What's wrong with American toilets???

Factual Questions
21

I actually prefer some of the European toilets. Especially the ones that have the little half circle buttons on the top. Push the left and get a low flow flush, push the one on the right get a high flow flush. I wish I had those at home.

However, I did not care for the Greek toilets with no TP. I expected that in Indonesia but not in Europe. (Geography impaired here, Greece is in Europe isn’t it?)

I even figured out the climbing on the rim/seats deal that women do after perusing the footprints of the previous occupants. After a while it just seemed normal.

22

Fair enough PictsiePat, but be careful about breathing life into a thread from January.

23

I’m no expert on European plumbing, having spent 2 years at an airbase in Germany. I suspect that there, as they do here, the lowest bidder won the contract. :wink:

Having said that, I also have some gripes about our “modern” toilets that seem to match those of the OP and I was born here.

My house was built in 1955, and at some time in the not-too-distant past, the previous owner improved the house by increasing the size of the kitchen & master bedroom, adding a bath just for the MBR. The hallway toilet may not be archaic, but it does its job very well – no spashback and when you flush, an impressive display of hydraulic power whisks the offending matter down the pipes posthaste.

The new, “modern” toilet, OTOH, can be relied upon to clog at least once or twice a year. Sometimes, when it’s on a roll (insert rimshot here) it will clog several times a month. I suspect that part of this may be due to amateur workmanship when the pipes were laid, but at least twice a year I have to go outside and “work the clog” from the other end just to get things going again. When flushing, there’s never quite enough power to send everything on its way. :mad: Often multiple flushes only serve to thove the current wastepile into the one that didn’t quite escape down the pipes and the resulting logjam requires considerable plunging and occasionally chemical warfare (drano, undiluted lye, or whatever bottled vitriol is available).

The “modern” toilet must have been designed by someone with no/very small external genitalia. I believe I am average in this respect, but due to the high water level in the bowl, I must take care to sit “just so” else parts of me will be baptised in water of questionable sanitation. And it’s cold, too!

Someone mentioned padded seats earlier in teh thread. I have used padded seats for years, but finally realized whi they are a good thing, when in a fit of Scotsmanship, I replaced the old, cracked padded seat with the cheapest plastic seat I could find. This was in winter, and to save on heating, I usually keep the MBR bath door closed (and thus, cold. I realized the error of my ways when, one cold morning, I went into the (even colder) bathroom for my morning “constitutional”. When my posterior hit that seat you could almost hear the capillaries slam shut! It was like sitting on a block of ice, but not as wet.

I replaced the cheapest hard plastic seat I could find with the cheapest padded seat I could find that very day. If I need to wake up in a hurry, I’ll take the espresso, please. :wink:

–SSgtBaloo

24

They’re still very common in bars/cafes, especially in the men’s bathrooms. As you stated, they’re convenient to clean and obviously won’t break. So, there’s no need to ever replace them, hence a lot of cafe’s owner won’t see a good reason to switch to something else.
For those wondering : they look like a square a couple feet wide of porcelain on the ground, with a hole in the middle and two surelevated “footsteps” (still in porcelain) in front of it.

25

I’m with you on that one, PP.

I often holiday in the Greek Islands and have learnt to do my numbers twos in the toilets of bars or restaurants. I do not like leaving my used TP festering in a bin in my holiday apartment. Yuck!

26

You know, it’s funny that whenever someone dares mention something negative about Europe, then it automatically means it’s Europe-bashing, especially if the negative opinion comes from an American.

27

Thank “ecologists” and similar morons.

28

My most humble apologies Grey. It was a mistake but for future reference where do I find the expiration date on posting. Is there a box I can click on, or some obscure thread in ATMB? Thanks in advance for your response.

29

Generally, the Staff like to see new threads created on topics, rather than bumping old ones, unless the new posts add appreciably to the prior discussion. However, AFAIK there is no “time limit”, and with the Board sometimes having been highly unresponsive the last quarter, people can be forgiven for not having been able to use Search or post earlier to a thread whilst it was still “alive”.

It’s not a “major offence” or anything, although it does seem to bother some Members. But it is something that the Staff have said they would prefer people not do.

Una, who is not a Moderator

30

Dual-flush toilets rock - mine has an ordinary lever-style handle - push down and release for a small flush, push down and hold for serious logging operations.

31

Check the top left corner of the last post in the thread for the date of the last post. I was just trying to point out it’s an old(ish) thread and not trying to give you a hard time.

Grey, who doesn’t even play a mod on TV.

32

Well that was badly done. :frowning:

33

We’re remodeling our house and are going to replace two toilets. Not being frequent toilet shoppers, what should we look for? Is there a specification or measurement for ability to avoid clogging? My instinct is to drive to Canada and get a big old water user, but there must be some efficient models that actually work, aren’t there? Does anyone have a toilet that rocks?

34

Consumer Reports did a report on terlets about a year and a half ago. You can get the report by joining consumerreports.org - a monthly membership is, IIRC, $2.95 and gives you access to the archives. There was quite a bit of variation on quality (interestingly, there wasn’t any correlation with price), but they concluded that there are more than enough good, modern, water-saving toilets in all price ranges to make driving to Canada pointless.

35

Please see LSL Guy’s comments above. Also, I wonder, given a chance to think about it again, you would think this an appropriate way to express your views in General Questions.

The only European toilets I’ve used were in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. I found them inferior to the toilets I’m accustomed to in the United States. The “small puddle” meant that while I was doing the job, the detritus accumulated on a dry part of the bowl – it left and ugly smear and required several flushes to clean up. (The “big puddle” disparaged in the OP is there to keep all the detritus underwater at all times, so as to reduce the diffusion of odours.) And then the flush turned out to be some kind of water fountain, which tended to spray water all over the place – I noticed that most of the stalls had wet floors.

36

Actually, I don’t think that there is a generally agreed upon “proper” name in English for the thing you sit upon to do your business.

“Commode” and “lavatory” actually refer to the sink or basin where you wash your hands and face.

“Toilet” actually refers to the entire act or process of preparing yourself to go out in public.

37

Middle of the summer, 9 months pregnant, 40 pounds heavier than you’ve ever been in your entire life, frequent urniation …

Padded seats ROCK.

38

Does anyone know if pressure assist toilets can be fitted in any ordinary bathrooms in America? Do they require special plumming, or electrical connection (scary thought).I have only seen them in shopping malls etc., could I get one for my private residence (with landlord’s permission of course).