Let us never forget who it was who pushed hard in Congress for this to happen. Congresspeople are, for the largest part, not only not scientists and engineers, but are (seemingly, from reading their statements for decades) almost mind-numbingly scientifically illiterate. I doubt that too many of them pushed hard for a 1.6 gallon standard without some outside influence, or advocacy group behind them.
Also, never forget which political party it was that championed the low-flow toilet. Every time I stood, plunger in hand, and watched the raw waste swirling in the bowl in lazy circles, refusing to go down the pipe, I knew what the root of the evil before was.
What should they have done? Well, there were a couple things.
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First, 1.6 gallons is simply a bit too low. Going from 3.5 gallons to 2.5, and then 1.6 a decade later, would have allowed time for behaviors in contracting to change. Which leads to another point…
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Contracting and construction codes on new homes should have been changed, to force the waste pipe layout to be done to accomodate the low-flow designs (more about this later).
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“Dual mode flush” toilets should have been encouraged. These are toilets with two flush levels - typically, something like a 0.8 gallon “water flush only”, and a 1.6 gallon “full flush” mode. Lets face it - the majority of the flushes are water only, and we would have ended up saving much more water, and given much more convenience to the average American, if instead of a 1.6 gallon standard, we had gone to a “0.8/2.5” mode.
BUT…to be fair to a certain political party, and certain advocacy groups, what sailor pointed out in a previous thread is true - and I did investigate a lot before I went out and got the Kansas Pressure-Assist Tornado Toilet. Here are some things I personally discovered:
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You can buy a new low-flow toilet, and tank, for as low as $19. $19? Can that be right? Yes, I saw them myself, and that was my price, not a contractor’s price. Many of you with your fancy but laughably cheaply-built brand-new $300,000 homes have these $19 toilets installed in them. Why? Simple - they all look the same, seem to act the same, and do the bare minimum job such that the contractor is not sued. And, of course, when the toilet stops working, many people will just blame it on “stupid Congress”, which does deserve some, but not all, of the blame.
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Low-flow toilets require a high head of waste pipe run, and require that the waste is washed down by waste from other sources, such as a sink or shower. The intent was to install low-flow toilets in new houses such that the plumbing design of the waste pipe was changed as well. aking it such that the toilet only needed to move the waste a dozen feet or so, and then it would be in the main pipe, where water from other sources in the house would help it continue on its way. Unfortunately, many new homes are plumbed and arranged the same exact way as they have been for 50 years, and the toilet does not have enough water to move the waste (as posted by sailor, and his example of having to pour a bucket of water in with each flush).
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Congress did not anticipate that a large number of people that had existing 3.5, 5, or even 7 gallon toilets would be forced to replace their toilets in their existing structures - like myself. Toilets have a limited life, and one of the most common reasons for replacement is china tank cracking. The second most common reason is unscrupulous plumbers, who turn an internal valve replacement job into “Ohhh…little lady, you’re going to need a new toilet. No one sells these things called ‘floats’ any more…” And, of course, the customer who is now faced with an unexpectedly high repair bill chooses the cheapest toilet possible…you get the picture.
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It’s safe to say that a lot of Dopers live in newer apartments, and when building these new apartments, which type of toilet did the contractor choose - the $19 one (available bulk for $15), or the $299 well-designed Kohler one (yes, there are many gravity-flush toilets that cost even more than my PA toilet :eek: )
So…there are a lot of things at play here.