Soiree flush problems for solids

[Buck]

Hello all, 20+ year forum reader and satisfied Drake user (thanks, Terry!), I wanted to upgrade to the latest and greatest - Soiree, in this case. However, it's been 2 months and over 90% of the time, it leaves little bits of solids at the very bottom of the bowl and sometimes around the bowl above the waterline.

The ever-excellent Toto customer service sent a new flush tower and blue fill valve to replace the green (which I adjusted to balance the tank/bowl fill). No change in performance. The tower notch was initially in the middle position and I lowered the tower notch to the bottom position as explained in another thread and even recently just removed the inside cup completely so even more water would flush. It's Still leaving bits at the bottom after a flush.

What I've noticed is that the initial flush has air bubbles coming up from the trapway or at least an initial upward motion from the bottom, which apparently breaks up/disperses the solids and the double cyclone can pick up little broken bits and swirl them around, delaying long enough until there isn't enough water to carry it thru the trapway.

I can hold the handle down to drain the tank, but that's just wasting water and defeats the purpose. Easy solution is to go back to the Drake 1.6, but really I'm just looking for a last-ditch solution or one last thing to try in order to keep the Soiree. Thanks much!

 

[Reach4]

You may have a partial blockage, or the drain pipe from the toilet could have a belly before a roof vent connection. It's even possible that you went overboard on the wax, and it is partially blocking the path.

I would get a 5 gallon or more container with as much water as you can handle readily. Pour the water into the bowl, from as high as you readily can, as fast as you dare. Maybe that will clear a path.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Buck]

Thanks, Reach4. I dumped around 4 gallons quickly and from height, went down like a Joey Chestnut hotdog. As for a belly, there appears to be decent fall from the toilet to the Y where it picks up the vent and sink drain.

 

[Terry]

I like to clean the bowl with something like Dawn kitchen detergent to make sure oils from manufacture are removed.
Design wise, it's just like the Drake II or Ultramax II workings.

 

[Reach4]

Maybe raise the water level to about 3/8 inch below the overflow.

 

[Buck]

I'll clean the bowl with soap, and the water level has been about 1/8" from the overflow since I put in the blue fill valve.

As far as the design (and performance), would replacing the tower with a flapper change anything?

 

[Buck]

For info, I ordered a flapper valve and now measuring approximately 1.66 gal/flush. It's performing a lot better, but not quite perfect every time on the solids. The flapper valve tube is taller so I can increase the water if necessary and may do that after another week of assessing performance, though I have to consider the water waste on liquid-only flushes. There's always the holding of the handle for solids method, as Terry has mentioned in other posts.

I didn't measure the amount when I had the inner cup removed on the original 1.28 flush tower, but may if I get motivated.

For reference, the flapper I ordered was a Nuflush THU013P - green flapper with hole, 2 screw brackets.