I recently got a new place, and nearly immediately after the purchase closed a few things broke down like a couple toilets that were likely original to the home. So I had to replace two of the toilets, and I’m a bit of a Amazon Prime junkie…so I turned this into a question around how to conserve the water and save some cash, if possible. I also wanted a high powered setup so that I never had to worry about any maintenance/clog issues down the line.
I landed on the following unit – the Kohler Highline 1 GPF Toilet based upon a number of reviews online, my plumber’s recommendation and the claim that each unit will save me 5000 gallons per year. This sounds outlandish at first, although after loosely keeping track of the flushes in my home with company over and the family activity – it is probably legit.
So why does this warrant a post here?
Well, I am always on the lookout for reducing my monthly cash out in terms of expenses, and the water bill can run high some months out of the year. By ripping out all of the toilets, and replacing them with this super efficient model – I’ve estimated the following:
Total Cost: $500 (toilet unit and install)
Total Cost per Gallon of water use in and sewer out: $0.00764
Total Annual Savings (using 5000 gallons savings): $38.72
This will payback my investment in just under 13 years, however I’m getting a rate of 7.74% of return on that $500 in the first year.
My water bill is estimated to be reduced by 30% each year going forward just with this upgrade of toilets throughout the house. This will not fund my retirement or even result in a new car, however the cost of water is sure to go up making this even more attractive over time.
Most importantly, I have had zero problems thus far, and if these perform half as well as advertised – the plumbing fees to fix a toilet jam or breakage will be avoided – juicing the return on investment on that $500. There are not a lot of places where you can get nearly 8% return on your investment with zero risk, and benefit from it on a daily basis.
If you are in the midst of a remodel, and you’ll be buying a new unit or two – I recommend going with the super efficient Kohler Highline 1 GPF Toilet option to save you some cash and to save some water.
