When we moved into our house 5 years ago, it had these whirlpool toilets. I call them whirlpool because the water would spin round and round for 10 seconds before finally flushing. And if you're like me, you don't necessarily enjoy watching the contents spin with uncertainty followed by a "Whew, that was close." So three years ago I replaced 3 of our toilets with Kohlers and life was good.
In those same 3 years, unbeknownst to us, our then-preschooler was starting to eat more. Our now-first-grader clogs our toilets at least once a week. He's batting .500 and I'm the one developing calluses with all that plunger action! We tell him to eat more vegetables, to flush as you go, and even to pinch them off into smaller sections... Nothing worked. Last week we went to my sister's house and he clogged her toilet too! I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to be plunging someone else's toilet. Fortunately it was only my sister, but imagine it being at some house party of someone you hardly know.
A year ago my friend remodeled his house and introduced me to the Toto toilet--they bought 5 of them. Seeing that his family is a hearty group of meat eaters, I knew his toilet would easily fulfill our needs. I had never heard of Toto because it's not carried at Home Depot (not even Expo). He had to mail order his toilets from the midwest where they were rated number one among Hometown Buffet customers.
The secret of the Toto is that it has a large 3" flush valve (versus the 2" in "normal" toilets). This means that the 1.6 gallon of water leaves the tank 50% faster and stronger. I compare it to pouring milk out of a plastic container (with a round opening), to a carton (with a large square opening). The second secret to Toto is that the trap (poop chute) is 2 1/8" versus the 2" trap found in normal toilets. I know 1/8" does not seem much, but that extra eighth of an inch (combined with the 3" flush) just might make the difference between free-flow and log-jam. They call this "Power Gravity"
Yesterday I went to Sincere Hardware in Chinatown and bought my first Toto. They had about 15 models to choose from. Some had commercial grade flushing (G-Max) and some were self cleaning with ionized water (SanaGloss). Some even had a built in bidet! I just picked up a simple one-piece (good for boys) called the Ultimate on sale for $218. It comes with the Soft-Close toilet seat that closes slowly and will never make that loud "smack" sound when you accidentally drop the seat. It also curves inward to form fit your bottom (kinda takes getting used to). It took a total of one hour to install and haul away the old. One-piece toilets are the best! Even its box served a purpose as the boys used it to make a secret hideout to shoot dad.
I can't wait to use this Toto and see if it lives up to its reputation. Hopefully it will perform its duties gallantly and will not need to be replaced by the stronger G-Max. As for the Kohler, it will rest peacefully at my mom's house where it can lead an easy life, serving the needs of small women. All in all a very satisfying day indeed. Everyone is happy. Simply Craptastic!
my brother-in-law told me that toto's are the best! They remodeled 3 years ago, have 3 boys and 1 girl, and no problems yet. hope it works for you.
ReplyDeleteaaak
omg, dustin must be eating some serious fiber! i need to see if they carry the toto in texas
ReplyDeletei was busting up about your toto article. not that i've ever had that problem (heehee). we have a toto at our place, it's their cheapie commercial model (i looked it up online and it's like $60), but the flush does work really well. you can even flush twice and there's enough reserve to chase the first flush! my friends remodeled their bathroom with nice totos and i liked the slow close lid, but they bought a $500 version, and i didn't know they came cheaper. i found a slow close replacement lid at Home Depot that works just as well for $25! We have to keep the lid closed otherwise the doggies think it's an open bar.
ReplyDeleteFunny stuff Stan! Hopefully, Dustin can find some humor in it, too -- for know. Just imagine when he's much older and visiting his fiance's parents for the first time. Can't you just picture Dustin as Ben Stiller in a Meet the Parents moment!
ReplyDeleteHave to share a funny camp moment now. Probably about 40 or so of us were all crammed into a small 2-story cabin in Tahoe for a winter retreat. Well, someone -- whose identity we still don't know -- clogged the upstairs bathroom. The older guys tried the plunger, but to no avail. Remember this was before anyone had even conceived of "low flow", so this was some serrrrious crap! Now, we simply couldn't have just 1 working bathroom for 40 plus kids, so the guys chucked the offending "clog" out the second floor window into the pure white snow! Needless to say we walked very carefully outside the rest of the retreat.