I was trying to replace the mechanism in our last, beloved old-style toilet when I broke the tank. I felt privileged to still have a proper toilet which some others can’t have, a piece of history. A good new toilet like our American Standard with “flush tower” flushes just fine, but the old one had a nice, deep bowl with a larger water surface than the new one. I was thinking, could we put a new low-flow tank on top of the old toilet, or will it not have enought water to flush the big old bowl properly?
The salesman suggested that a 28-year-old toilet bowl is ready to crack and flood the whole house, but I think he might have just made that up. I cracked the old tank through sheer folly. Should I keep the old bowl or toss it?
Part of the problem is going to be matching up the mounting and waterway. Geberit used to sell replacement tanks for the old 3.5 fixtures, but AFAIK you can’t find them anywhere. The other part of the problem is going to be one of engineering-waterway size, head pressure in the tank. Send me an email as I might have a solution for you.
If that were true, my 46 year old toilet would have long since disintegrated. It’s a fair bet that your salesman was exercising his bovine scatology skills.
If danceswithcats’ solution doesn’t work out, there are many places that sell used junk that gets ripped out of houses when they do remodels and such. You can often find good ol fashioned toilets in places like that. If you are anywhere near Baltimore, there’s a place called Second Chance you might want to check out.
FWIW I bought one of these when I remodeled my master bath. I was worried as hell it would be inferior to my old 7 gallon unit.
OH my OG this thing is awsome. It kicks the ass of every other toilet I have ever seen.
It works so much better then the unit I replaced, I went back and changed out the toilet in my 2nd bathroom in advance of the remodel.
It works that good. They are both over 10 years old and never a problem.
Well I went ahead and bought the Kohler Cimarron, but the one with the round bowl instead the elongated one. I haven’t installed it yet, but looking at it it has more of a classically shaped bowl than the Champion. It isn’t fully glazed on the inside though.
The bolt holes and water passage will probably line up OK, but putting a 1.6 gallon tank on a 5+ gallon bowl would be like putting a lawnmower carburetor on a full-size car. It just won’t be able to deliver as much water to the big bowl as quickly as needed.
The net effect will be really crappy (heh) flushes. Liquids will probably go along OK, but solids will need a few attempts.
For anyone else with toilet issues - Just bite the bullet and replace the whole thing with a good low-flow toilet. I’ve been very happy with the free TOTO toilets that the local water department gave out. Let’s just say that I’ve had them for over a year, and have forgotten where the toilet plunger is. Another brand I’ve heard raves about is the Elger Patriot - I think that’s the one where they advertise how it can flush away a dozen or more golf balls.
It won’t work properly unless you can get lucky and find the exact same model number of tank. The holes where the water comes out on the newer bowls are set up differently to handle 1.6 gallons of water instead of 3.5 gallons per flush.
If you are worried about clogging go with an American Standard Champion or one of the Toto’s with G-max technology. They are both 1.6 gallon toilets that have a larger passageway for waste, a fully glazed trapway and a flushing mechanism that reaaly boosts it out of there. I sell Toto and AM Stan, so I am most familiar with those, but Kohler and many other manufacturers now make a similar product. Unless you are going to be flushing golf balls I wouldn’t be too impressed with how many they can flush
You’ll spend a little more for one of the ones above, but you can pretty much throw out your plunger.
I would avoid the pressure assist types, that have the air tank within the tank. They are tempermental at best, garbage at worst, regardless of the manufacturer. The all use the same guts.
