# Low flush toilets **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389 "2010-09-20T12:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/21 "2010-09-20T21:28:24Z")
We installed a low volume toilet this spring, in a bathroom often used by my parents. I really don’t want to know what, but my father does something on the toilet that used to result in frequently needing to use a plunger. Since installing the low flow, we’ve had no problems at all. When we were picking out the model, we made sure to talk to the contractor to both get his knowledge on what models work well, and to work with him to pick out a model that is design to handle obstructions. As an added benefit, the tank refill is much quieter, which is nice when the bathroom shares a wall with the bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/22 "2010-09-20T21:34:13Z")
I don’t know why folks keep resisting power flush toilets. I have never, ever, ever had a clogged power-flush, no matter what hideous things are dropped into it. One time I dropped an entire roll of paper towels on accident into it, and after letting it soak for a while in went down in three flushes, _including the cardboard center._ Oh yeah, [for shame, Bricker.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2754/do-low-flush-toilets-actually-save-water) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/23 "2010-09-20T22:48:08Z")
I have had a low-flow Toto for about a year now and it has clogged only once. It replaced a conventional toilet that used to clog almost every damn day. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/24 "2010-09-20T23:39:22Z")
I’ve had a 1.6 gallon toilet for about three years now. My problem with it isn’t clogging, it’s the level of the water and the reduction in the amount of water flowing down the sides. Sometimes “dark matter” ends up on the sides instead of in the bottom, and not enough water flows down the sides to clean the sides off. Also, the low water level seems to result in water stains above the water line, I don’t understand why, and they clean off ok with toilet bowl cleaner, but I never had those on my old toilet. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/25 "2010-09-20T23:48:31Z")
All toilets in Australia less than about 20 years old are dual flush. I’ve never had to flush twice in all that time. Sometimes you accidentally hit the half-flush button after defecating, it still works fine. To answer the OP’s question: yes, multiple low-flushes will use more water than a single high-flush does. But there is (or should be) no reason to multiple flush ever. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/26 "2010-09-20T23:58:58Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > But seriously, check into the copper sulfate (if you do end up having problems even with the new rig). You might still need to have someone out every few years but at the very least it will reduce the frequency of backups. You can get the stuff at any good hardware store like Lowes or HD. No, like I said, the pressure assist did the job. Plus, I sold that house to a sucker right at the top of the bubble for a pretty profit, and bought another house at the top of the bubble for a unhealthy loss. No silver maples! (But my gorgeous Australian pine is dying and I can’t get home long enough to have an arborist look at it!) > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > The duel flush ones I’ve seen in this country have nearly all be crappy. They’re also slightly harder to operate, push button instead of a crank. I have two of those dual flush things here in my on-the-road apartment in this country. American brand, label in “gpf” just like back home. They suck, and quite honestly, I can’t tell the difference between the water delivery of one button versus the other. Plus, I have to _stand there_ and hold the damned button. On the other hand, they never plug up. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/27 "2010-09-21T00:20:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I have a visceral reaction to the existence of low-flush toilets, and it’s not positive. > > But I seek to place that prejudice to one side, and open my mind to the facts. > > My intuitive reaction is that a low-flush toilet does not save water if the user flushes it several times, as opposed to the single flush needed with the old-fashioned, Eisenhower administration-era toilets that preceded the low-flush mandates. > > But surely now we can replace my intuition with actual data. > > What has been the overall effect of mandating low-flush toilets? I can give you some data for our household. We replaced an old, leaking wall toilet in our master bathroom with a new, low-flow toilet this July. This toilet gets more use on an average day than the other two toilets in our house combined. Before we replaced the toilet, our water bills were running (heh) around $50/month. Now they’re down to between $20 and $30. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/28 "2010-09-21T00:50:42Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I sold that house to a sucker right at the top of the bubble for a pretty profit, and bought another house at the top of the bubble for a unhealthy loss. No silver maples! (But my gorgeous Australian pine is dying and I can’t get home long enough to have an arborist look at it!) My condolences on both of your losses - seriously. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/29 "2010-09-21T02:01:58Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > There is an amazing difference between various products. I put some very expensive dual flush Kohler toilets in a luxury home I recently built and though they looked awesome they did not flush very well. My brother the plumber hates Kohler. They are all about design, but their internals are plastic garbage. He likes Delta. He installed a Gerber power flush in my apartments in Kansas City and Chicago and neither has ever clogged or required a second flush. One is a dual flush, and unless I have any exceptionally large BM, the .9 gpf setting works just fine. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/30 "2010-09-21T22:11:38Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > I have a Toto compact toilet (mounts 10 incehs from the wall instead of 14). I have not had big problems with it other than the water level in the bowl. The water level sits so low that when flushed I frequently get spalshback onto the seat, and often times during a “load” the “dark matter” will sit above the waterline, resulting in increased odor and sometimes a need for a second flush to completely clean the bowl. There is an adjustment inside the tank to control the water level in the bowl. I don’t know your model in particular, but the majority of toilets use a plastic screw on a rubber hose inside the tank to control how much water goes into the bowl. Tighten the screw down to get less, loosen it to get more. You want to get just enough into the bowl to prevent the problems you mention, but loosening the screw too much can result in water overfilling the bowl (and therefore going down the drain). As to the original question, my two cents: The $170 Toto low-flow toilets installed at my old apartment were much better at flushing than the high-flow toilets in my current house. It really isn’t the volume of water so much as how you use it. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/31 "2010-09-21T22:35:32Z")
> [@ethelbert](#): > > If you need to flush more than once, you have the wrong toilet. And generally speaking, you don’t need a power toilet (unless your horse is going to use it). Just get the Toto Drake. It’s not the cheapest, but it won’t break the bank either ($270.00). > Then again, some people like flushing multiple times, whether they need it or not. Another vote for the Toto. This summer I replaced an old high flow toilet with a Toto Eco Drake round bowl 1.28 gallons per flush toilet. The old toilet frequently clogged and, required multiple flushing and plungering. The new one has not yet failed to work on a single flush. As I learned in a recent thread here, it also has a dual flush mode. Holding the handle makes it run a bit longer. I didn’t know that until I’d had the toilet for a month, and I haven’t found a need yet for the extra long flush. The only complaints so far is that a few times the chain has become tangled preventing the flap from closing after a flush. It seems to only happen late at night. Eventually I’ll remember to look at it during the day when I can see if there’s a permanent fix. I too have used the old generation of bad low flow toilets. In the last few years I’d been hearing “the new ones work, no really.” Instead of a swirl, the Eco Drake sends a stream of water from the front of the bowl, through the dirty water, and straight into the outlet. Perhaps that is how all of the good low flow toilets work. I paid $250 including a soft close seat, and then got $75 back from the county for installing a 1.28GPF toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/32 "2010-09-21T23:08:01Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I have a $50, 1.6 gallon toilet in my house **and a roommate with IBS**. I never hear him flush twice… You don’t need to double flush for “Dairy Queen,” that’s usually only needed for “Baskin Robins.” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/33 "2010-09-22T06:49:31Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > > [@FluffyBob](#): > > > > There is an amazing difference between various products. I put some very expensive dual flush Kohler toilets in a luxury home I recently built and though they looked awesome they did not flush very well. > > My brother the plumber hates Kohler. They are all about design, but their internals are plastic garbage. He likes Delta. My Mom’s plumber concurs: he didn’t install it either. He characterizes them as “overengineered”. Kohler appeals to those who like having a stylish commode and are willing to settle for compromised performance during excavation. Me, I like the austere, spartan, functional look. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/34 "2010-09-22T07:22:23Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > I’m sure it resulted in fabulous business for toilet manufacturers and plumbers. > > The thing is, and I’ve said it before - a properly designed and properly installed low-volume toilet can perform as well as your 60 year old toilet. Maybe better. > > It’s the no-name crappy crappers that gave the whole thing a bad name. > > Shortly after I bought my house, the county water district offered up free Toto toilets, and they’ve been just fine and clog-free to the point that one day I did manage to clog one and it took a good while to remember where the plunger was. > > Before changing out the toilets, I always knew exactly where the plunger was as it had been used the day before. I’ve personally witnessed the miracle of the low flush toilet. Design truly matters. You would never be able to tell the difference between a low flow toilet from old-reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Cat\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Little\_Cat\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Cat_Z)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/35 "2010-09-22T07:49:42Z")
All right, I have spent the past 20 years in Eisenhower ranches. The first one, the seller was so proud of the fact that he had the original toilets (2). He had a vast selection of various parts that they might need, kept in a closet. He seemed to think of it as a selling point. And, during the 15 years we lived in that house, indeed we had very few problems, and what problems we had were solved with the application of his carefully preserved parts. We actually left the remains of the collection there (although we didn’t use it as a selling point or anything). The current house has three toilets–one original, two low-flush, as that’s all you can install these days. Once we learned how to use the low-flush ones, no problems there, either, but it was kind of a challenge. (“If you’re doing something that will result in a lot of toilet paper, use the long flush.”) However, they do not smell good. The original toilet has no problems either, but obviously it uses a hell of a lot more water. Oddly, it is also the only one that has a vent, and the one that needs it least. The low-flush ones need cleaning more often. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/36 "2010-09-22T14:02:03Z")
[Dave Barry](http://www.jimpoz.com/jokes/toiletPolice.html) on low flow toilets. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389/37 "2010-09-22T14:37:48Z")
Another vote for the American Standard Champion series. That’s the one that flushes 20 or 25 golf balls in a shot. I replace a '60s-era toilet upstairs with one of those when the tank cracked. I expected the new low flow toilet to perform poorly. Much to my amazement, the Champion has never clogged, and very rarely is any trace ever left after a single flush. Two years later I replaced our other toilet with the same model. I wanted the same awesome flush in both of our bathrooms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-flush-toilets/554389.md?page=1)