Extreme toilet tech can flush away water worries

August 17th, 2009 by Jeff Kart

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You know the drill. You flush the toilet, walk away, come back later and it’s still running.

You jiggle the handle. Hopefully that makes it stop. Maybe you take off the top of the tank and swear a little.

Or, you could install H2Orb, a toilet gadget from a California company that takes clean tech to a whole new level.

A running toilet can use more than 6,000 gallons of water in just one day. A running toilet that overflows can cause costly water damage.

The H2Orb retails for $127, but AquaOne Technologies says it does the job.

It’s backed by seven patents. You can hook it up in about 10 minutes.

You put it between your water supply and toilet hose, then install a toilet bowl sensor and a tank sensor unit, and as this video demonstrates. (Take note of the outer space intro and the laser sounds.)

It even has a Texas Instruments micro controller.

If your toilet begins to run excessively, the H2Orb’s integrated smart valve intercepts the flow of water to the toilet tank.

If the water level in the bowl gets too high, the H2Orb shuts off the water supply so not even a second flush is possible. There’s even an alarm to alert you to your toilet troubles.

Granted, this is a pretty extreme way of stopping your toilet from running. Maybe if you’re a landlord or own a weekend cabin, it will give you piece of mind (especially if you’re one of those people who keeps thinking they left the stove or iron on).

AquaTechnologies says the H2Orb can pay for itself in water savings in the first year just by stopping a leaky toilet.

The perfect gift for the person who has everything?

(Image credits: AquaOne Technologies)

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Tags: California

About the Author

Jeff Kart is typing about issues in the Great Lakes, from advanced biofuels to zero-emission vehicles. Jeff is an environmental journalist and social media evangelist based in Michigan, where the summers are short, the winters are cold, and the stories are plentiful.

chrisp

This would have saved me $145 on my water bill and about 27,000 gallons of water. My house is for sale the realtor left the water running. Unfortunately for $127 this is out of the question! It is a digital readout and flow meter. Not rocket science! You can purchase the Iphone for this much and it does a million more things.
chrisp

This would have saved me $145 on my water bill and about 27,000 gallons of water. My house is for sale the realtor left the water running. Unfortunately for $127 this is out of the question! It is a digital readout and flow meter. Not rocket science! You can purchase the Iphone for this much and it does a million more things.
http://www.rentinaix.com Aix

I guess this is a good idea but what they really need to come up with is a toilet that does not run after u flush it! but otherwise anything that can save some water is a great idea especially now before it is to late. people unfortunately don’t realize that clean water is not an infinite resource.
http://www.rentinaix.com Aix

I guess this is a good idea but what they really need to come up with is a toilet that does not run after u flush it! but otherwise anything that can save some water is a great idea especially now before it is to late. people unfortunately don’t realize that clean water is not an infinite resource.
MD

The instructions they give for install are wrong…

I would not advocate taking the water line off the tank unless you know the tank is empty in the first place.. LOL

Also wonder how well this thing would hold up to water hammer… not everyone has a hammer arrester on their toilets and or other bibs.
MD

The instructions they give for install are wrong…

I would not advocate taking the water line off the tank unless you know the tank is empty in the first place.. LOL

Also wonder how well this thing would hold up to water hammer… not everyone has a hammer arrester on their toilets and or other bibs.