If you would like to replace your existing toilet with a high efficiency model but are concerned about the flushing power of a standard gravity flow toilet, consider going with a pressure assisted toilet. A standard gravity flow toilet uses gravity to flush the tank full of water through the bowl with every flush. This system works great if you have plenty of water. Prior to the early 1990s toilets used 3 to 5 gallons of water per flush and did a great job of clearing the bowl and flushing the waste through the drain lines to the sewer line.
However, toilets sold in the United States since 1992 are required to comply with federal regulations limiting the amount of water per flush to a maximum of 1.6 gallons. Most manufacturers simply modified existing toilets to use less water per flush with predictably poor results. Things have improved in recent years as toilets have been designed to work better with only 1.6 gallons or less, but there are practical limits on what can be accomplished with only 1.6 gallons of water.
Pressure assisted toilets use compressed air to improve the flushing ability of the toilet. They use a special plastic or nylon tank installed inside the toilet tank. As the water fills this tank, the water compresses the air in the tank. When the toilet is flushed, the compressed air helps flush away the waste.
Pressure assisted toilets work great and use less water than standard low flow toilets – about a gallon in most cases. This can result in saving thousands of gallons of water per year. However, pressure assist toilets are noisier than standard toilets and cost more than gravity flow toilets. Also, parts are not usually readily available at your local hardware store.
