Crystal Chalets toilet replacements

[Terry]

Here is information about toilet replacement of wall hung toilets at Crystal Chalets Condos.
Some toilets are original to the building and some have already been replaced. The original bowls use about six gallons, maybe more. There are two options that I have used for wall hung toilet replacement.

Norse Peak, 525 - 536
Crown Point, 513 - 524
Black Tusk, 501- 512

One is the Gerber Maxwell Wall Hung.
It's a gravity bowl with a 3" flush valve in the tank. It uses 1.28 gallons.
On a standard 4-1/4" rough from the floor, the bowl height is 16" high. About 1-1/2" higher than the Glenwall or the old existing bowl. Great if you like something a little higher as your knees age.
From wall to end of bowl it's 27"

The other is the American Standard Glenwall.
A pressure assist using the Sloan Flushmate at 1.6 gallons.
The bowl height is a standard 14-1/2" from the floor.
From wall to end of bowl it's 29-1/2"

Both of these bowls are elongated, and use a standard "elongated" seat.
The seat will add about 1-1/4" of height.

Gerber Maxwell Wall Hung
Reviews and pictures

American Standard Glenwall.
Reviews and pictures

I install a lot of these in the Seattle area.
I do add a trip charge for running up to Crystal and doing installations.
My mothers home in Bellevue has one of each. It gives me an idea of how well they work in the real world. I think it was a 60's thing having wall hung toilets. I see a lot of them.

 

[Terry]

Here is one of the original wall hung bowls. A very low round bowl wall hung toilet.

Here is the American Standard Glenwall replacement. This uses 1.6 gallons.

Ever wondered what was in the wall? This is standard four bolt carrier system. If you are replacing on your own, take care that you don't over tighten the nut caps to the wall. This is what happens

This is one of the 2007 "replacement" bowls we took out. Over tighten a bowl and it will snap the bowl. It pays to have some knowledge of the product when installing. We use the recommended foam rubber replacement seal on our installs

The new Glenwall installed.

Looking way down at Crystal Chalet Condo's

 

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[Terry]

Hi Terry;

My biggest concern is the dripping from the condensation from the toilet fixture. The water is so cold and when the condo is warm – it creates a lot of dripping water.

Do either of these reduce or eliminate this? Do you have an option with some kind of insulation in the tank?
Thanks,
Shelley C

Shelley,
The old toilets drained the entire tank and then refilled with cold water.
The replacements are different in that respect.
The Gerber, being a gravity, uses only a portion of the water in the tank. Unless the toilet is flushed a few times quickly, most of the water stays in the tank. That should elimate the condensation problem. Using only 1.28 gallons is a lot different than using five or six.

Also, if the flapper is leaking past the seal, the tank will keep refilling. That would make it sweat too.

The American Standard Glenwall uses a tank within a tank. There is no condensation with those.

 

[WJcandee]

Such an interesting series of photos! Thanks for sharing.

I assume that the Glenwall has a monster flush, but how is the flush in the real world on those Maxwells? We do get queries here from time to time about the wall-mounts.

The Glenwall looks nice. You know, each time I have replaced a toilet, I have taken the time to paint behind the tank and bowl, because so few people pull the toilet when remodeling, even though it's no big deal to do so. So on an older house, what's back there is usually 3 or 4 iterations of wall covering behind what is exposed. And if the new tank/bowl doesn't cover as much...

Obviously, that's not the plumber's task, but if the homeowner would coordinate with the plumber, the homeowner could pull their own bowl on the morning the plumber was coming to do the install, throw a little quick-dry latex paint back there, and then the install would look even nicer.

Interesting how that flush valve is installed in the model with the 528MP. Seems like it guarantees an odd pull of the flapper given the length of the trip lever.

 

[Terry]

Such an interesting series of photos! Thanks for sharing.
Obviously, that's not the plumber's task, but if the homeowner would coordinate with the plumber, the homeowner could pull their own bowl on the morning the plumber was coming to do the install, throw a little quick-dry latex paint back there, and then the install would look even nicer.

I think the homeowner would be better off to let us pull it. There is only one shutoff for the entire building if something goes wrong. After the install, it's not a big deal to remove a tank for painting though. And if they leave us paint and a brush, we can do it for them, the painting that is.

 

[WJcandee]

And if they leave us paint and a brush, we can do it for them, the painting that is.

Only because you're such a swell guy. I know plenty of guys who would find it beneath them to do painting.

I see your point about letting the plumber do the removal, though. I was just trying to think of a way that one wouldn't inconvenience the plumber while still neatening up the area behind the toilet, which often here seems to have dust and cobwebs and the occasional long-lost item as well. And I wasn't just thinking about this location, but more in general, too.

 

[hj]

1. The 2 lower bolts and the upper left hand one MUST have backup nuts flush with the wall surface and then washers are placed over them. NOTHING on the upper right one.
2. You set the bowl and tighten the three Acorn nuts (still nothing on the upper right hand one),until the bowl contacts the backup washers.
3. You screw the upper right Acorn nut until it contacts the bowl

If done that way and in that order, you will NEVER break a bowl. assuming the 4" drain fitting is at the proper distance outside the wall and you have the correct gasket.

 

[Terry]

The Gerber Maxwell wall hung as a replacement.

Gerber Maxwell wall hung.
Just fit under the banjo top, which lifts off for access.

This one with the Kohler Cachet slow closing seat.

This must be an original faucet

Which can be replaced with a pull-out spray.

 

[Terry]

A cracked tank. The second one we've pulled out.

And cracked at the bottom of the bowl. It had been leaking there.

New Gerber Maxwell installed.

And one more unit, with a Gerber Maxwell Wall Hung.

 

[Terry]

Old toilet needing replacement. Also the water shutoff handle at the wall had broken off.

New toilet and shutoff.

Very cool.

A new tub spout diverter.
The old spout was doing a poor job of pushing the water up to the shower head. They should be able to take longer showers now.

 

[Runs with Bison]

Terry,

Which of the two wall hung toilets did you prefer? (Not that I'm in the market for any, just seemed like something that might prove useful to your readers.) I'm guessing the Gerber because it is simpler (not pressure assist) and is lower flush volume?

And more importantly, what is a plunger doing in one of the photos??? I consider those bad mojo. I hadn't touched one in years until we moved into a home without Totos. (Sterling, anyone?...please...I have three of them, 1.28 gpf only slightly used from 2 yr old home, sitting in the garage at the moment, clean and ready to roll...son clogged one the very first night. Had to go digging through boxes of rarely/unused tools for a plunger.)

I'm old fashioned about kitchen faucets, still prefer the high gooseneck faucets that will fit stockpots, etc. I put one in each of 4 different homes (plus a 5th for grandmother) to replace low clearance ones as in your original installation photo. We then inherited a Price-Pfister combo faucet/spray that worked well once I replaced a restricted head under warranty. It is the only sink that I've been happy with the sprayer in (after replacement)--before that I found them next to useless and didn't bother with sprayers. The Moen combo faucet/spray we have now is not long for this home, restricts to only 1.6 gpm and has awkward mechanics/angle/height and weak spray from ultra low volume. Wife gave it the thumbs down and I agree.

 

[Terry]

I prefer the taller height Gerber wall hung. The flush is more subtle and the parts are more common.
The American Standard has the Flushmate, which should never plug. More noise though.
First choice, Gerber Maxwell gravity wall hung.
The plungers were there before we did the replacements. The old bowls used six or seven gallons, and everything went down very slowly. These are also used as rental units, so it makes sense to have a handy plunger just in case. The last few weeks we've made the trip to the ski area to do these replacements. It's 1.75 hours each way if there is no traffic. The condo's are at 4,000 feet, which normally means a lot of snow in the parking lots. I've been bringing up the vehicle I ski in, the Highlander for these jobs. My plumbing vans get stuck if they even look at snow.
We take a back route most of the time, and often we won't see another car for a long time while driving. There is a main route that most use, which has traffic light after traffic light in some sections.

 

[WJcandee]

I love the look and operation of that Delta pull-down diverter, but I wonder how long many renters (if that's one of the rental units) are going to be scratching their heads wondering how to work the thing.

 

[WJcandee]

There are two options that I have used for wall hung toilet replacement.

\

Just so we are complete, Mansfield does make a Quantum wall hung with a Sloan Flushmate pressure assist. I can't see Terry using that with his customers, but it IS out there...

 

[Terry]

Just so we are complete, Mansfield does make a Quantum wall hung with a Sloan Flushmate pressure assist. I can't see Terry using that with his customers, but it IS out there...

It's not an option in the Seattle area.

 

[WJcandee]

It's not an option in the Seattle area.

I also had the impression from the many posts on here that the Mansfields generally are not as well-made as some other brands.

 

[Plumbs Away]

I notice from the pictures that the flush lever on the Gerber Maxwell is identical to the one on the AquaSource that I have. I'm just wondering if there's any connection other than they use the same flush lever???

 

[Terry]

I notice from the pictures that the flush lever on the Gerber Maxwell is identical to the one on the AquaSource that I have. I'm just wondering if there's any connection other than they use the same flush lever???

Handles are generic. The same handle can wind up on many brands.
This page is meant for condo owners up at Crystal. This information on this page is what we're installing in the Seattle area, product we have used and tested.
I'm not really interested in testing product up at a ski resort that is almost two hours away from me, where I have to lug the product up a big hill from the parking lot, and only one shutoff for the entire building. I'm only installing tried and proven stuff here. I have never liked to gamble.

 

[Plumbs Away]

Handles are generic. The same handle can wind up on many brands.
This page is meant for condo owners up at Crystal. This information on this page is what we're installing in the Seattle area, product we have used and tested.
I'm not really interested in testing product up at a ski resort that is almost two hours away from me, where I have to lug the product up a big hill from the parking lot, and only one shutoff for the entire building. I'm only installing tried and proven stuff here. I have never liked to gamble.

LOL!!! I wasn't suggesting that you install AquaSource toilets at the ski resort. They obviously wouldn't work since they don't hang on the wall.

 

[WJcandee]

This page is meant for condo owners up at Crystal. This information on this page is what we're installing in the Seattle area, product we have used and tested.
I'm not really interested in testing product up at a ski resort that is almost two hours away from me, where I have to lug the product up a big hill from the parking lot, and only one shutoff for the entire building. I'm only installing tried and proven stuff here. I have never liked to gamble.

Terry, you are America's Most Trusted Plumber. If you told me that you only recommended the DogVomit 3000 and the Harpsichord 37 in my application, but liked the Harpsichord better because the water flowed uphill, that's what I would install, sight unseen.

By the way, I think the Maxwell is VERY nice looking in this application. And it's doubtless a better value for these condo-owners.