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Q We recently bought a 10-year-old house and love everything about it—except the toilets. They just don’t do the job, if you know what I mean.
—John Kirchman, Columbus, IN
A We know exactly what you mean. In 1994 Congress decided to conserve water by requiring toilets to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. It was a good idea, but when manufacturers came out with their first water-saving models, they hadn’t yet figured out how to make toilets perform as well as before (most toilets at that time used 3.5 gallons or more). So homeowners like you got stuck with toilets that require two or even three flushes to clear and clean the bowl. These wimpy toilets plug up more often too. Their design is poor and there isn’t much you can do to improve them. The only real solution is a new toilet.
Manufacturers have refined old designs and developed entirely new systems to make water-saving toilets work better. But there are still some weak flushers out there, so do some research before you buy (see below). When you’re shopping, you’ll find three types of flushing systems:
Toilet tests
To see how well 80 toilet models cleared solid waste in a recent laboratory test, go to: www.cwwa.ca/home_e.asp. Click on “CWWA Maximum Performance Testing of Popular Toilets Reports.”
For real-world experience and opinions on various models from plumbers and homeowners, click on “Terry Love’s Report on low-flow toilets” at www.terrylove.com.
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