Could this be the quietest pressure-assist toilet out there?

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Sepp

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I'm shopping toilets A-Z and now I'm considering a dual flush Zurn. On paper their pressure-assist EcoVantage models look pretty good. Zurn claims that it's "revolutionary design makes EcoVantage one of the quietest in the world". We have a (single-flushing) pressure-assist Flushmate in our AS Glenwall in the basement. It does a great job but something like that would be too noisy upstairs. Any Zurn concerns or comments?

glenwall_flushmate.jpg
 
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Geniescience

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As a rule of thumb, any plumbing thing made by a Geman or Swiss firm will have taken NOISE MADE by the device into consideration and been developed with the criterion that minimizing noise is important. Faucets and toilets, for example.

It is hard for any firm to claim noise reduction as an achieved goal, for a number of technical reasons (e.g. definition of noises, definition of measurements of noises and comparative noises to scale against, etc) and marketing reasons (it's too negative, like saying fewer people have died in this particular car...) so the best hint you get is when they talk about quality and comfort...

Exaggerating slightly, I'll say that in that part of the world, I think the various "players" allow subjective criteria to be part of the process, whereas here (North America), regulatory agencies are only allowed to set rules on life-and-death concerns and publish studies on the hardest facts verifiable. Even Consumer Reports barely touches on noise as a factor.

Notice how NO plumbing store ever has working toilets for you to listen to? I installed two wall-hung toilets recently, with all the same parts but different bowls. The Duravit is quieter than the Catalano. Water flows smoother in it both at the peak of the flush, at the beginning, and also at the end, when filling.

David
 
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Sepp

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geniescience said:
...It is hard for any firm to claim noise reduction as an achieved goal, for a number of technical reasons (e.g. definition of noises, definition of measurements of noises and comparative noises to scale against, etc)...

Good point. You can listen to an actual flush of the 1.6 gpf Gerber Ultra Flush at http://gerberonline.com/fileLib/flush[1].wav, BUT, where should I set the sound level for accurate playback? It sounds a lot like the MGM lion if you turn it up a little bit. Now if they had recorded that paragon of benchmarks-- the TOTO Drake--with exactly the same recording setup, then we could have had something to compare it to. But could we trust Gerber to not move the mic a little closer on a competitor's model? I think not.

Any Zurn users out there with EcoVantage experience?
 

Sepp

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EcoFlush="most silent-flush system in the world today"

There's a footnote on the MaP report which states that the Gerber Ultra Dual-Flush, Mansfield EcoQuantum, and Zurn EcoVantage models use pressure-assist technology from WDI International, so it's not a Zurn invention as I assumed earlier. Since this thread is about toilet noise here's what the company websites are saying in that regard:

WDI (inventor of dual-flush EcoFlush system): "The revolutionary design of the*Eco Flush makes it the most silent-flush system in the world today."

Mansfield (makes EcoQuantum line): "A quiet and powerful flush - everytime."

Crane (makes EcoMiser line): "The revolutionary design makes the EcoMiser one of the quietest flushes available."

Zurn (makes EcoVantage series): "Ultra quiet flush." "Revolutionary design makes EcoVantage one of the quietest in the world."

Gerber makes the Ultra Dual Flush, but I couldn't find any claims (or audio clip) for it. The Ultra (single) Flush uses the Sloan Flushmate, of course.

These are all the EcoFlush toilets I could find. There's a (G-rated) video of WDI's system in action
Sooo, any comments on any of these dual-flushing EcoFlush (tm) toilets, regarding noise levels or anything else? I haven't seen much about any of these in this forum...
 
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Geniescience

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Zurn distributor will know

To conduct a first-hand study, find a real working toilet.

Contact Zurn to get the name of their distributor here. That man will know where you can go to hear and see a real toilet in operation. He will be eager to guide you.

I used this tactic to see a Niagara Flapperless, and also to sit in a dry tub of the shape (49"x49") i believed i wanted to buy.

David
 

Breplum

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I have just installed a couple of the Mansfield Eco-Flushs. One handicap elongated and one standard elongated. The 1.6 gal. flush is pretty good and pretty quiet.

Problems:
1. The little folded, printed card they provide - for illucidation about flush protocol - cannot be read if you place it on top of the toilet tank and you are standing up. The font size is too small and the printing is light blue on white! The result is customers in the public restroom will invariably press down and get 1.1gpf which won't do solids completely. One solution is to make up your own info sheet to place on the wall. An alternative is to change the flush system tubes to make pressing down a 1.6 gpf and lifting up 1.1 gpf.
2. Customer NO SERVICE at WDI Eco-Flush. On the handicap unit I put in yesterday, the bowl fill on the 1.1gpf cycle is not right (too little water in the bowl after fill cycle). There is only an answering machine and I have not been called back in 6 days, so far.

Also, there were no product warranty registration cards in the boxes.
FYI, the Mansfield comes with a 5 year warranty on the WDI components and the Zurn rep told me the other week at a PHCC trade show, that their toilets with the same WDI mechanism has 10 year.
 
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loverboy

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re: could this be the quitest pressure assist toilet out there?

As stated before the question is how to trust sound testing on any toilet from an audio file. Heck if I play it on my stereo system and turn the volume to 3 and my neighbors would think a plane just flew over head.

Pressure assist in any form are louder than most gravities (not all) but at the same time the performance is greater on a pressure assist system than gravity. I have a pressure assist system and love it. I remodeled my basement and purchased another pressure assist system. This version of Flushmate's pressure assist system is only 1.0 GPF. So far it works as well as my 1.6 GPF system. At the same time the sound is reduced compared to my 10 year old Flushmate. You might consider a 1.0 GPF system instead of a dual flush.

My two cents.

glenwall_flushmate.jpg
 
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