Sloan Flushmate

[joevan]

Has anyone here experience with them? We have a sluggish toilet and would like to put a flushmate pressure unit in the tank.

[joevan]

Forgot the link.

[John Grabowski]

*The web site says that it cannot be fitted into an existing gravity fed toilet. Get yourself a new low water toilet with a large discharge opening. I bought a Toto Drake a few years ago and love the flushing power. The guts inside are the same as any other toilet. I think the discharge opening is 3".

[bob haller]

does you toilet flush solids poorly normally? try flushing with a bucket of water.....

if that flushes well post your answer and i will post a quick easy fix, thats cheap too:)

[joevan]

A quart of water dumped into the bowl just as the flush is started makes everything go down easily. Been doing that for a while.

[HeyBub]

What happens when your pour a BUCKET of water in the bowl without flushing?

This is the standard test; report the results.

[joevan]

I did a pail of water and it went down just fine.

[bob haller]

I am not familiar with a sloan flushmate:(

But heres what goes wrong with a regular toilet.

it fails to flush solids well, when flushed water just swirls around in the bowl.....

heres whats wrong...... the interior bowl rim passages have sludged up, poor flow makes the toilet flush poorly.

buy a gallon of muriatic acid, wear safety glasses leave windows open. gloves are a good idea but not essential. put a funnel in the open end of the dip tube, where the hose with water goes inside the tank.

turn water off flush toilet repeatedly. the less water in the bowl the better.

take a deep breathe pour a quart or so of muriatic acid down in the funnel.

leave the room wait 15 minutes and repeat more acid.

wait 15 more minutes. turn water back on and flush normally 10 to 15 times to dilute any remaining acid.

reportedly people have done this on a septic tank but your probably better off to do this by pulling the toilet.

although t sounds extreme it really isnt and works fast to clean the toilet passages.

a bunch of posters here have done this its safe cheap 10 bucks or less and effective........

[Evan]

It sounds like you have an older toilet that is meant to use a specific amount of water per flush that someone had modded with baffles or adjusted the water level in the tank with the fill valve to use less water than it is designed/intended for...

Replace toilet with one designed to be low-flow flush...

~~ Evan

[default]

I installed one about 15 years ago, to replace an old high-flush toilet that clogged up too frequently. I replaced the entire toilet with a Gerber Ultra-Flush (Flushmate guts) that was highly recommended in CR. I was originally concerned about reliability and cost to repair. (This is the bathroom my wife mostly uses, and she decided she REALLY wanted that model.) So far my fears have mostly not been realized. The repair rate is about the same or better than other toilets I've had. I had to replace the flush valve (NOT the tank) twice, once due to a manufacturing defect, and more recently due to flakey flushing. If you're a DIYer, it's pretty easy, but the parts are more expensive than the common variety, and not as available.

The toilet is VERY effective. I don't think it's ever clogged or required an extra flush.

You should be aware it's fairly noisy when it flushes! A loud whooshing sound lasting 2 or three seconds. I suspect the neighbors know whenever we flush. Once we had a family for a visit and one of the kids didn't flush because the noise was too scary. We're used to it now, so hardly notice it, but it's definitely an attention-getter.

Personally I would lean toward getting one of the high-rated regular toilets, due mainly to the noise issue. But if performance is the main priority and you can live with the noise, it is a good choice.

[bob haller]

the existing toilet is likely slugged up in its interior passages, easily solved by using some acid that dissolves the crud

[Harry K]

Same here. That toilet is awesome.

Only problem I have had with it is my wife. For some reason she holds the flush handle then the valve doesn't seat properly and I find the valve leaking by. Much yelling, screaming etc that thee was nothing wrong with the toilet and it will work just firn if you will just LET GO OF THE FREAKING HANDLE!

Harry K

[Evan]

You do realize that the 1.6 gallon per flush applies to the engineering and design of toilets being sold for new construction and remodel projects only...

There is nothing that makes older existing toilets that use either 3 or 5 gallons per flush illegal, nor any prohibition against flushing a low flow toilet more than once which would use more than 1.6 gallons of water on emptying the bowl...

~~ Evan

[bob haller]

you probably meant neautrilize the acid.

be careful of violent reactions if trying this. add a basic very slowly, like baking soda...slowly, a little at a time.

i used to launch rockets with baking sda and vinegar with the right load they could go pretty high

[Bob_Villa]

That's what he means...you only need to spell it right! ;^)

[Michael B]

Pour some white vinegar down the overflow tube before you leave the house for the day, then use a .22 caliber gun-cleaning brush to clean out the rim holes. Also, make sure nobody is using a "disinfectant" in the tank. Not only can it change the flush characteristics into the negative direction, it can also muck up the rim holes.

Research terms "toiletology" and "fluidmaster". Look for "blue goo".

[krw]

They'll probably put a toilet-cam on his. He'll get a violation after every flush.

[krw]

Nope, just an executive order.

[joevan]

I was wondering about that blinking light. Now I know what it's for. Thanks for cluing me in. : o)

[gzentefis]

Very disappointed with Sloan Flushmate. 3 years ago I bought 3 pressure ass= isted toilets for my home and 8 for my business. The toilets are made by Am= erican standard with a Sloan Flushmate pressure tank. Just recently I recei= ved a recall card. Apparently the tank can crack at the seams and even expl= ode. So I called with the S/N and they send me a repair kit. When I opened = the box I started laughing, then I got angry. They had a pressure regulator= and straps to go around the tank. Obviously they do not trust the regulato= r and this is why they send the straps. I=92m surprised they did not send d= uct Tape. I called Flushmate and they gave me the run around telling me it was approv= ed by so and so and she even through a few government departments in there.= =20 I try to buy US made products thinking there better made and they will stan= d by their product, I paid top dollar for those toilets. I should have boug= ht Chinese product for =BC of the price and just change them every 5-6 year= s. I got a pressure assisted toilets for a reason. Save water and still do the= job with the assistance of pressure. So now I have to install a pressure r= egulator and drop the pressure, so now my toilets will not do the job that = where intended to do. The flushmate employee was telling me that they will = do the job, trust me they don=92t. Dropping the pressure from the house to = the toilet from 60 PSI to 25 PSI has a big difference.