Hippo the Watersaver (reduce bills for older toilets!)
Hippo the Watersaver is a simple polyrethene bag to save water bills, by reducing the amount of water used each time you flush. Most new toilets are pretty water-efficient so won’t need one. But for older homes and public buildings, this little affordable device can save millions of gallons of water collectively, and therefore on bills.
How much water can Hippo the Watersaver save?
The typical family uses 70% of their water in bathrooms, with flushing toilets accounting for around 30% of household water bills. Each time an oldler toilet is flushed with Hippo, you save up to 3 litres of water. As well as reducing carbon footprint and saving money, especially as most homes and offices now use water meters.
The UK has around 45 million toilets, which collectively use 2 billion litres of water each day, and yet only a tenth of these are water-efficient models that use 6 litres or less of water.
The average toilet uses around 9 litres per lish, and if everyone with older toilets used them, this could save a collective 600 million litres of water per day, and over 65 million kg of carbon dioxide.
This saving would reduce the same amount as all UK aviation traffic. As the energy used to pump, heat and treat water in the average family home over one year, produces the same carbon as a return flight from London to New York.
Which Hippo to choose?
There are two versions:
- Hippo 9 is if you use a 13 or standard 9 litre cister. This is the simplest and most effective way to cut your water usage.
- Hippo 7 is for slim-line 9 litre and smaller cistersns, which will save up to 2 litres per flush, and again reduce your water bills and carbon footprint.
If you are not sure which one to buy, flush your cistern, then count the seconds it takes to empty. The number of seconds is a rough guide to the cistern size. If you are still uncertain, just pop off the lid and try a Hippo in it. There is a selection on guide online, if you need help.
How does Hippo save water?
It’s a simply heavy gauge polyethylene unit that opens to look like a box, which basically just sits neatly in the cistern of your toilet. It’s printed with human grade food dyes, so it’s safe to touch and produces no harmful dust particles during transport, installation of daily use.
A Hippo is simply a Polyethylene unit that opens to look like a box, which sits neatly in the cistern of your toilet and saves you water and money every time you flush the toilet. It will also help to reduce your carbon footprint.
In the work place, the typical employee flushes the toilet around 3 times a day. This means 6000 times a year, so again can save employers (and those running public buildings from hotels to public museums) a fortune.
How to fit a Hippo
It’s easy, you don’t even need a plumber. The pack includes installation, and anyone from older teenagers to seniors can fit them.
Just remove the cistern lid, submerge the Hippo in the water and position under the ball cock. If your cistern has no ball cock, place in the available space instead.
The Hippo is designed so that the water does not go stale, as there is a small hole so each time the toilet is flushe,d a small amount of water comes out, and is replaced by fresh water.
If you move house, you can move it and install it another cistern. But as it only costs a few pounds, you could leave it for the new residents. And just buy another one when you move (a few greener councils may even supply them for free to local residents).
So far, over 11 million Hippos have been sold, and they pay for themselves within 8 to 12 weeks. Saving around 325 a year on bills, or a £3000 savings for businesses with an average 1000 employees (saving around £3 per worker).
The company actively works with wholesalers to sell them both here and overseas. It’s even now resident in the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and the White House. Invented by an Englishman and made in the UK!
