American Standard Cadet 3 Blue Ring Staining

[John P]

Hello everyone,

I just bought an AS Cadet 3 at HD last night. I noticed that in the bottom of the bowl there is a large ring of blue stain that won't wipe clean.

Is this normal for this unit or would this likely be a defect in the finishing - and I need to return it?

John

 

[John P]

I take it with all the reading I've been doing about the lack of quality control with American Standard toilets that it's defective.

Hmm.

Come to think of it, Home Depot's shelves were filled with badly re-taped boxes, no doubt returns.

So now I get to schlep this toilet back.

HD should offer a rewards program. 2nd defective toilet and we'll give you your money back plus a credit for the full purchase price for your troubles. Oh, wait, I must be dreaming

Terry seems to like to Toto's. Anything similar to the AS Cadet 3 6L that anyone would suggest?

John

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

The Toto Drake always works. We sell and install more of those then the other brands. For a reason.

You can find a Cadet that works, but I like people to pull them from the box before taking them home. Someone needs to do a final inspection. And make sure they are flat on the bottom.

 

[Achutch]

Hello everyone,

I just bought an AS Cadet 3 at HD last night. I noticed that in the bottom of the bowl there is a large ring of blue stain that won't wipe clean.

Is this normal for this unit or would this likely be a defect in the finishing - and I need to return it?

John

Same thing happened to me over 3 years ago when I put a Cadet 3 in my half bath. It was the second bowl to be brought back to the store because it was defective. The first had a projection in the bottom that wasn't trimmed out, so the bowl rocked. The second bowl had the blue stain covering a deformed trap entrance. The third bowl seemed OK, until two years later, the toilet started to smell and I found peeling glaze and "cavities" underneath the rim that were trapping dirt.

I replaced the Cadet 3 with a Toto Eco Drake last year. With that and the 1.6 Drake in the full bath, my days of toilet shopping are over.

 

[chrisintechoh]

The blue stain is from a dye used in the quality control process to check for leaks. It looks like some of the dye remained with the toilet when it was packed. John P - Try a stain remover called DIDI Seven. It's nice to see a manufacturer carrying through with their quality checks. I looked on the consumer reports website just before this reply and I notice they have the Cadet 3 rated as "BEST"

 

[Gary Swart]

If CR rates anything "the best", run the other way as fast as possible. Every toilet they have rated #1 has been a disaster. You would be better off reading the thread above on this forum. You will find a few folks that have had good luck with AS, but the vast majority have had problems.

 

[chrisintechoh]

Thanks Gary. My experiences with Cadet and American Standard have been excellent; never heard that said about Consumer Reports before—seems like you have some grudge with Consumer Reports.

 

[Jadnashua]

Thanks Gary. My experiences with Cadet and American Standard have been excellent; never heard that said about Consumer Reports before—seems like you have some grudge with Consumer Reports.

More than one of their toilet recommendations ended up being a true dog in the real world. They also don't test things like whether it splashes your butt when you flush or the seat, how noisy it is, or how well it cleans the skid marks, or whether the parts are readily available. Testing with flushing sponges isn't like the real stuff. Real world, in the home testing has shown their toilet tests aren't the most reliable.

 

[Terry]

chrisintechoh,
It's not about whether you are a fan of CR on the baby food testing, it's whether you need to use these in a home.
CR doesnt' do in-home testing, nor do they test with the things we put down a toilet, nor do they do any long term testing, nor do they find out if you can get repair parts, or how many defects you find from the factory. In fact the thing they are most proud of is how clean they stay. Really?

Gerber Ultraflush with dual flush, number one for CR

Briggs Vacuity, number one for CR

American Standard Champion, number one for CR

 

[LLigetfa]

I like people to pull them from the box before taking them home. Someone needs to do a final inspection.

Of the two American Standard toilets the wife bought, she pulled both of them out of the box in the store and found cosmetic defects. Then I still found a defect on one of the replacements, so out of 5 toilets, 3 went back. It must be cheaper for them to process returns than to pay someone to inspect them at the factory... or maybe they do inspect them at the factory and send all the seconds to Canada thinking we Canadians are too polite to complain.

 

[Ballvalve]

If you get a cadet 3 thats useable, they flush like a charm, so CR got it almost right this time.

At least they make them in Mexico, keeping some from jumping the fence. And no, they are very fair in distribution of cosmetic defects.

My old 89$ Elger flushes anything, and no repairs yet. Made in the US until gobbled up by some junk bond traders and moved our jobs to somewhere we will never go, while the layed off workers sit home and watch Andy Griffith reruns.

 

[Chad Schloss]

I had bad luck with the el cheapo eljer toilets the builder put in our house in 2004. all 3 of them ended up getting donated to habitat for humanity and bought Carmoa toilets. Not the greatest, but I have never had to plunge anything in 5 years running so far.

 

[Gary Swart]

The Caroma is an Australian toilet and has a HUGE trap. They will flush elephant turds without clogging. The downside is they splash like crazy. There are really great for folks who have a bowel disorder that causes them to pass very large and very hard "logs".

 

[Chad Schloss]

or for anyone who uses too much paper, lol

 

[Gary Swart]

While it's tempting at times to say you can't clog a Toto with toilet paper, as soon as that claim was made, someone would jam 2 or 3 rolls of Charmin in one and clog it, so never say never. But, I will say that flushing human waste and even above a normal amount of toilet paper, a Toto just doesn't clog. When one is reported clogged, it almost always due to something other than human waste and/or normal toilet paper. This includes the infamous GI Joe, toothbrushes, and other non human waste items. Also, a clogged drain line should not be blamed on the toilet.

 

[Ian Gills]

It's the same story with the Cadet 3 Gary.

 

[Gary Swart]

Hi, Ian. Good to see you're still around.

 

[Terry]

I just installed a sweet TOTO Drake II in my GF's home.
Double Cyclone, CEFIONTECT, 3" flush valve, softclose seat and replaced the shutoff at the wall with a 1/4 turn.
While I was at it, replaced the Moen cartrige for the bath tub and installed a new trim.