Home: Toilet Advice

[Greg]

Hint for new homeowners: if you use those drop-in-the-tank toilet cleaners, be careful. I had a flush valve seal on a Mansfield toilet get mushy and start leaking. It was a 5 minute fix, but it's only a 5 year old toilet. I found the following on the Mansfield website:

 

WARNING: USE OF TANK TYPE BOWL CLEANERS MAY DAMAGE RUBBER AND PLASTIC PARTS AND VOID THE WARRANTY!

 

This toilet sometimes doesn't get flushed for a week or more if my kids are gone. Our other toilets that get flushed at least daily didn't show any breakdown of the seal, but I yanked the cleaning tablets out of all of them.

[Black02Silverado]

Don't use them, but thanks for the tip.

[WEFs99]

I read somewhere and I think it was on the cleaning product box that it shouldn't be used on a toilet that is not frequently used. This would apply to any brand of potty.

[asepgrad98]

my toilet advice: if you buy a newer house with 1.6 gal tanks replace them with the old larger tanks.

[Yankee7985]

You got that right. The 1.6G per flush do suck. Gotta flush two or more times.

[Wingnut]

Well......That's a sh!tty thing to have happen.

[MyBigToy]

I had the same problems with my toilets. There's a fire hydrant in my back yard and last year when the city flushed the system all of my toilets started leaking. I had to replace the shutoffs, fill valves, and flappers. Evidently a bunch of sediment got into everything and messed everything up. I bought the flappers that have a hollow ball on the bottom, they float on top of the water a lot longer than the ones that were in the toilets and I don't have to flush multiple times any more. I'm sure it uses more water but it's worth it.

 

MBT

[chevy4x4trucks]

Well......That's a sh!tty thing to have happen.

no pun intended

 

 

My toilet has the pressure tank in it, uses less than two gallons per flush and you've only gotta flush it once. Only drawback is it's a lil' loud when you flush it.

[MiSdIrEcTeD_1]

I only use Jenny McCarthy on my toilet No toilet mints...

 

Edited, now you know that's not appropriate

 

-J

 

By the way, my parents are sales reps for plumbing wholesale, and one of our lines just so happens to be Mansfield.

[trout31]

Toilet mod wish list:

 

I would like a toilet like one of those public bathroom jobbers with the sideways joy-stick flusher handle that delivers the full pressure flush. Those babies can tackle even the worst "monday morning after the sunday bbq ribs and beer picnic" load.

[chevy4x4trucks]

Toilet mod wish list:

 

I would like a toilet like one of those public bathroom jobbers with the sideways joy-stick flusher handle that delivers the full pressure flush. Those babies can tackle even the worst "monday morning after the sunday bbq ribs and beer picnic" load.

The only problem w/ that is a flush valve toilet needs a 1-1/4" cold water line to it and your regular household toilet tank just takes a 1/2" cold water line. So, if you were to do that you would need to do some serious plumbing upgrade.

 

Like I said above though, get one of the toilets w/ the pressure tank in the tank part, looks just like a regular toilet and hooks up the same way, but has the added push of a flush valve type toilet.

 

(sorry, I do plumbing design for a living)

[trout31]

Serious upgrade for a serious job

[Wingnut]

Like I said above though, get one of the toilets w/ the pressure tank in the tank part, looks just like a regular toilet and hooks up the same way, but has the added push of a flush valve type toilet.

 

(sorry, I do plumbing design for a living)

Dude...You got a site with more info on that?

 

I have a new house with those d@mn low-flow toilets that aren't worth a sh!t.....Yeah that was intentional too.

 

How hard to upgrade? How much $$$?

 

I'm all exited now.

 

 

American Standard my a$$.

[chevy4x4trucks]

**running to the bathroom to check out the model.....**

 

The bowl is a Kohler, 1.6 gallons per flush is printed on it. Inside the tank the pressure tank says "Sloan Flushmate, 1.6 gpf" (gallons per flush) so it uses the same as your standard low flush capacity toilets. The beauty of this one is it has an elongated bowl and is ADA height so it doesn't feel like you are sitting on the ground. I can't give you any more specifics on it, my dad got it for free from a job (he's a plumber at the company I do design for) because it was having flushing difficulties after it was installed. He put a 17 cent piece of plastic sleeving in the bowl and it fixed the problem.

 

Just bugged the old man and he said the whole toilet runs about 300 with the pressure assisted flush.

 

If you want to upgrade the Mansfield toilet (or a few other brands) you can go to the hardware store and buy the old style float for the toilet that isn't 1.6 gpf and that will give you some more power.

 

But if you've got some money to burn and are sick of plunging the toilet upgrading to a pressure assisted flush is definetly the way to go.

 

Try getting a hold of a local Kohler rep and they can quote you a price and give you some more details. I really don't deal w/ the pricing of this stuff, I just draw the layout of the pipes. But, a pressure assisted flush will work with your existing piping. And the only way you can do a flush valve type like you have in a lot of public restrooms is by running a 1-1/4" line from the meter and most residential homes only have a 1" line coming in.

[Wingnut]

Sweet...Thanks for the info