Any way to tell what model I have now? I'm presuming it's a cheapo American Standard but I want to be able to compare what model I have, cause if for some reason I have a crappy model with similar reviews online, then I can say that it's a fluke. I think the US standard made 1.6gpf models a requirement in 1995??? I popped the tank cover and saw some engravings into the porcelain, my American Standard seems to have been manufactured in 1996, says "standard Made in Mexico by American Standard" in it too. I know that a lot of the early model 1.6gpf toilets were really bad, exhibiting the same problems I have encountered.
Any easy way to find model name for American Standard toilets from 1996???? Is there a "google cache" of toilets?
Hey, thought I'd provide some closure to this thread. I just ordered a Toto Drake round CST743S in cotton White from homeclick.com and a cheapo Kohler seat for $241 shipped (had to pay 6% sales tax in NJ though I got free shipping). Never thought I'd see the day I'd be ordering a toilet via the internet!!!
Anyway, I read some smack about the proprietary flushing system of the American Standard Champion so I think I'll stick with the standard, flapper thing, they're not expensive to replace when they do go anyway. I gather replacing the AmStd kind would be pricier...
I will make a full report when I receive it and I install it. Since this is my only toilet in my house, I figure I will get one that supposedly works well.
Anybody know what to do with a used toilet? I could make it into a flower pot as I've seen before... Hmm.... a huge silica holder? Perhaps a large salad bowl for parties ().
J if you have a plumbing outlet near you give them the numbers inside, they should be able to cross reference it, case in point, i own an older place and while changing out the float the cat knocked the tank lid off the counter well the toilet is 20 years old, looks up a place gave the numbers, the found the make model and even had a lid at 25 dollars, so good luck with that.
Got the Toto Drake and spent about an hour and a quarter to remove the old one and install the new one. It all went pretty smoothly. I went and bought a wax ring and a new water supply line just for the hell of it. Removing the old toilet went smooth, I flushed it as much as I could and used a shopvac to suck out the leftover water in the bowl. Rocking it back and forth broke the wax seal. Then I simply used a putty knife to scrape the old wax off.
I had the new wax on my hot water heater to heat it up a bit, replaced the water line and installed the new toilet. My only glitch is that in my haste, I forgot to install the rubber gasket between the tank and the bowl so when I flushed it, some of the water started coming out the sides!!! Oops, so I had to remove the tank and install it.
My result. Pure happiness, it is wonderful, it flushes very powerfully, in fact, you can even somewhat hear the suction..thwaaappp of water as it gets sucked down the trap. It is also quiet, a bit louder than the older toilet I replaced but then the flushing action is so much stronger.
Two thumbs up from me!
Jay
Old toilet is now sitting downstairs in the basement... Maybe I'll plant some flowers in it...
I compared the Toto Drake with the American Standard Champion and the Kohler Cimarron, I read some bad stuff about the AS stuff as being proprietary which if you had to replace you had to do it with AS stuff which may be costly. Honestly, don't know the legitimacy of that or of the Toto's G-max flush system but having used the toto for the 8 months or so, only once I had to flush twice and not one clog at all. I had the bolts loose if you saw my other thread on this but that has been alleviated. The AS seems to be more expensive too.
I used a Eijer (don't know which model) while I was in Portland and I had to flush twice but it looked to be an older model. After having used the Drake for 8 months I am completely satisfied, the AS and Kohler might just as well be just as good but it's moot, I don't need the best, I just need one that works well and the Drake does. I remember using Terry Love's website for comparison and he has a whole UBB forum on toilets and plumbing...
He seems to expound on the Totos but I would have to agree with his love of the Drake. It's a great system, I would not hesitate to buy any Toto with the G-max flush system. Plus it's kind of cool, not many people have heard of Toto, other than the 80s band and that "Africa" song (among others. )
We have the Toto Lloyd (I think that's the right model). We bought a fancy shmancy one for our main floor half bath. It took a while to come in due to back order, but has performed well. I also like the G-Max flush system.
Its time for me to fix (replace) my toilet, one of the hold down bolts broke and it is an ancient one peice amereican standard no flow I am going to install my "black market" (bought in canada) american standard 3.5 gallon flush toilet and avoid all the problems and choices of the new 1.6 gallon toilets what I really want is one of the commercial tankless pressure flush toilets but my water flow is not high enough to flush one
There's a "black market" in 3.5 gallon flush toilets since the 1.6 gallon ones generally have poor performance. Hey, if you have to flush twice, where's the water savings?
This shouldn't have been a NATIONAL standard. The 1.6 gallon toilets make sense in water-poor places like southern California and Arizona. They make NO sense in water-rich places like Idaho, which is on the wet side of the Rockies.
My parents have 3.0gal AS models that are probably about 30 years old and they work great. My new toto works just as well with the 1.6gpf so I have no complaints. It cleans well and always is reliable so far. In 30 years, I'll have to see but I'm happy with mine. I never knew the US mandated 1.6gpf toilets. If the US was half as stringent on gas/oil as it is on toilet water, imagine what shape we would be in now??? Strange, the priorities of the U.S., eh?
For a while there they were getting really close to outlawing top load washing machines....to save water. I guess if it came down to a choice between the two (gas or water) I'd have to go with the water. A good burrito and I can get gas anytime.
Well, to save time since we dont have a toto dealer in our area we bought a pair of American Standard Champions. I have "tested' them for a few times and I will say they do what they are suppose to do, move the mass, quickly with no trouble. Will advise has more real world testing is done. On a side note, nothing too glamorous in the flushing mechanism feel, a li'l let down actually but under the top everything looks much different than a normal water closet.