A Pitch for a Water Saving Device - the QuietFILL

In the course of experimenting with my toilet this summer, I broke the part where the float ball stem screws into the fill valve inside the tank. I managed to glue this part back together with some strong epoxy, but it finally gave out the other day. Good things sometimes come by accident. This is one such case.

The toilet fill valve I bought at the hardware store (seen above) was cheap at $7. I can't vouch for it's durability and though it's called quiet fill I haven't noticed much difference in the sound it makes. But one nice feature is that it was easy to install AND it allows you to adjust the water level to whatever you want in the tank. The old fashioned way to reduce water usage from the tank is to put a brick or two in it or, as a neighbor told me, to bend the float ball stem. (That may be how I broke it in the first place). But this QuietFILL makes it easy and more exact.
You can experiment with exactly how much water you need in your tank to completely flush your poops. If you follow the conservation motto "if it's mellow let it yellow" you will usually need less water to flush a healthy bowel movement, as the extra urine you may already have in the bowl will help it down. But even if you aren't into playing the role of maximum resource efficiency analyst, many toilet tanks use a lot more water than needed. Without piddling around (literally and figuratively), this valve will let you save anywhere from a quart to almost a gallon of water each time you flush.

(No, I'm not getting paid anything by the makers of QuietFILL, but if you know anyone who works for them …)