Here at the official EcoJoes Estates, we’re always looking for ways to cut our water use to help the environment and save some precious dinero on our water bill.

After reading this semi-literate, grammar-error-ridden piece on the top three ways to save water in your bathroom, my thoughts turned to how to save water that the toilet used.

One easy solution was to not flush the toilet every time I peed in it. If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.

Boom, instant savings! Unfortunately, this makes the house smell even more like urine than it usually does.

What to do? How could I make the toilet use less water with each flush?

In stepped the Fluidmaster Duo Flush System (Complete Fill & Dual Flush Conversion System). Dang that is a mouthful. I rolled up my sleeves, sent a silent prayer to Poseidon, and got to work installing this puppy, bidding a fond adieu to my old toilet innards.

What is the Duo Flush System?

As the name implies, it’s a system that gives you two options for how much water to use when you flush your commode. It replaces the guts of your toilet tank, and the flush handle.

After that, you can flush the handle up for pee, and down for poo. Easy peasy.

Installing the Duo Flush System

With a wrench and a bucket (to catch any water), I was ready to go. The step-by-step instructions were really easy to follow, so I’m not going to bother replicating them rotch hur.

The first thing to do was to drain all the water, then remove most of the insides of the toilet, like so:

It was honestly pretty dang simple to install. I did f up once, when I removed something off the bottom of the tank and water went everywhere, so be careful about that!

The worst part for me was adjusting the amount of water it used for each type o’ flush. It involved a lot of wasted water, flushing over and over again to get the water amount right.

‘Twas heart-wrenching, ’twas. When my eco-tears began to fall into the toilet water, I decided the water amounts were close enough.

After drying my manly tears, I gazed upon the finished installation. It was truly a sight to behold:

Is It Worth It?

It’s been installed nigh on a week, and has worked pretty swell. I’ve had to readjust the water once or twice, but it’s easily worth it.

Now the toilet uses a lot less water, and it stays clean. Saving water, saving money, that’s the EcoJoes way.

So if you want to retrofit your current terlit to use less water, I suggest giving the ol’ Duo Flush a try.