What's a good brand name for Toilets?

[Paintedcow]

What's a good brand name for Toilets?

I know they all have good and bad points, but what are some better brands?

A relative wants to replace theirs and I told them I'd help install it, but I have not bought a toilet in many years, so I dont know what brand to recommend. My own toilet is an Eljer, and I think it works well, but I had another Eljer in another home and it was terrible. Always clogging and so on... The worst toilet I ever had.

That alone says it's not just the maker, but the model too.

[Mayayana]

| What's a good brand name for Toilets? | In general, Toto is best. They've been ahead in technology for years. For instance, they make the bowl deeper and narrower to make up for the insufficient water supply in a 1.6 gallon flush.

Toto is also expensive. And most improvements they've made are now shared by other brands. For instance, in the early days of 1.6 gallon flush, only expensive toilets had glazed interior ceramic where the waste goes from bowl to drain. Now they're all glazed. So if money is no object they might want Toto. If it were me I'd just go for something that looks nice. They'll probably all work fine. But many are surprisingly ugly, with odd shapes or plastic handles.

[philo]

After getting a quote from a plumber for $2000 to replace my toilet, I went to Home Depot and bought the cheapest one I could find...it was $80

Brand name is NIZA

That was two years ago and zero problems.

Took an hour or so to put it in.

I threw the $2000 quote away at once and never got to read to see if maybe it included the plumber coming out to wipe my ass.

[Micky]

My brother's wife talked him into an expensive house with an expensive remodeling with some foreign toilet and every time I used it, there was dirt in the bottom of the bowl. I had to clean it every time rather than leave it for the expensive nanny/maid she talked him into hiring. (She wasn't expensive as they go, but she was a lot more expensive than having the wife raise the child and clean the house.)

[Dean Hoffman]

Consumer Reports has two best buys. The first is Glacier Bay N2428E from Home Depot, $100. The second is Aquasource AT1203-00 from Lowes, $100. The top three rated in order: St. Thomas Creations Richmond ECO (6123.218, 6125.028) $350 American Standard Champion 4 Max 2586.128ST.020 $240 Delta Riosa C43906 $270 All are single flush.

[Frank]

Been a few years since I had all my toilets replaced, four of them.

I used a plumber as while I could have done it I learned in putting one back in place the disaster of over-tightening the floor bolts.

The larger diameter flapper ToTo was, I think about $350. Another ToTo and 2 other brands were about $300 each. Might have been 3-4 years ago when I got the last one and opted for cheaper as it was seldomly used.

Might be a lot more today but $2,000 is outrageous.

The first ToTo I mentioned works best.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Personal experience, Koher is great. We have two at home and four at work and they never miss. Comfort height is essential these days too as the kneed get older.

[DerbyDad03]

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

It's not just any given model, it's the maker in general.

Unless, of course, it was just those two models ;-)

Anyway, I have two American Standard 1.28 gallon FloWise toilets. The plunger has been out in the shed since I bought them probably 6 years ago. They just don't clog.

$168

10 year manufacturers warranty on the whole toilet, inside and out.

You can learn about the FloWise technology here.

[hubops]

I agree about Kohler and the comfort height. We replaced two of three toilets a number of years ago -

- both are water-conserving, single flush - the Kohler flushes strong - almost like it is pressurized

[Eagle]

[e-mail] presented the following explanation :

The best toilet is one that fits your needs. Options include different heights, bowl shapes, styles, and flushing technologies. The best toilets also save water while still delivering worry-free performance. No need to flush twice to get the job done. No need to pay top dollar either. Do you need a taller toilet, or a longer bowl? Many have changed their dunnies for those options after they get older. They don't want the long travel down to the bowl, they want to just sit comfortably without stretching thier knees. Some need a longer bowl so they don't have to "tuck in" their pecker to pee sitting. The option for water saving is the norm here in California. Kohler, American Standard are two of the most popular dunnies, Whitehous and Barclay make some custom dunnies and in several colors to suit your bathroom design.

Hope this helps get "the job" done. :')

[philo]

years since I had all my toilets replaced, four of them.

Totally insane.

When my wife saw me fooling with it she yelled at me to call a plumber, so not really wanted to deal with it, I figured $500 , so what?

When they said $2000, even my wife was convinced that I should do it myself

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Our American Standard Champion toilets are doing fine.

Perce

[DerbyDad03]

OT, but two grand to replace a toilet reminded me of something I just heard on the NPR "Whad'ya Know" show. Some lady called in and mentioned that she worked as a Customer Service Rep for a "luxury appliance" dealer.

The host asked her what a "luxury appliance" was. She said "Do you have an extra $16,000 for a refrigerator?"

[Ed Pawlowski]

I like nice appliances, but that is far out of my range. Just bought a new French door fridge for 1/7 that.

[philo]

I paid $30k for my house (years ago) but I'm thinking a $16k refrigerator would be a bit out of place here.

At least I now know what kind of people would potentially pay $2k for a toilet replacement.

[philo]

My "fridge" worked fine, just had to hold the door closed with magnets.

Wife did not like that so I told her to buy her own then, and she did.

$800 I think, it works just fine.

[Paintedcow]

Thanks for all the replies in here. $2000 for a toilet is outrageous. But I'm sure they find a sucker every so often...

I've heard Toto is good, but they are pricy. I may check on these $80 ones. Price is an issue here, but I sure dont want this person bitching later on that the toilet needs a plunger at least once a week either.

That old Eljer I used to have, needed a plunger at least once a week. I hated that toilet. But the Eljer I have now flushs real well. I've had it for about 3 years, I recall using a plunger twice in those years, and that's because I used a little too much TP and did not flush in between. The only repair I did was replace the seat. One of those padded seats that was cracking. But that's normal.

[philo]

They must because the place has been in business for quite some time

Well I was a bit skeptical about it simply because it was a "low water usage" variety. but from what I read they were supposed to work OK and it did.

The outlet is designed for better water flow and only rarely needs a double flush...but no more so that the former toilet.

>

[Vic Smith]

I put this Mansfield in a couple years ago. Works perfectly.

[Arthur Conan Doyle]

You should ignore hearsay and Usenet posts and use some objective information. The MaP scores were originally developed by the Canadian Waste Water Association a decade or so ago. They've since been spun off into a separate organization.

It's important to ignore MaP ratings on boxes or from manufacturers and stick to the reported scores. Some less than repuatble companies create their own MaP rating.