Older Toilets and Extra Bolts

[beekeyknee]

Bathroom care/Sewer problems

Dan, You're right. Most people have no idea how to care for bathroom fixtures or surfaces. Strict attention must be paid to caring for toilets, bathtubs, sinks, tiles and plumbing. Each has to be cleaned and maintained in a certain way if one expects the bath to function properly and retain its beauty.

 

Some people don't even know how to sit on a toilet. It's not a recliner. One's not supposed to lean back on the tank. Why don't people have any sense?

 

My sister and brother-in-law took out one of their toilets and couldn't get the gasket between the tank and bowl to stop leaking. so they threw it away and bought one of those stupid low flush toilets to replace it. I wonder if they were using the wrong parts or putting it together wrong? Hard to say. I wasn't there, but I'd be willing to bet. The new toilet is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It looks all pretty and period, but it uses about a quart of water to flush. And people wonder why they're starting to have stoppages in their main lines and cities are wondering why sewer lines are running slow or stopping up with grease and debris. Hmmmm? Let's see. No water? No phosphates to dissolve grease? Try using soap and hard water in your washing machine and see what happens. A grey ring of muck around the top of the water level. Gee, I wonder if the same build up could be happening inside of pipes? (Scratches head.)

[this post was last edited: 8/11/2012-17:59]

 

[qsd-dan]

Not sure what toilet(s) your sister had, but Americans Standard toilets have a doughnut type tank to bowl gasket that needs additional time and care to properly align and seal correctly. I use always use petroleum jelly on the tank to the bowl gasket and slowly go back and forth tightening the tank to bowl bolts for an even tank alignment. The petro jelly prevents the doughnut seal from hanging up and becoming cockeyed on the bowl, preventing any leaks.

I also use a rubber gasket seal from another brand toilet manufacturer (Mansfield? Can’t remember at the moment) that I put between the locking nut and tank (underneath). This is also coated with petro jelly on both sides. This gasket allows one to get the nut tighter without gouging or cracking the porcelain. Factory just has a metal nut tightening up again the porcelain tank. I don’t like that at all! The petro jelly prevents the large nut from hanging up and skidding on the rubber gasket, allowing one to get a tighter torque reading on the seal.

Tank to bowl bolt seals can often seep a little for a day or so after they're installed, then seal for good until they're disturbed again. This seems to be pretty common with the crappy rubber seals that are available today.

Kohler toilets with their 3 bolt triangle tank to bowl gaskets usually align and seal up without any additional attention, but I have only fooled around with one of those (a light blue 1972 Kohler Wellworth).

I can't stand the low 1.6 gallon toilets. They don't flush very well to begin with and begin plugging up the trap after 5-7 years. Can't imagine how awful the newer 1.28s are! Between vintage top loading Maytag washers, vintage KitchenAid dishwashers (3 gallon fills = 21 gallons per load) and antique toilets, I'm sure I’m solely responsible for keeping the sewer lines downstream from me nice and clean, lol.

 

[rp2813]

Well, I have to say I'm impressed with the performance of the new 1.28 gallon toilet that gave rise to this thread.

 

Today I cleaned one of the carpets and dumped the dirty, nearly black water from the cleaner's holding tank into the new toilet, turning the water in the bowl black.  Mind you, this new toilet has an impressively large surface area of water in the bowl.  With one flush, and they do seem like partial flushes that complete in a matter of a few seconds, the bowl was completely clear.   Amazingly, the toilet provides similar results with solids.  In that regard, I'm happy with its performance.

 

Still, the concern over clogged pipes is justified.  I make sure to use the other old-school toilets with +/- 5-gallon flushes, both of which are further back on the main line from the low-flow unit, in order to keep things moving.