# Contraband toilets from Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514 "2004-04-17T11:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/1 "2004-04-17T11:12:43Z")
Tom Griswold of [Bob & Tom](http://www.bobandtom.com/) fame recently insinuated that he purchased a “full capacity toilet” from someone who ran a toilet smuggling business between Canada and the United States. I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not. Just curious… is this really happening? Is there evidence of an underground network of toilet smugglers? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/2 "2004-04-17T12:33:16Z")
Toilets in the US are by law limited to a 3.5 gallon capacity I believe. Old ones had a 5 gallon capacity. Yes Canadian toilets are at the larger capacity so a few I’m sure get taken across the border but as for wholesale smuggling, I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/3 "2004-04-17T12:35:11Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Tom Griswold of [Bob & Tom](http://www.bobandtom.com/) fame recently insinuated that he purchased a “full capacity toilet” from someone who ran a toilet smuggling business between Canada and the United States. I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not. Just curious… is this really happening? Is there evidence of an underground network of toilet smugglers? [Yes](http://www.tnfb.com/communications/read%20all%20about%20it/hey%20buddy%20want%20to%20buy%20a%20toilet.htm) and [more here](http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3042/n7_v45/20963158/p2/article.jhtml?term=) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/4 "2004-04-17T17:51:41Z")
Guard at the Border: Got anything to declare? “John Doe”: Well, I got a hundred pounds of pot in the trunk (handing over a receipt from a Home Depot in Windsor.) Guard, perusing the reciept: Oh, another toilet, eh? (adds a check to a list on his clipboard.) Okay, you’re clear. Alternative ending: Guard: What, no whiskey or bacon? You gotta go back! ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/5 "2004-04-17T18:53:22Z")
In the US, toilets are limited to six liters per flush, or about a gallon and a half. In Canada, it’s 14. Your best bet, IMHO, is to find an five or seven gallon toilet from an old, old house. The rare times I still encounter a seven gallon crapper, I salute the thing, and utter a wuiet “God Bless America!” ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/6 "2004-04-17T19:42:13Z")
Yes, there most certainly is a toilet smuggling market. Go to your local kitchen & bath store and ask if he’s got a “really old toilet” that’s been “sitting in the back of the shop for years ;)” If you’re lucky, he’ll be able to hook you up with a 5-gallon model. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/7 "2004-04-17T20:10:05Z")
I think even Dave Barry did a few columns on clandestine Canadian toilets. Here it is: [Link](http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Regulation/canadian_toilets.htm) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/8 "2004-04-17T20:12:45Z")
Psst! Yo man, I got deese toilets! ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/9 "2004-04-17T20:46:50Z")
Oh sure you laugh. Then you realize that high flush volume toilets serve as **gateway** plumbing fixtures to more dangerous devices. I suspect we’ll be a country overrun with bidets, lickety split. ---
**Author:** ![Lithium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/71c47a/32.png) [@Lithium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lithium)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/10 "2004-04-17T20:50:57Z")
I love power toilets. The flush is just so much more satisfying. It’s like a cyclone raging beneath you. It handles even the big logs. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/11 "2004-04-18T00:34:20Z")
> [@Lithium](#): > > I love power toilets. > > The flush is just so much more satisfying. It’s like a cyclone raging beneath you. > > It handles even the big logs. I love mine, too. My old, 5 gallon toilet would, err, sometimes clog itself for no good reason that I can imagine. Never, ever, had a problem with my pressure assist toilet, no matter what I – what’s thrown at it. I _almost_ went to pick up a regular toilet in Windsor. It’s perfectly legal, and done all the time. I imagine the _commercial resale_ of such toilets would be illegal, but for private use it’s not “smuggling.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/12 "2004-04-18T00:40:46Z")
FWIW my 1.6 gallon Kohler flushes way better than the 7 gallon POS that it replaced. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/13 "2004-04-18T01:51:31Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I _almost_ went to pick up a regular toilet in Windsor. It’s perfectly legal, and done all the time. I imagine the _commercial resale_ of such toilets would be illegal, but for private use it’s not “smuggling.” Wellllllll, I dunno. The [cite](http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3042/n7_v45/20963158/p2/article.jhtml?term=) I supplied earlier had this to say: > [@](#): > > The U.S. Department of Energy isn’t as confident about the legality of the toilet “smuggling” going on near Detroit. **The act of buying a 3.5 gpf toilet in Canada and bringing it back into the United States may be in violation of federal law.** > > “I believe it is illegal,” said Mike Lamb, energy manager in U.S. DOE’s office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network Clearing House. “I believe that any product imported into the United States has to conform to U.S. standards. That goes with any product.” I don’t know if these statements go beyond speculation…if there really have been any court cases or law enforcement actitivies involved. It’s not entirely clear, however, that “it’s perfectly legal” as you said. ---
**Author:** ![5cents](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/46a35a/32.png) [@5cents](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5cents)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/14 "2004-04-18T04:56:09Z")
I agree with a few others, quality beats quantity. A pressure assisted toilet absolutely works better than a high-volume toilet. We have one pressure-assisted toilet in our house, and it never clogs. They are expensive, though. Water pressure operated ones go for $500+, and ones with electric pumps go for $1200+. I went for the water pressure operated - pretty close to electric in “performance”, half the price, and works when the power is out (assuming you still have decent water pressure). Just don’t flush when you’re sitting on it… One minor problem, though. You do get some “residue” on the bowl with pressure-assist. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraband-toilets-from-canada/240514/15 "2004-04-18T14:09:32Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Tom Griswold of [Bob & Tom](http://www.bobandtom.com/) fame recently insinuated that he purchased a “full capacity toilet” from someone who ran a toilet smuggling business between Canada and the United States. I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not. Just curious… is this really happening? Is there evidence of an underground network of toilet smugglers? Yes, being a monarchy sharing a border with the USA, Canadian thrones do find their way south. Last summer a fellow asked me about the legality of this. (I’m a Canadian lawyer, so I was not able to advise him on American law, but our conversation was interesting.) He was into car auctions, so his family vacations were usually road trips to the USA. He’d drive down with an trailer, and return with an old car on it. One summer he noticed that the new toilets in a Grand Marais, MN, gas bar were not flushing the way toilets should flush. He started noticing this sort of problem more and more on that road trip, and eventually asked a gas bar owner why non-flushing toilets were being installed in so many places. To make a long story short, the next summer instead of bringing an empty trailer down, he loaded it with old Canadian toilets that he had picked up from home renovators. Since then, he has never been prevented by US Customs from bring in his load of crappers. He says his summer family vacations now pay for themselves. He also told me that he had spoken over the phone a few times with a fellow in town who makes several trips per year doing this sort of thing for a second income.