Commercial wall-hung toilet reviews & recommendations?

[Mliu]

We're getting ready to build-out our first retail shop: a small cafe. I want to have a tankless wall-hung toilet installed in the public bathroom. It's easy to find consumer reviews of residential toilets, but I haven't seen any reviews and comparisons of commercial toilets. Even though I have commercial construction experience, we will be hiring a team of professional contractors to do the build-out. But first, I'd like to do some research on the different fixtures available and hear a range of opinions on which are the better toilets to install (or which to avoid!). That way I'm not just blindly accepting what the plumbing contractor suggests.

This will be a small business with a limited construction budget; we're not a Starbucks. So we're looking for something that's economical, performs well, is easy to clean and maintain, and will last a long time. I'd prefer a touchless flush sensor system, provided the cost difference over a manual "flush-o-matic" is not too great.

I've seen that some manufacturers are offering special coatings that resist soiling and are claimed to be easier to clean. However, I had installed a Toto residential toilet in my last house that had their "CEFIONTECT" finish and frankly, I was not impressed. Waste seemed to stick to it as readily as any regular toilet I've used (exacerbated, no doubt, by the smaller water surface area of these new water conserving fixtures), and it required the same frequency of cleaning as any other toilet. But the real kicker was that Toto specifically cautioned against using any chemical cleaners on their CEFIONTECT finish. So not only did I have a toilet that got just as dirty as any other, but now I wasn't allowed to use cleaning products on it. That was purchased a number of years ago, so I don't know if the coatings have improved or if other manufacturers' finishes are better than the CEFIONTECT I experienced.

Note to moderator: If asking for product recommendations is inappropriate, please delete and I apologize in advance.

 

[Terry]

I don't have many reviews for wall hung bowls using Flushometers, however one of my customers that did maintenance at Seatac air port said their most trouble free bowls were the TOTO. That was some years ago though and there has been improvements in all the brands for those. You might also look at Kohler for those.

As for cleaning, any liquid bowl cleaner will work. Blue Dawn comes recommended and I've used all of the off the shelf liquid bowl cleaners. I have a bowl downstairs with CEFIONTECT that shines from 2005.
I have also had the standard glaze and trust me, there is a noticeable difference. But like you say, with only a bit of water in the bowl, you do need to stay on top of the cleaning. I sometimes go into homes with the old 5 and 7 gallon toilets and often they haven't cleaned those in months. A big pool of water with an algae ring sort of near the top that seems to never be washed off.

 

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[Mliu]

Thanks for the info Terry. And thank you for this excellent forum.

Regarding the Toto, I had always held that brand in high regard ever since visiting Japan many years ago. That was before they were widely known and available here in the US. But I was disappointed in the model we got. Perhaps my expectations for the CEFIONTECT were too high, but I really didn't notice any difference in stain resistance between that Toto and the cheaper toilet it replaced. I did like the rimless design, but I was seriously disappointed to discover that Toto had chosen to NOT glaze, not only the trap, but also the ports that fed water to the rimless channel. I admit, this was one of their less expensive toilets. But IMO, Toto should never have released that model. I'm sure their higher-end toilets are still exceptional.

It's a shame there's no good source to compare commercial toilets. I know there are quite a few different manufacturers out there, so how do companies typically decide? Do they just get whatever their architect specifies or their plumbing contractor chooses to install?

 

[Terry]

Since 1992, all toilets have been 1.6 gallons or less. Many are now 1.28 gallons and even 1.0 gallons.

In the late 80's you had 3.5 gallons that replaced between five and nine gallons. A nine gallon toilet did have a lot of bowl wash, and even the seven gallon toilets did. Water bills are higher for those too.

 

[Mliu]

Since 1992, all toilets have been 1.6 gallons or less. Many are now 1.28 gallons and even 1.0 gallons.

In the late 80's you had 3.5 gallons that replaced between five and nine gallons. A nine gallon toilet did have a lot of bowl wash, and even the seven gallon toilets did. Water bills are higher for those too.

Yes, I'm aware of the history. Especially the early attempts at low-flush toilets that used the old style bowls, traps, and flush valves, but simply reduced the amount of water delivered from the tank. Those failed kluges were what turned millions of people off from the idea of low-flush toilets. I remember people going to junkyards trying to buy old toilets as the new government regulations were making high-volume toilets extinct. My mom was one of those who was adamant that she would never change her old toilet, even as it kept having problems. It took me years to convince her that the newly-designed toilets were better than what she had. After she finally installed one, she was converted. Btw, I know that Toto was one of the first companies to employ computer-aided fluid dynamics anaysis to improve the waste removal capabilities of their low-flush toilets.

But there are still some downsides to the low-flush toilets, even the good ones. Often, they don't completely wash down the bowl, a problem exacerbated by the smaller wetted area. So people sometimes flush multiple times, thus defeating the water savings. Plus, many cities have discovered that their old sewer systems are getting clogged up because there's not enough water moving in them to carry the solid wastes through to the treatment facilities.

But now we're really getting far off topic from my need for finding a good commercial wall-hung toilet.

 

[Sylvan]

For my own home I installed 2 Flushometer type toilets Both with sloan Royal flushometers

1- Elongated Crane top mounted 11/2 supply and the other Gerber back inlet 11/4 supply (3,5) both are working great for the past 20+ years