flush, while a standard dual flush toilet uses just a quarter of this on a half-flush.
A standard showerhead may use up to 25 litres of water per minute whereas water-efficient showerhead might use as little as seven litres per minute, which is less than a third.

Plumbing products

Showers

The WELS Scheme applies to showers intended solely for personal bathing as specified in AS/NZS 3662:2005 – Performance of showers for bathing. Showers generate about 25 per cent of water savings under the WELS Scheme because:

a standard showerhead uses about 15 to 25 litres of water per minute – a three star rated water efficient showerhead uses as little as 6 or 7 litres per minute.
a standard showerhead uses at least 120 litres of water per eight-minute shower whereas a water efficient model uses less than 72 litres or 40 per cent less water
installing a water-efficient showerhead saves about 14,500 litres per household each year and
gas hot water costs for a standard showerhead are around $1,500 over ten years whereas gas hot water costs for a water-efficient shower head are only $790 over ten years or a 47 per cent reduction.

Under the WELS Scheme a rating is given to a showerhead and any additional component supplied with the head such as pivoting arm, flexible hose or flow controller. However, additional components cannot be rated separately from the head.

Tap equipment

The WELS Scheme applies to any tap or tap outlet for use over a basin, ablution trough, kitchen sink or laundry tub as specified in AS/NZS 3718:2005, Water supply-Tap ware. WELS taps save water because:

typical taps discharge 15 to 18 litres per minute compared with low-flow and aerating models which use as little as 2 litres per minute depending on the intended application and
taps with an aerator or flow restrictor may reduce flow to less than a third of standard taps.

Flow controllers

Registration of flow controllers under the WELS Scheme is voluntary. The WELS Standard may apply to a flow controller as specified in ATS 5200.037.2-2005-Technical Specification for plumbing and drainage products, Part 037.2: Flow controllers-For use in heated or cold water plumbing systems.

Sanitary ware

Toilet (lavatory equipment)

The WELS Scheme applies to toilet suites, pans, cisterns, flushing devices and combinations of these products, as specified in:

AS 1172.1-2005, Water closets (WC), Part 1: Pans
AS 1172.2-1999, Water closet (WC) pans of 6/3 L capacity or proven equivalent, Part 2: Cistern
ATS 5200.021-2004, Technical Specification for plumbing and drainage products, Part 021: Flushing valves for water closets and urinals-For use with break tank supply
ATS 5200.020-2004, Technical Specification for plumbing and drainage products, Part 020: Flushing valves for water closets and urinals-For use with mains supply and
ATS 5200.030-2004, Technical Specification for plumbing and drainage products, Part 030: Solenoid valves.

The performance requirements for toilets include a minimum water efficiency requirement. The average water consumption must not exceed 5.5 litres per flush. The average water consumption of a dual flush cistern is taken to be the average of one full flush and four half flushes. This means dual flush cisterns of 9 litre full flush/4.5 litre half flush are the least efficient products that can be sold.

About 22 per cent of water savings under the WELS Scheme comes from toilets (lavatory equipment) because:

an old-style single flush toilet can use up to 12 litres of water in one flush, whereas more water efficient dual flush toilets average less than four litres
a single flush toilet costs around $760 over ten years to operate compared with a water-efficient dual flush cistern which costs around $250 over ten years to operate or a 67 per cent reduction
replacing a traditional single flush toilet with a water efficient dual flush toilet saves about 51 litres per person per day and
using a water efficient dual flush toilet reduces household water use by around 30,000 to 40,000 litres per household per year.

Urinal equipment

The WELS Scheme applies to urinal suites, urinals, urinal flushing control mechanisms and combinations of these products as specified in:

AS/NZS 3982:1996, Urinals and
ATS 5200.004-2005, Technical Specification for plumbing and drainage products – Urinal flushing cisterns.

The WELS Standard does not include waterless urinals.

WELS urinals save water because:

the average urinal uses about 2.2 litres per flush compared with the most efficient urinals which use 1.5 litres per flush, a reduction of more than 30 per cent
an increasing number of urinals have ’smart controls’ to reduce unnecessary flushing and
the most efficient urinals combined with smart controls reduce water use by 40-50 per cent.

White goods

Clothes washers

The WELS Scheme applies to electric clothes washers intended for household or similar use as specified in AS/NZS 2040.2:2005 – Performance of household electrical appliances-Clothes washing machines, Part 2: Energy labelling requirements.

About 50 per cent of the water savings under the WELS Scheme come from clothes washers because:

a water efficient clothes washer uses one-third the water of an older model and
by 2016 WELS clothes washer could save about 25,600 megalitres of water per year-enough to fill 12,500 Olympic swimming pools every 12 months (this is a reduction of about 8.8 per cent in the water consumption of the clothes washers sold between 2003 and 2016).

Dishwashers

The WELS Scheme applies to dishwashers as specified in AS/NZS 2007.2:2005 – Performance of household electrical appliances-Dishwashers, Part 2: Energy labelling requirements.

WELS dishwashers save water because:

the most efficient dishwashers use half the water of average models and
by 2016 WELS could save nearly 1,200 megalitres a year in national dishwasher water consumption-enough water to fill 600 Olympic swimming pools each year. This represents a reduction of about 6.5 per cent in the water consumption of the dishwashers sold between 2003 and 2016.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water systems & tanks, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Caroma Water Wafers – Concealed Cisterns

yoursydneyplumber — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:46:02 +0000

Concealed cisterns are back in vogue. The Caroma Water Wafer seems to be the dominant model that is being installed. Now that these cisterns have been around for a while we are coming across them a lot more for general maintenance. I won’t lie, these cisterns are real buggers to service, we find only 50% of the ones we service have been installed with adequate service access. These things can never be totally hidden, so access from the rear or top is an essential requirement.

The Caroma Water Wafer uses a pneumatic flush switch. The benefit to this being you can install the buttons up to four meters away from the actual hidden cistern.

With this sort of technology comes specialized training to provide service and repair options for these cisterns. As usual, here at Highlander Plumbing we have pulled these things apart from all angles, we know the main problems, we know where to quickly get the parts and most importantly, once we repair them our lifetime labour warranty applies.

Lucky for us not too many Plumbers know how to fix these cisterns. We have lost count of how many of these cisterns we have now repaired after customers had already had plumbers attempt to fix them.

Lastly, keep in mind: these cisterns are expensive, the parts are not cheap either, we will never use non genuine parts to repair one.

Beware of the illegal bum washers!

yoursydneyplumber — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:23:16 +0000

OK, I have your attention. No, there isn’t a rogue group walking the streets and washing bottoms without a permit. There is a large amount of imported products on the market designed to retro fit to an existing toilet and give you the ability to have the function of a bidet, without installing a bidet.

Bidet Toilet Seats

We have seen many of these spray hoses over the last month. None of them comply with Australian Standards; therefore, none of them carry the Watermark approval rating mark. For a licensed Plumber in Australia, this means we are not allowed to install them.

Why make a big deal you ask? Why not fit them you ask?

“We bought them on a trip overseas – everyone has them there!”

Well let’s start with the Watermark issue. If a product fails to meet our tough Australian Standards it’s for a good reason. Generally, if the product is of poor build quality, uses inferior materials in construction, maybe it’s not rated to take the pressure that our cold water supply is delivered. What ever the reason, the Australian Standard is there to protect the Australian public. If one of these hoses bursts under the pressure and floods your house, then an insurance company would be within its rights to reject a claim for damage.

The next issue is the serious health issue of cross connection. I will be brief on describing what cross connection is. Cross connection is the risk of contaminants entering the fresh water supply. The level of risk is graded. The fitting of one of these flexible bum washing sprays is high. Why is it high you ask? Well, imagine if you did your business (a number 2), pulled out your spray and gave the downstairs a good old rinse and accidentally dropped the nozzle into the bowl and into your fresh work – we would have a major cross connection on our hands.

There are 3 levels of cross connection prevention devices that can remove the risk of a cross connection. They are a group of valves that strain the water and allow the water to only flow in one direction. If a bum washer was installed, then you would need to protect your house from cross connection, the risk is high, so a large RPZ valve would be needed between the bum washer and everything else. These valves are large and very expensive, so who knows where it will go in your bathroom. The water supply may also need to be protected from the house now too, so another valve may have to be fitted to your water meter – just so you don’t make any of your neighbors sick.

Starting to sound ludicrous and not worth the hassle? Good, that’s the idea.

Bidets are approved, always have been, so why not install one if you really want that fresh feeling!

How come the bidet isn’t a cross connection risk you ask? Simple… a bidet has a fixed spout with an air gap between the spout and the drain below – no worries!

Anyway, the moral of the story is – while on holidays, think before you buy that bum sprayer – no one will install it.

Technorati Tags: bidet, bidet toilet seats, bidet toilets, bidets, installation, toilet bidet

Cisterns…how many litres is enough?

yoursydneyplumber — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:55:52 +0000

A Big Stink is Looming…

It’s July 09 and we see a big problem slowly rolling towards us. In fact, this problem is rolling too slow and may stop along the way. No, we are not talking in code; we are worried about a basic issue of how many litres it takes to flush number ones and number twos.

Before we dive into this problem (sorry, that image in the film “Slum Dog Millionaire” flashed in my mind) we have to let you know that we are certified enviroplumbers, we care about water wastage, so what we are about to write is in no way “green bashing”.

Around the late nineties we were told that no longer would 11 litre flushing cisterns be sold. The 11 litre single flush cistern was the most common cistern around. Very soon after that we were told that the next step down, being the 9 litre cistern was being taken from production too.

Dual Flush Toilet Cisterns

Government insisted we start installing dual flush cisterns. The new dual flush cistern used 3 litres for a half flush and 6 litres for a full flush.

What a lot of people didn’t realise was that their new dual flush cisterns wouldn’t work when they were retro fitted to an old pan that was designed to take 9 or 11 litre flushes. This would cue the customer call:

When I use the toilet I have to flush it five times for everything to get flushed away!

This really defeated the purpose of saving water. The fact was: an entire new suite was required – the pan and the cistern.

So why did we have to bang on about a very brief history of flush capacities you ask?

Well the problem is, there are still lots of old water wasting 11 litre toilet suites out there, and there are still plenty of 9 litre water wasting toilet suites out there. And even worse, there are plenty of miss matched dual flush toilets and 11 litre pans out there.

This problem is now about to get worse… a lot worse.

You see, as drain clearing, drain fault diagnosing and drain repair specialists, we are noticing our drain clearing arm is busy… very busy. We thinks it’s no fluke that sewer blockages are on the way up as these new water saving toilets appear in more locations.

Caroma Smart Flush Toilet Suites

In about 2007 Caroma introduced its “Smart flush” range. This new range of toilet suites were only going to use, wait for it, 4.5 litres for a full flush and 3 for a half flush.

We could be cynics and declare the Smart flush toilets the greatest thing to ever happen to drain clearers, but that wouldn’t do the customer any good.

The Facts

What is needed are some facts right between the eyes. Caroma may bury some of these in the fine print section. We will just give you some basic tips. If you have an old house with original sewer, do not even consider installing a Smart flush toilet suite. Stick with suites that use 6 litres for full flush. We think even 6 litres for a full flush is pushing it for a house with an original sewer.

If you live in a new house or an old with a new, perfectly graded, PVC sewer system, then go for it, knock your socks off and install Smart flush gear everywhere. You will be saving bucket loads of water.

We have just learned that Caroma and Fowler are phasing out a lot of their 6/3 dual flush cisterns. In fact, at the time of writing, we have found that Caroma are only manufacturing 2 styles of 6/3 cisterns and everything else will be 4.5/3. This cuts down the customers’ choice significantly.

We had a customer accidentally break a ceramic cistern last week. It was a 6/3 Caroma. She didn’t want a plastic cistern and didn’t like the look of the new Caroma cistern that we could have retro fitted. Her house already had a dodgy sewer history, so in the end she we supplied and installed a new Kohler toilet suite that was a 6/3.

Before you buy a new toilet…

The moral of the story is before you buy something speak to us. See what will work in your house first. We think the Smart flush options from Caroma are fantastic, but we are annoyed they are not running more styles in the 6/3 range. We want you to be thinking about possible blockages. If you really want to install water saving toilet suites and you have an old sewer system, then give us a call to quote you a new sewer system. Removing drain clearing costs and potential water savings are two things to consider.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water tank installations, gasfitting, rain water tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: blocked drains, cistern, cisterns, drain cleaning, drain clearing, drain repairs, dual flush toilets, enviroplumber