Commercial toilet wish list

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Inigo Montoya

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Hi guys,

Part of my remodel for a commercial entertainment property will include renovating restrooms. I'd like to know the costs and makes of good and reliable commercial toilets. The only ones I'm familiar with are the American Standard and Crane fixtures I have now that are old, outdated and beat up.

5 commodes in all are to be updated. The general contractor budgeted $600 a piece but we'd like to spend half that if possible.

Can a quality commercial commode be had for $300? Does it include the flushometer? What would you guys do?

Thanks
 

Gary Swart

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The Toto Drake was first intended for commercial use. It proved so satisfactory that it soon became the favorite for residential use as well. FYI, Toto is the largest manufacturer of toilets in the world.
 

Terry

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Are these floor mount bowls with a flushometer? Or wall hung?
If so, you will find that the bowls are not very much money since it's only a bowl, and not combined with a tank.
TOTO makes a nice commercial bowl, as does Kohler. There is also American Standard. Crane has been bought out by American Standard, as has Eljer.
 

Inigo Montoya

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These are floor models with flushometers presently.

Is the flushometer separate or included in that price?

Also, is it ridiculous to entertain one-piece toilets with tanks in a commercial, high traffic setting? Are there disadvantages to flushometers versus some other flush technology?
 
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WJcandee

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That bowl can be had in the neighborhood of $175 give or take. A nice Toto manual flushometer, with a brass piston, in polished chrome, like the TMT1NNC-32, can be had for around $150. So that gets you to about $325. Quality stuff and you will be a hero to the client.
 

Inigo Montoya

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You guys rock. Is it up to me the gallons per flush? I'm told with 35 year old cast iron drains that more water is better
 

Reach4

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Also, is it ridiculous to entertain one-piece toilets with tanks in a commercial, high traffic setting? Are there disadvantages to flushometers versus some other flush technology?

If you get regular toilets, users could lift the lids and do whatever. I am suspecting that the flushometers may be more durable, such as dealing with those who flush with a foot. No experience dealing with these however.
 

Inigo Montoya

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Brace yourselves for what's possibly the dumbest question you've ever been asked.

I was complaining whilst shopping for toilets online how few commercial commodes there were ready for a flushometer. When I started searching for just the bowls, it occurred to me that perhaps ANY flushing system (gravity, tank/tankless, flushometer) can be mounted to ANY bowl...

Is that the truth of it? Can you take any bowl and mount any of the flushing systems available usually? If I see a two piece toilet with tank whose bowl I like, can I just slap a flushometer on the bowl?

Maybe the easier phrasing is this: Will a flushometer mount to any toilet bowl?
 
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Terry

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The bowl needs to be designed for a flushometer.
The trapway design is different.
The mounting on the top or back of bowl is different.
If you don't match a flushometer to a bowl that expects that type of discharge, you won't do more than stir the water in the bowl.
 

Inigo Montoya

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Any commentary on gallons per flush? More is better for commercial traffic cast iron, no? Is Captain America going to find me if I pick the highest GPF or perhaps there's restrictions legally on the volume?
 

WJcandee

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Depending on where you are, the standard is 1.28 or 1.6gpf. Bowls are moving in the direction of being designed and rated to perform on 1.28 even if you use 1.6. It's a myth that extra water necessarily improves anything. I have seen 1.28 work absolutely-amazingly-well in a rough, high-traffic bar environment where patrons aren't exactly ginger about throwing stuff in the toilet. Chances are if you have to plunge at 1.28, you would have to plunge at 1.6. Save the money and the water and get a 1.28 flushometer to go with the 1.28 bowl. I think you and your client will be very happy with the Toto.

If you have concerns, I can tell you that all the recent construction at Lincoln Center in New York City used Toto porcelain (urinals and toilets) and 1.28 toilet flushometers (the automatic ones to save water, but the manual ones obviously give you a flush that is as good). The stuff, like all NYC restrooms in public places, gets disproportionately-high use per unit, as NYC restrooms always seem to be under-fixtured. The Toto stuff looks great, and works swimmingly.
 

Inigo Montoya

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Finding showrooms for Toto are tricky here, so I may just have to go with online images. What's your opinion of Kohler in the same sort of environment?

Thanks for such a detailed response.
 
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