Warning: toilet story for do-it-yourself technicians!
Indeed, in The Netherlands we're so much used to be able to stop the
toilet flush anytime we like, that my husband and me couldn't stand the
oldfashioned toilet in our own house: it has a high reservoir with syphon.
We drilled a hole in the top of the syphon and attached a tube. Now we can
let in air by opening this tube; the under-pressure in the tube vanishes
and the syphon stops syphoning. It does not stop the flow directly, but
at least we save about half of the resevoir volume.
Anybody who likes to improve on this idea? You would need a short tube
with at least a centimeter diameter, a longer tube has too much air in it
(toilet doesn't flush anymore next time!) and a thinner tube doesn't stop
the flushing as the air isn't coming in fast enough, at least that's our
impression. Problem: if a very short tube is used, a opening mechanism is
needed that can be operated at a meter distance, otherwise you'd have
to climb the toilet to reach it.
Good luck!
To give you an idea on the water saving you can establish by having
toilets with flush-stop: I read that about 30% of the Dutch use the 'stop
button' on the toilet. I don't remember where I got this information, but
perhaps somebody else does have more exact figures?
Martine Willems
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