How to Keep your Toilet Bowl Clean with Flush 'n Sparkle and prevent damage to toilet parts
Channel: Fluidmaster Toilet Repair Videos
Date: 2020-03-10

Available for purchase directly from Fluidmaster at:https://www.shop.fluidmaster.com/flush-n-sparkle/category/flushSparkle 

A fantastic option for keeping toilet bowls clean is Fluidmaster’s Flush ‘n Sparkle. Unfortunately, many homeowners opt for bleach toilet tank tables instead and this is a MAJOR mistake. Bleach in these tables will break down toilet tank flappers, fill valves, flush valves and seals. Ultimately this damage can cause running toilets or costly water leaks. Flush ‘n Sparkle attaches to the toilet tank and comes in two varieties: bleach and blue surfactant. Water from the fill valve runs through Flush ‘n Sparkle and then directly enters the fill valve. This prevents the bleach or surfactant solution from entering the tank and damaging toilet parts. The Blue Flush ‘n Sparkle is safe for septic systems. And the bleach Flush ‘n Sparkle is safe for children and pets because the bleach levels dissipate after 10-15 minutes. Also available online at Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, Ace Hardware, Do-It-Best and Menards.

FAQs on Flush 'n Sparkle:
Q: By switching to Flush ‘n Sparkle from a drop-in bleach tablet, approx. how many years can a customer extend the average life of a flapper or any other toilet part?

A: Most of Fluidmaster’s fill valves, flappers and flush valves have 5-7 year warranty and typically last beyond these years when not exposed to the harmful effects of drop-in bleach tablets.  Drop-in bleach tablet use can degrade these toilet parts so they do not function properly (e.g., seal leaks) within a year or two.  In a worst case scenario, drop-in bleach tablet use can cause a fill valve failure with the ensuing water leak damage requiring high cost repairs.

Q: How long would it take for the bleach to dissipate from the toilet bowl so that the toilet bowl water would be safe for kids and pets? 

A: Chlorine will kill bacteria such as E. coli in less than a minute, but takes around 16 minutes to kill the hepatitis A virus. It needs 45 minutes to kill Giardia, and up to 10 days to kill Cryptosporidium. So the question becomes, is the potential presence of bacteria, germs, and viruses in the toilet bowl water safe for kids and pets? Conceivably, an acceptable level of chlorine concentration is perhaps desired to be around for as long as possible to keep the toilet bowl water free of harmful microorganisms.   Well, this is why swimming pools require a constant level of chlorine in the water at all times.

Q: How much is the bleach concentration in Flush ‘n Sparkle compared to a drop-in bleach tablet?

A: Drop-in bleach tablets are basically the same chemical product as Flush ‘n Sparkle but comes in a larger amount and are placed directly in the toilet tank water.  The toilet tank water may build up high chlorine concentration levels with infrequent flushing.  When flushed, most of the chlorinated toilet tank water goes down the drain with the waste.  The small amount of chlorinated water remaining in the toilet bowl trap immediately after the flush is diluted with supplied refill water from the fill valve for the toilet bowl water level reset.  The resulting toilet bowl water may have about the same amount of chlorine concentration as compared to the same toilet equipped with the Flush ‘n Sparkle system.

Q: Does the bleach in Flush ‘n Sparkle affect sewer systems and is it environmentally as safe as a drop-in bleach tablet?

A: If drop-in bleach tablet use can be accepted as being environmentally safe, then the amount of chlorine dispensed from the Flush ‘n Sparkle system is just as safe, if not more so.  People with a septic tank sewage system are the ones most concerned about using chlorine with toilet flushing.  The Flush ‘n Sparkle system releases an acceptable amount of chlorine concentration that resides in the toilet bowl to keep the bowl water germ free.  By the time the Flush ‘n Sparkle bowl water is flushed with waste down the drain, much if not all of the chlorine concentration has dissipated. In contrast, most of the drop-in bleach tablet toilet tank chlorinated water goes down the drain with the waste at the time the toilet is flushed.  As such, a toilet with the drop-in tablet would expose the septic tank sewage system with a much higher dosage of chlorine concentration per flush as compared to the same toilet using the Flush ‘n Sparkle chlorine dispensing system.