Toilets

[Tadpole]

I've given up on repairing our current toilet because I cannot find parts it is so old. We replaced a toilet in our spare bath several years ago and HATE it. It only has about a cup of water at the bottom and everything sticks above it.

We were down at Home Depot with their toilets on the top shelf where you cannot really look in them but we ended up with two possible models based entirely on Home Depot's ratings and the description. I was going to come home and see what people were saying on the Internet but no one talks about their toilets.

We have low water pressure and, according to Consumer Reports, that means we cannot exploit new technologies that add pressure to the flush so I just looked at gravity toilets. We ended up with two possible models - Kohler Archer and American Standard Champion. In the absence of any good way to compare we just recorded the models of the higher seat toilets with ratings of "best".

Have any of you purchased either brand and do you just hate it? What do/did you consider important when you bought a toilet. (Both of these have the widest exit holes that HD had on display.)

 

[Khan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/business/19place.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Men and machines are testing and retesting the Champion, a low-to-medium priced but technically advanced toilet. American Standard, the world's largest maker of bathroom and kitchen products, has promised consumers that the Champion will never clog.

 

[Telly]

Last year I installed an American Standard Champion 4 round bowl, regular height, two-piece. It has the biggest outlet path of any 1.6 gallon on the market. It could handle a hippo. We're happy with it, no complaints.

It flushes differently, which takes just a little bit of getting used to. You have to hold the flush lever down longer, like a few seconds, rather than just a quick press, otherwise the giant flush valve float will set down over the monster water outlet, and it will only half-flush.

On A/S website, there are videos of them flushing all sorts of stuff down. The guys down at the treatment plant will enjoy receiving the bucket fulls of golf balls!

With the big trap, there is lots of ceramic in that bowl. It's heavier than it looks!

Using a $-off coupon from Lowe's, we also got the A/S matching seat for it. Can now read investment info in style! (ok, that's probably a little more than you wanted to know... ).

 

[summer2007]

I got a gerber 1.1 gpf toilet last year. It's a pressure toilet and it works great no clogs but it's loud and I had to order it in special and it took forever.

I know you were saying that you needed a gravity toilet. I was trying to find the link I thought I had saved it. But anyway there is a test online somewhere where they test like 300 or more toilets for flushing performance and you can see how they stack up.

I wish I could remember what it was called and if I can find it I will post a link but it helped me out a lot when choosing a toilet. They flush fake crap down the toilets to see if they clog or not and rate them.

Jim

 

[RonBoyd]

You could start here:

toilet +flushing +performance - Google Search

 

[happy2bretired]

Love my Toto's. I have two. Lots of plumbers on this site that give opinions and reviews.

Terry Love's Consumer toilet reports, a report and reviews on toilets

 

[MikeD]

Love my Toto's. I have two. Lots of plumbers on this site that give opinions and reviews.

Terry Love's Consumer toilet reports, a report and reviews on toilets

A hearty second to Love's site and Totos. We got a Guinevere (SP?) and love it.

Mike D.

There is tremendous talk about toilets on the internet, both humorous and serious...

 

[free4now]

When I was researching toilets a few years ago, the Toto with the two-level flushing system seemed the best.

 

[Tadpole]

Thanks to everyone. I am going to check all this out and check Toto too since I found a local showroom that carries them.

 

[tryan]

promised consumers that the Champion will never clog.

They haven't met my 2 boys.

 

[calmloki]

you all need to eat oatmeal for breakfast. get a little roughage in your system. stop flushing bath towels - that's what the garbage can is for.

And on a serious note, when i look at the gee whiz latest wrinkle toilets i wonder, "is my local hardware store going to have replacement parts on the wall when i need them on a Saturday evening"? Is this new flushing method going to be the Betamax of waste removal? Do i want a Chevy or a Maserati to get water down a hole?

 

[AzDreamer]

Search the Terry Love site for past threads on the champion toilet. I think there is a class action lawsuit pending against them

I installed a Toto recently and it flushes better than the old one that used lots more water.

 

[Telly]

I waded through pages of the wonderful Terry Love's web site... the American Standard Champion data is years out of date. The flush valve was redesigned years ago to a simpler system, no more flush tower gizmo.

The "new" flush valve design - When you push down on the lever and the rod lifts up at an angle, a bead chain lifts up a large-diameter poppet valve off of a gray looks like ABS plastic pipe, which is bolted through the tank, just a very large version of what has been in tanks for years. The top of the gray flush outlet pipe is raised up quite a few inches from the bottom of the tank, this gives the 1.6 gallons of water above this point the pressure due to height that helps the flushing action. The poppet valve's top can be unlocked and unscrewed to replace a flat perimeter silicone seal, if ever required. The poppet valve's action is straight up/down, it doesn't tilt.

The FILL VALVE used in the A/S tank is made by Flushmate, the exact same part that you can buy in Home Depot and other places for <$10 in the tall narrow red and green box. The only difference is the top plastic cap is a different color, and has the American Standard name on the cap. I've refurbished enough old tanks by using the Flushmate Valve to know it is the same.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We just bought our second Toto. (I forget the model. DW knows, though.) We love them for many reasons. The guy at Hardware Sales where we bought it has no clue. Thinks it is some kind of cult thing.

We found Terry Love's web site years ago. Thanks, Happy2B for posting the link!

 

[thefed]

i just gone done doing my morning test run of our toilet...and it works great! I sure put it though the paces..

we have low pressure and it works fine....it's a $41 Lowes special called "Lamosa"

 

[Telly]

Duh! In my earlier post, the correct fill valve brand is Fluidmaster, not Flush Mate. I'm sure y'all are keeping accurate notes

To out-do thefed, I would like to point out two free methods... always use the neighbor's, or snag an empty paint can out of the dumpster behind Lowe's

 

[happy2bretired]

I have just a plain vanilla Toto, don't remember the model.

Not like any of these.

Japan's High-Tech Toilets

YouTube - High-Tech Japanese Toilet