Older toilets are gold!

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Mad Plumber

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I seen this by Andre

I haven't met one person who likes their new 1.6 crappers. I pick up every 3.5 or 5.0 I see on side of the road. Pull them apart, clean with muratic acid and replace all fittings for ~ $25 including a new seat. Toilets from 1960's look showroom new. I have even heard of people picking up the old "off color" toilets and re-glazing them white.

A 1.6 toilets save little money when you have to flush 3 times. Not to mention the plunging problems!

Andre


Gee Andre,
So that's where all the old toilets are going! They're going to the side of the road.

Do you mean side roads or BIG roads? Skinny roads or big fat wide roads. Concrete roads or asphalt roads. I musta been looking in all the wrong places for them Golden toilets you been talking about. Where do you find the gold in them? Are they in the parts you replace? Is that why you replace em? Or is it the Muriatic acid that gets that thar gold out of there? Do people "poop" gold. You a making me real interested in them thar golden toilets. This could be better than panning for gold in cold mountain rivers. It gets real cold in rivers, but if toilets have gold in them, then that might be easier if'n you know what I mean. Dang! I been throwing away all the old toilets that people don't like! I didn't know there was gold in them thar toilets!

Hey! I gotta know these things!

Mad Plumber


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Gregmech26

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I had to replace the "toilet ball valve apparatus" on our older toilet. After the replacement we only get lousy 1.6 gpm flushes.

This is a major difference from what we had and it sucks.

Any advice on how to get the big flushes back that we use to have?

Is it as simple as buying a "vintage" toilet ball valve replacement on ebay for $20?
 

Reach4

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I was initially thinking you could benefit from an adjustable flapper, such as the Fluidmaster 502. That However http://www.fluidmaster.com/toilet-problems/choosing-right-flapper-toilet/ seems to indicate otherwise.

Korky http://www.korky.com/flappers/plus-classic-flapper says "The Korky Plus Classic Flapper is designed to stay open longer to fit old 5 and 7 gpf toilet models."

Until you get a flapper that stays open longer, hold the lever down longer to keep the flapper from closing during a flush.
 

JRC3

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Until you get a flapper that stays open longer, hold the lever down longer to keep the flapper from closing during a flush.
I don't know why most people can't wrap their heads around having to do that. Hold it open til the bowl clears and just a tad bit longer to clear the trap (This probably uses a tad more water than claimed). New toilets flush as well as old toilets if you use them correctly. In my opinion they work better because many are designed to keep the bowl cleaner and have great features. My last house still had a 1954 American Standard and I now have an Ove clean toilet and love it.

https://www.renodepot.com/en/toilet...=10701&ddkey=https:RenoChangeSelectedStoreCmd.

It's a clean side
Has a very large water surface are in the bowl
Rim holes properly flush the sides of the bowl
Is elongated yet has the sam foot print as an old round
Map score: 1000g
One piece with a easily cleanable deck under the seat
Soft close and push-button removable seat

Not to mention almost all old toilets have a round bowl which means a round seat with very little room up front for, uhm...Well, your junk. *wink*
 

Gregmech26

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The OP says he hasn't met one person who likes his 1.6 gpm toilet.

I will try the Plus Classic Flapper and see if it makes any difference. My issues began after I was forced to change my toilets "ball valve apparatus" on my vintage toilet.

Yes, I have tried holding down the handle longer while flushing; however, at a certain point the trap will close regardless.

Apparently the toilet below comes highly recommended, but it's almost $500 when you factor in the taxes and installation, plus it doesn't even include the toilet seat! It does have the newer 1.6 gpm though.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/KOHLER-H...ongated-Toilet-in-Biscuit-K-3493-96/203099865

I wonder if it's worth the price?
 

Reach4

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The OP says he hasn't met one person who likes his 1.6 gpm toilet.
OP was trying to be funny.

Yes, I have tried holding down the handle longer while flushing; however, at a certain point the trap will close regardless.
How can that be? Open the lid and watch. Make sure the chain is not too slack.
 
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Gregmech26

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I mean at a certain point the water will stop flushing in one direction. If I just hold the handle down forever it flushes and then stops taking the water in.
 

Reach4

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That is odd in a way, but I think I understand. The water is pretty lazy in the bowl. The thing called a trap is actually part of the porcelain and is hidden in the base around the level of the water in the bowl. The thing that opens and closes is called the flapper or flush valve.

A new toilet will give you much better flushes. They developed nice smooth trapways with the diameter well controlled. The new flushes are much faster, so the water velocity is much bigger.

Check the floor. Ideally the toilet is over the flooring, so you don't have to necessarily cover the old footprint. If you need to cover a bigger area with the toilet for some reason, that will affect which toilet you choose. There are toilets with big bases that will cover more than the old one did.
 

Gregmech26

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Thanks Reach4,

Does it matter if I purchase the toilet from a big box store as opposed to a private plumber?

When I had two new sinks installed a few years ago, the plumber told me the "brand names" sold at the big box stores were of much less quality than the same brand names he could acquire directly from the manufacturer.

Of course the plumbers price was 3 or 4 times the bog box store price.
 

Jadnashua

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Trying to convert an old, high volume water user to a low-flow one will almost never work. The bowl designs are different. Some manufacturers still haven't figured out how to do it well, and it's been 25-years now since they could legally be sold from the factory. The original lower-flow toilets were often crap because they tried just that...lower the amount going down the drain without regard for the physics of making it work with less water.

Certainly, bowl washing isn't as good as when you use potentially as much as 7-gallons on a really old toilet.

To get their low prices, rumor has it that the big-box stores tend to have the manufacturer skip the rigorous final inspections that a plumber would expect to save some money. A plumber can't afford to take a chance on a toilet and have to replace it if it has a defect noticed by the customer. Not all customers will notice a minor flaw, so both the factory and the big-box store make out as not that many people return them. It's not a function of intentionally building it to a lower quality all of the time, it's taking what comes off of the production line. Most of the time, they're good. On some products, they do substitute plastic, for example, where the 'pro' version might have a metal part, but that's not a given, either.
 

Gregmech26

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Trying to convert an old, high volume water user to a low-flow one will almost never work. The bowl designs are different..

Thank you jadnashua.

So since I had to change the toilet ball valve apparatus on my old school toilet with a new water-saving replacement from Home Depot, you're saying the two are not compatible?

It never did flush "the same" again.
 
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