Jim Rooney On The Level

Q. We need to replace a toilet and were told we have to use the low water use type. Do these toilets work well? If so, do you have any specific recommendations?

A. The new 1.6 gallon flush toilets work pretty well. I never thought I’d hear myself recommending them but I do now. My sister with three kids put one in the bath the kids use and her water bill dropped by a third. They make sense in houses with septic systems.

The reason you don't see the old type anymore is because they were legislated away. The law mandates all new toilets manufactured and sold in the U.S. use 1.6 gallons, or 5 liters, of water to produce one flush. They were developed in the late 1980s and by the time 1994 rolled around they had become mandated through the code. They certainly weren’t the big flashers of the past. The goal was to consume less water and they also place a lighter load on the sewage treatment plants as well.

The early models caught everyone flatfooted. Folks who moved from older bathrooms like yours into the new ones with the 1.6 gallon flushers soon discovered that these new toilets not only frequently didn’t get the job completely done but were prone to stopping up and even to overflowing.

I wrote back then that Canada had not adopted this toilet standard so if folks traveled up north I told them to bring their checkbooks and buy one there and bring it back. Used toilets were going for about a hundred dollars apiece. In an era before Ebay folks scoured yard sales and classified ads searching for old toilets they knew would do the job. When I would inspect a post-1994 home I would inevitably see a plunger either right next to each toilet in the house or find one under the sink in the cabinet. I would point to the plunger and inform my clients that there is a reason the plunger is there and warn them if they weren’t already aware of the issue. I have even seen plungers in designer colors.

After the new models had been mandated for a few years or so the manufacturers, who had been hearing about the problem for some time, finally came up with the solution. It seems the flush tube at the very bottom of the bowl was, right after the visible area, not glazed. If you look at the top of the toilet tank you’ll see it’s a shiny and slick vitreous china surface. Flip it over and the side that faces the water in the tank is rough and unglazed. So was the inside if the flush tube and that rough surface created enough friction to cause certain quantities one wants flushed to hang up, not flush completely or even stop up. It was the Japanese brand Toto who first came out with a glazed flush tube. They are all glazed now, so far as I know.

You may have seen the TV ad for Kohler toilets where a young man is leaving his condo and as he’s coming out his door he spots a very attractive lady plumber going into the unit next door. He runs back into his unit and immediately starts hurling things down his toilet in an effort to clog it up so he can call the pretty plumber to his house. The ad shows him dumping a bunch of golf balls, a potted plant’s dirt and plant, pet food, wash cloth-- you get the picture-- into his toilet. But everything goes down. The point of the ad is if you buy this brand toilet you wont have the clogging problem.

They are all pretty good now but I recommend models with the elongated bowls. Some advanced models have such features as two speed flush choices and some have air assist flush mechanisms but for me I like the good old fashion gravity flush from the reservoir tank. Low tech has less parts to break. Go to a big box home center or a plumbing supply house and take a look.

And like anything else you can go cheap and spend under a hundred dollars or it’s straight up from there.

Keep the mail coming. If you've got a question, tip, or comment let me know. Write "On The Level," c/o The Capital, P.O. Box 3407, Annapolis, MD 21403 or e-mail me at jimrooney@jimrooneyonthelevel.com or inspektor@aol.com.