Nah, use the sink and clean a plate at the same time.

L

Will soap (or my preference, non-soap detergent) dry out rubber gaskets even when they're immersed in water?  I know that the stupid bleach blocks damage the gaskets by chemical degradation.

It isn't "technically" a drying out (just like "dry skin" is technically skin deprived of natural oils and not just water, so soap and water do dry them both out).
  Really though, my biggest concern it that rubber "plunger" which takes so little warping to start to leak that it goes "on it's own", much less with assistance.
I haven't actually done any research into it, but I have seen rubberized products, um, hardened by detergents, or at least it appeared to be that way.
That is, it seems to shorten it's use. But I didn't "time it" to be absolutely sure.
I do know that excess water "dries out" leather products also (removes the oils from them),  both natural and synthetics.

There are weather/detergent proof rubber gaskets out there; they use them in washing machines; but, I don't think that there is any expectation of detergents in the back of a toilet bowl, so they may not use them there.  If they do, I am all wet, and I apologize for even mentioning it.....

I know that overuse of detergents (or having any residue left behind) IS a concern for mold, mildews and bacteria....

Thanks, Goodhart!  I appreciate the explanation and detail.  You're quite right about the action of both detergents and water on thngs like skin, leather, and presumably non-vulcanized rubber!  I hadn't made that connection.

You are quite welcome.   On further thought though, and after some discussion (below) with canida, maintenance is probably not THAT much effected, so I am probably being paranoid again. . . 

Yes, and as I assume caitlinsdad is saying, the bacterial content would probably increase inside the tank exponentially.

So essentially what is being installed is a grey-water holding tank that does not fully get rinsed out everytime it is flushed(the flapper mechanism is an inch or two above the bottom of the tank) thus defeating the purpose of removal of waste - with the possible migration path including the germs or bacteria washed from the hands which leads to the bidet discussion or the shower attachment to toilet discussion.

Still wouldn't be drinking from it.

After a bit, I would bet it would smell badly too (inside the toilet tank)

Cesspool inhouse. Reverse engineering at its best.

Hmmm, a terrorist's dream machine?  Grow your own diseases ! J/K

Hang on, I have to go shock the toilet with chlorine and check the pH before I use it.

  But, but that'll ruin the gaskets and the plunger

OK, I'll go break out the elephant gun.

ok, you lost me there....

Hmm,  true, in the city, one must do so regularly anyways since the chlorine in the water plays havoc on them.

In the countryside, where I grew up, we had a  ritual at the 1/2 year mark,  where we shut off the input valves,  flushed as much out of the top as we could, and then unbolted it and took it outside for a good rinsing....sand, silt, and a lot of other stuff ended up in there....as I recall. 

I guess it was better then trying to get to the trap every six months :-) 

Yes,  but we normally only got the sand after a heavy rain storm though :-) 

I guess one way or another, nothing is maintenance free :-)

(correct spelling in this copy)

This is a very small space for a comment! 

this one is really tiny.
www.theruralindependent.com/forum/index.php

 I kinda half agree here, I could understand maybe the gaskets of the tank, but what about the gasket of the toilet itself do you mean that too? I pour all kinds of crazy sh(t down my toilet all the time, does that mean the gasket is gonna get all messed up?

For example, regularly 3-4 pounds of dog fur and associated gravel water.

Actually the toilet gasket is made up of a solid piece of wax. It stays water tight unless the bolts in the back of the toilet come loose, then you have to replace the bugger

The one at the bottom i mean

 Oh okay, yeah I've watched a few installed in my lifetime. I remember my dumba$$ lanlord putting a new one in our upstairs toilet. What does he do? He sticks the bugger on our burning hot woodstove to melt the one end before he put it in, also producing a large amount of smoke in the process. Needless to say my mother wasn't impressed.

Oh no,  but some chemicals will dry out the gaskets and then they become brittle.   Soaps, detergents, chlorine bleaches, etc.

 Oh really? So even those "blue" toilet cleaners are probably harmful to the wax gasket?

 Nono, I meant the wax gasket used to seal the toilet to the floor/drain

Oh, I don't know about that.    I do know they warn against dumping chlorine bleach down the loo, but I am not sure if THAT is the reason or if it is because one might "burn their buns" if they splashed themselves :-) 

 That seems more likely :P

I'm having trouble picturing what you describe.  The fountain only flows during the flush/refill cycle, and the water doesn't actually collect in the basin (more of a collander, actually).  Once the tank is full, the water flow stops as before.

Oh, wait, I think I see.  You're picturing a double failure:  first, the float valve or flapper doesn't work properly, so the tank is continuously "filling."  Second, the basin above doesn't drain fast enough and eventually overflows.

Yeah, you've got a point.  In order for this to work you need to maintain your plumbing, rather than just living with "a toilet that gurgles all night" and the associated high water bill.

Not terribly eco-friendly to let the sink run while you wait for your water to warm up enough to comfortably wash your hands. Where I live we have reservoir water, and when the reservoir runs low from people wasting water the entire city goes on drought alert and the cost of water skyrockets. 

So 2-5 mins of fresh drinkable running water down the drain while you wait multiplied by billions of people who have running water, multiple times a day is actually quite a huge waste.

Also germs and bacteria tend to breed in warm moist areas... So hopefully you dry your hands well.

cold water is just as effective as warm water for hand washing as long as you use soap. rarely does tapwater get heated to a temp that kills all bacteria...and even if it did, rarely would someone wait that long for the temp to get up to scalding. As far as "comfortable",  I imagine this isn't even a thought if you live anywhere 45°N Latitude or below...

Just my thoughts. =)

Yes, washing in boiling hot water is uncomfortable to say the least ;-)

 ditto. true dat.

 Something I didn't think of though would be that your float would need to be set pretty low... So the spigot idea may not work so well, or at least add some extra complication.

 Hrm, then again, if you were really good at plumbing you could probably figure out a way to have both... 

Or liquid hand soap, maybe.  Does it cause soap scum too?