Your New Bathroom Addition Can Conserve Water and Cut Installation Costs

(ARA) - When it comes to saving water, every drop counts. The bathrooms in your home are a good target, because that's where a lot of water goes down the drain. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, residential toilets account for about one-third of our nation's indoor household water use, or more than 2.1 trillion gallons of water a year.

So what's an environmentally conscious homeowner to do when a spare bathroom is needed? Choose Saniflo above-floor plumbing, and you can feel good about both water conservation and cost savings.

SFA Saniflo's innovative plumbing alternative offers ease of installation with the advantage of a low-flush toilet. Adding a modern bathroom is a smart way to increase the value of your home. In addition to reducing your impact on the planet, installing a low-consumption toilet can save money on your water bill.

If your home was built prior to 1992 when the federal government began mandating low-flush toilets, your existing bathroom likely uses 3.5 gallons each time you flush. If your home dates back to the 1950s or earlier, you may have a 5.5-gallon or even a 7-gallon-per-flush water guzzler. By choosing a low-flush toilet, a family of four will save an estimated 50 gallons of water each day — that's close to 20,000 gallons annually.

A Green Basement? Sure!

But what if you want to add a bathroom in the basement or anywhere else in the home where plumbing drainage lines currently do not exist? The high cost of installing drainage lines, including digging through cement in a basement project, can easily outpace the money you'll save on your water bill. Above-floor plumbing is a cost-effective, water-saving answer.

Saniflo makes modern low-consumption toilet systems that use special "macerating" plumbing technology. There is no need to dig up the floor to install a bathroom. A macerating toilet looks very much like a conventional toilet and takes up roughly the same floor space. But instead of routing the flush water through a floor drain, the system moves it to a macerating pump, usually located on the floor between the toilet and the wall. It can also be hidden behind the wall.

The macerator pump uses a fast-rotating blade to liquefy waste and toilet paper in the flush water. The waste is released under pressure through small-diameter piping to the sewer or septic tank. The technology requires no special maintenance, and the pump is sealed for life. The fixtures will work up to 12 feet below and as far as 150 feet away from a septic tank or sewer line.

Installing a sub-level bathroom not only solves a costly plumbing problem, but it also makes it easy to cut your water usage. All Saniflo toilets are low-consumption: Most use 1.6 gallons per flush; two models use only 1.1 gallons per flush.

Whether you add a bathroom in the basement or anywhere else in the house, above-floor, macerating plumbing systems provide a high-quality, economical upgrade that will serve your family — and the environment — well for years to come.