Low maintenance toilet recommendation?

[jeromedawg]

Visiting my parents and just dealt with a clog on their old Kohler with canister flapper valve. Was reading up and its just a crappy design and not easy to do maintenance on.

Im telling them just to have a new toilet installed but wanted to get suggestions on something low maintenance that doesnt use a bunch of proprietary parts or have a weird design that is prone to future issues.

[uniwelder]

We put in an American Standard Champion 4 toilet when we redid our house 6 years ago.  After 5 years of use, there hasn't been any failures.  A replacement valve seems to be $25.  Incredible flushing capacity.

In our new house, we installed American Standard Cadet 3 toilets.  They've been trouble free for the last 2 years.  Replacement valve is also $25.  Also amazing flush capacity.  We went with this model rather than the Champion 4 because we couldn't find it in standard height I believe.

edited to add--- I'm just providing info based on my experience.  You've probably done more research into proprietary design of valves.  You've got me second guessing whether a new valve will be available 10-20 years from now.  Care to share what you've found out so far?

[cool7hand]

We had success with an American Standard Cadet.

[jeromedawg]

I forgot I actually installed a couple of the Cadet 3s at our last place. They were pretty low maintenance and didn't really give me many problems. So maybe I'll suggest those.

edited to add--- I'm just providing info based on my experience.  You've probably done more research into proprietary design of valves.  You've got me second guessing whether a new valve will be available 10-20 years from now.  Care to share what you've found out so far?

I haven't really researched the canister flush valves that much - maybe I'm just not familiar enough with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWosIAP7xHk

Seems pretty easy - except, I didn't want to break the one in my parents' tank so didn't fully remove it. I actually started trying to remove it but then I heard it "snap" and wasn't sure if that is a normal snap or a "I broke it" snap so I turned it back into place and left it lol.

Anyway, after looking into it more, I think the canister valve itself may not be the problem at all and it may have to do more with the toilet just being old and mineral deposits building up inside of it, causing it not to sufficiently flush. The solution one guy came up with on the thread I was reading was to basically use makeshift tools (bent screwdrivers, etc) to poke around inside the flush hole between the tank and the bowl, and try to chip away mineral deposits that were clogging up the main jet which was causing the low flow of water into the bowl. And I wasn't about to start going down that path lol. In the meantime, I just told them to hold the lever down until everything is flushed. 

[sonofsven]

I've had good performance from Toto. I've put them in jobs, and my own place. The dual flush model I have has been problem free for over ten years now.

[elaine amj]

I was frustrated with my crappy cheapo low flow toilet I bought 10 years ago that kept clogging. We have a close friend who is a plumber and he recommended a basic American Standard. Reasonable price and more importantly, easy to fix with standard parts.

I wanted a toilet with a concealed trap way (so the whole bottom area is enclosed) as ppl say they are easier to clean.

I changed my mind when my plumber friend explained they are a beast to fix. And insanely heavy. Better to take a few extra seconds to wipe around the curves of the trap way.

I still smile when I flush the toilet and it flushed smoothly.


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[yachi]

I've had good performance from Toto. I've put them in jobs, and my own place. The dual flush model I have has been problem free for over ten years now.

I have a Toto and hate it.  It's probably from the 1990's so maybe it's good for an early low-flow toilet.  It "performs" fine.  But the flapper is larger than normal and the rubber gets too soft from the chlorine.  Its designed to rely on the rubber not just to seal, but also to hold back the weight of the water, so when it softens it can't hold its shape and leaks into the drain.  I've had to replace it at least twice in 10 years. 
It also doesn't hold the toilet seat well, but this might be my issue since I replaced it with a generic seat.

[sonofsven]

I was frustrated with my crappy cheapo low flow toilet I bought 10 years ago that kept clogging. We have a close friend who is a plumber and he recommended a basic American Standard. Reasonable price and more importantly, easy to fix with standard parts.

I wanted a toilet with a concealed trap way (so the whole bottom area is enclosed) as ppl say they are easier to clean.

I changed my mind when my plumber friend explained they are a beast to fix. And insanely heavy. Better to take a few extra seconds to wipe around the curves of the trap way.

I still smile when I flush the toilet and it flushed smoothly.


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I don't know, I installed a Toto with the concealed trap design 14 years ago and it's been bombproof (sorry!).
No repairs, easy clean, install was slightly more difficult.
Now it will probably break tomorrow.

[elaine amj]

I was frustrated with my crappy cheapo low flow toilet I bought 10 years ago that kept clogging. We have a close friend who is a plumber and he recommended a basic American Standard. Reasonable price and more importantly, easy to fix with standard parts.

I wanted a toilet with a concealed trap way (so the whole bottom area is enclosed) as ppl say they are easier to clean.

I changed my mind when my plumber friend explained they are a beast to fix. And insanely heavy. Better to take a few extra seconds to wipe around the curves of the trap way.

I still smile when I flush the toilet and it flushed smoothly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't know, I installed a Toto with the concealed trap design 14 years ago and it's been bombproof (sorry!).
No repairs, easy clean, install was slightly more difficult.
Now it will probably break tomorrow.

LOl! U jinxed it!

My plumber explained they are insanely heavy. Which is probably what makes the install harder and I wonder if that’s also what makes it harder to fix?

I don’t know. All in all, I am pleased with my American Standard. I imagine a Toto with concealed trap way would be quite a bit more expensive and I really didn’t want to spend much more money anyway. I have a list of other projects with higher priority.


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