Tired of plungering

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One of the terlets in my house was apparently replaced by the previous owner. I think the originals were Crane and were--if you'll pardon the expression-POSes.
The replacement is a Gerber with the pressure-assist flush thingie. That is fabboo! I think I could flush a football and it'd go down!
I made a mistake with the other one, replacing a--again, pardon the expression--crappy Crane with a Kohler that supposedly had some kind of marvy new flushing mechanism. Frankly, it's no better than the first one. One of these days I'm going to rip it up and replace it with another pressure-assist toilet.
In the meantime, I keep my plunger handy.

veg
 
Flushit

Accordiong to CR, the Eljer tall gravity is the best but Gerber's pressure flusher (noisy) and the AS Champion are good as well. The American Standards have a straight through water path so they do flush well without all the drama of a pressure flusher.

People like me really don't save water because I flus everytime right after I drop one.
 
The American Standard Champion has been an absolute fiasco. It's been on the market for over two years now and the bugs still are not worked out. Granted, the tank parts are warrantied for 10 years, but while you're waiting for new parts to arrive, your potty is out of commission and the same parts are constantly in replacement rotation.

This is actually something I have spent a lot of time and research on. I built my first home in '94 which was the first year the 1.6 gallon toilets were federally mandated for new construction and major renovation in the U.S. I had the first generation of 1.6 American Standard Cadets and they were hoffific. The just-released third generation 1.6 Cadet (the Cadet 3 with Flush Right) is supposed to be phenomenal. The Toto Ultramax models are also great performers, though a little heavy in the price tag. All of the pressure assist (Flushmate) models work well but they're noisy and expensive to repair. The Kohler Class Five series rates fairly well in flush volume and plug resistance, but lack in bowl rinse.

I have begun to think that it's really not necessary to spend a fortune on a toilet. They pretty much all handle pee just fine. If you tend to use a lot of paper for other functions, break that habit and flush as you go. The latest "high performance" models are running $175 to $200 (closer to $300 for Toto) and research indicates that all work well. All of the major brands now have these models.

The toilet should no longer be confused with a wastebasket. Human waste and toilet paper only. NO Kleenex, paper towels, tampons, Q-tips, etc.
 
The Habitat for Humanity salvage stores usually have a nice selection of used toilets of various vintages for $35. You can get a good old five gallon model, take it apart and give it a good wash with muriatic acid, put new guts in the tank for under $20 and a new seat (prices vary) and, though it will guzzle water, it will get it all on the first flush and will be hard to clog.
 
and if yall CONTINUE to have hardships with your toilets, you might consider adding some *roughage* to your diets!
 
I bought the pressure-flush Gerber with an elongated bowl last summer. It's excellent. It will NEVER, EVER clog. If it does, I'll come to your house and plunge it, personally.

Yes, it's a little louder than a standard toilet, but the flush cycle is really short, so it's not annoying. There's a burst of sound, then it's gone. Unless your toilet is in the living room, it won't bother you. And, it only uses a gallon-and-a-half of water, to boot.

It's a little spendy---I think mine was $375, including installation---but a toilet is something you use daily for many years. And you're finding out how damned annoying a dodgy toilet can be. Go for the Gerber!
 
I am gone for a few days and yall are talking crap!

LMAO...funny thread, thanks for the laugh...

I have a TOTO and IMHO it is a POS. So is this house. My Maytag is worth more than this house. (not saying much is it?)
I have to keep a plunger right next to the toilet.

And I agree...what is the use? of a low water john/jane if you have to flush it more than once. No offense to anyone named John or Jane.

Happy Easter to Everyone in Applianceville...Be safe, be well, and eat alot of boiled Easter Eggs on Sunday. lol

With gas prices going way up again, I may have to fart in a balloon and take to the air-ways. (No offense to the vacuum gods)

Peace out...
C
 
Hmm, seems like I'm not the only one with a good review for Gerber.

Note re. "no kleenex or paper towels." This is more important than it may sound. You look at a piece of toilet paper, a kleenex, and a paper towel, and it appears they're all pretty similar. But they are definitely not.

Toilet paper is designed to self-shred or nearly dissolve after even a very brief soak in water, so that it will be less likely to clog the WC on the way down, less likely to snag and cause a blockage in the wastewater pipes, and more easily broken down in sewage treatment plants. (Okay, exception for that nasty single-sheet stuff you sometimes see in public WCs, that has the consistency & absorbence of waxpaper, but that stuff is intended to be used by the single sheet, God knows how...)

By the time toilet paper reaches your septic tank or the municipal treatment plant, it has basically broken down into suspended fibers in the water, which the septic or municipal system can handle much more effectively than if the paper were still intact.

Kleenex has to be designed to withstand the air pressure of blowing one's nose, so it's tougher and harder to break down. When flushed, it can snag on the little bits of tree roots that often make their way into wastewater pipes outside the house. After a while, this stuff can build up and cause a clog.

Paper towels are designed to withstand rough mechanical treatment while wet, for example wiping up a food spill on a counter. Same result as kleenex when you flush 'em, only moreso and faster.

Q-tips and similar, can tumble in the water and wedge across a pipeline like little sticks, especially when a partial clog is already present.

If you have some free time, try this: take a typical wad of TP, maybe 3 - 4 sheets, and a kleenex, and a paper towel, and drop all of them in a bucket of clean water, and then stir briskly with a fork. The TP will shred quickly whilst the other papers won't.

---

Despite being hardcore for conservation, I have no problem with high water use in toilets. The rightful purposes for residential water are drinking, cooking, personal cleanliness (toothbrushing, washing, bathing, showering), and sanitation (laundry, dishwashing, toilets, cleaning household surfaces). If we can make those processes more efficient, good, but not at the expense of basic health considerations. The places where water use is truly wasteful, are in watering lawns in inappropriate climates (anywhere that there is not natural precipitation in each season of the year), and inefficient crop irrigation processes, all of which can and should be cut back or cut out entirely.
 
Good points designgeek! I like the sign that is frequently sold at boating shops that says "Do not place anything into the toilet that has not been eaten first!" I think I'll keep on my original track, and see if I can find a toto or an A. S. Toilet

We have a constant problem with the women's restroom at our shop with overflows and flooding. Women seem to try and flush ANYTHING!

Here's a funny one I heard one time that sort of plays on our need to change names of things to make them sound more polite. It's a letter to a paper products company:

" I was at the supermarket, and I found your product which was labeled bath tissue, and resembled toilet paper. I figured I should try out the product and see how good it works. That evening, I filled up the bathtub, and pulled off some of your bath tissue from the roll. Upon touching the water however the bath tissue almost instantly fragmented and fell apart. After several more attempts to use your bath tissue, I gave up on trying to use it to take a bath with, as the product was very poor for it's intended purpose. I instead, used the rest of the product as toilet paper. I am thinking this may have been a simple mis-label at the factory because I cannot fathom someone making a product this poor!"
 
So does it matter if you swallow whole?

But seriously folks.....

My '80's vintage Norris fixtures, which are a mid-flush, transitional design (3-1/2 Gal/flush) are very good performers even on partial flushes using only 1-1/2 gallons of water. (I installed 2 handle, mini-flush kits.)

If you're in an area where water is short and prices are high (e.g., So California) then lo-flows start to make sense. The first generation of low-flows really sucked, even CU's higher rated ones. If you're a double flush man and can stand the noise, get a power flush for best performance. Otherwise get an old '60's Eljer or Universal Rundle, etc.. with a 5 gallon tank.
 
This is the perfect thread for this:

He, he. He, he, he...

I am the great cornholio. I need TP for my LOW-FLOW!

Hey, a**wipe, lets go get some Nachos.... and try to clog Andersons new toilet.

Yea. That would be cool. Yea, yea; Cool!

He, he, he...
 
Gerber Ultra Flush

I have a Gerber Ultra-Flush 1.6 gal. The toilet is a little loud flushing, but it really does the job. In the 5 years that I have had it, I can count on one hand the number of times I had to use a plunger. It seems it happens when some of my sons friends come over and use way....too much toilet paper. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Consumer reports rated this toilet #1 a few years ago.
 
One of the main problems with these low flush toilets is the small diameter of the trap and beyond. Plus, these cheap, narrow passages have not been glazed, so imagine all of that rough surface to grab onto and actually slow the passage of the flush through the passage. Make sure that the toilet, which will be more expensive, has a glazed trap and the wider diameter passageway. Fortunately, I still have one original 1954 American Standard and a newer one, but not a low flow type. Here is something I did to modify the '54 and my water bills have dropped like a rock. You know that little jet of water that squirts down the tube to rinse the bowl while the tank is filling? Well, I positioned it so that it sprays into the tank instead. That is a very strong jet of water. You almost want to lift the lid to see who's peeing in there. It causes the tank to fill very fast. The water level in the bowl is slightly lower, but not to where it causes cleaning problems. If you can adjust the position of this part, you might make a water saver out of your older super flusher.

I'm going to have to try giving the tank a squirt of liquid dishwashing detergent just when the flapper closes to see if I can cause an oversudsing situation.
 
Low Flush Toilets

Tome, I agree with you on some of the toilets that they have a small diameter of the trap and beyond. The Gerber is not that small. You have to check it out. I had an older toilet also, and I would not trade this Gerber for anything.

Ray
 
Toto's

In a local bath showroom, they have the Toto on display with eight golf balls in it. They claim it will flush the 8 golf balls down with no problem. Well it did. But.........who poops like golf balls?????? Well.....anyhoo, the Toto is a pretty good toilet if you have it in an area where NOISE is a problem But give the Gerber ultraflush anyday.
 
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