I have three toilets in the house, and it seems like every 6 months or so, one of the three takes a crap (so to speak). I’ve replaced flappers, fillers, siphons, and entire guts trying to keep one working. Not to mention the joy of unclogging a stopped toilet after a vigorous deposit. Another toilet just failed last weekend, and that got me to thinking: there must be a better solution than the old gravity tank system.
Does anyone have experience with the pressure-assisted or the vacuum-assisted flush mechanisms? What are the pros and cons? I’d like to never deal with a stopped toilet again, and I’ll pay a premium to see my byproducts neatly whisked away.
I’m hoping for some words of wisdom from the Dope on toilet bowl selection. Not the most elegant or stimulating topic, but a necessary one nonetheless. Thanks.
Just mentioning this in passing (so to speak) because it was so baffling and unprecedented: the last house we rented had chronic flushing problems. Long story short, when it was built in, roughly, 1974, some wank hammered a piece of rebar through the main waste line junction after the slab had been poured. Took 40 years for the clog to become critical. :eek:
My experience with toilets is that the entirety of the replaceable parts can be had for under $30. The time it takes to replace them is under 30 minutes, and they usually last 30 years. Are you sure you don’t have issues with your pipes?
Go buy an “american standard champion 4” toilet. It has a very large flush valve and trap way. Flushes fast and completely. Last year I had hip issues and on some painkillers. We know those can cause elimination issues. This toilet works great.
Years back in our last house I had one of the pressure assist toilets. It also worked very well but was quite noisy. Of you were in the back yard you could hear it flush.
Look up Caroma toilets.
Due to medications he was on, my father was always stopping up the toilet.
After much research (and to much time unclogging the toilet) my SO found these.
Caroma makes a larger trapway on their toilets, and apparently it works, because we never had to plunge or snake the toilet after it was installed, even though it is a low flow toilet.
I’m not sure that the piping isn’t obstructed somewhere, it’s a 1980’s house with 1980’s sewage piping. I’ll probably pay for someone to come in with one of those scopes and make sure I don’t have tree roots or something.
I know repair parts are cheap and plentiful, it just seems like there should be a better answer than what we have. It’s not like toilets get used that often; 4 times a day, maybe?
Former plumbing sales person here. If the problem is not the pipes, a pressure assisted toilet will more than likely solve your problem. Drawback- the noise. Think airport toilet loud.
If you suspect the lines, id first try renting a rooter, Home Depot has them. If there are roots you will see evidence of it when the snake comes out.
ETA: checking HDs site, I see you can also rent a camera.
Where my brother lives in Michigan, the only toilets for sale are water saving low volume flush models. When he bought his current home, he rented a truck and drove north into Canada. In Canada he purchased four or five high volume flush toilets and replaced the ones in his home.
So, now he is thinking about selling the home and he’ll have to replace the toilets back to low flow again.
I’ve had a continuing battle with roots for something like 20 years. One piece of advice, plumbers are all over the place when it comes to guaranteeing their work. I’ve had plumbers who claim to be “specialists in drain cleaning” offer no guarantee, one month, three month and six month. Last year a I used a six-month guarantee company. The sewer clogged back up in five. It was nice they came out and redid the work, but that was the fastest time ever for the roots to come back, even though I used the highest-priced company with the longest guarantee.
This is simply not normal, and indicates a problem with the plumbing pipes. Concentrate on having them checked out; a plumber with a video inspection scope is a good idea.
If the problem is in the pipes, a pressure-assisted toilet will not really solve the problem. It might have enough force to make symptoms disappear for a while, but eventually it will reappear (probably more seriously).
I recently remodeled the bathroom in my 108-year old house. The toilet had been installed in 1946. It was still working fine. The inner guts had been replaced several times over the decades, but the fixture itself was still functioning well. The replacement uses less water, is much quieter, and a more comfortable height.
Though I seriously doubt that the new one will last for 70 years of use.