 | Richard Tade
is President and owner of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Wichita, a repair/remodel plumbing company formerly known as C. Lee Tade Plumbing, which has been serving Wichita since 1950. Water heaters, gas lines, garbage disposals, toilets, faucets, drain cleaning, water services, drain lines and whole-house repiping are some of the services offered by Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, where all plumbers are licensed, have passed criminal back ground checks and are randomly screened for drugs. Richard can be reached at (316) 265-1776, or email at: plumber@tade.com |
Plumbing
2001-07-01 09:02:00
Toilets... flushing once
: It seems to me that in this day and age of putting men into space and all sorts of discoveries, we should be able to find a toilet that flushes when you press the handle... once. What is the lowdown on toilets? I hear there are now "air assisted" toilets. How do they work? Where does the air come from?
Richard Tade
Question: It seems to me that in this day and age of putting men into space and all sorts of discoveries, we should be able to find a toilet that flushes when you press the handle... once. What is the lowdown on toilets? I hear there are now "air assisted" toilets. How do they work? Where does the air come from?Answer: I couldn't agree with you more! You should be able to find a toilet that flushes right the first time. Let me assure you, they do exist. The problem of bad flushing toilets started when the Federal Government mandated that all toilets installed after January 1, 1996 flush on 1.6 gallons of water or less. Manufacturers have been making 1.6 GPF toilets since the late 80's, but most installed before 1996 were used commercially. Early on, it was not uncommon for some builders to install 1.6 GPF toilets on a project, have the project inspected, then remove the 1.6 GPF toilets and replace with 3.5 GPF toilets. This would eliminate phone calls from irate homeowners at midnight because a toilet in their brand new $200,000 home had stopped up and was running all over their master bathroom floor.There are 3 kinds of low flush toilets available. Gravity, vacuum assist and pressure assist. Most toilets are gravity type, which use the weight of the water in the tank, plus a unique bowl design to create the flush. The second type of toilet, the vacuum assist, relies on gravity plus a super siphoning effect created by a special bowl and tank design. Toilet tank water displaced during the flush exerts a vacuum pull to assist the push force of gravity. The third type of toilet, the pressure assist, is sometimes referred to as air assisted. The pressure assist flush is created by the use of a separate metal tank located inside the toilet tank, which is pressurized by the house water pressure. When the toilet is flushed, the pressurized air is released, reacting like a tightly-wound spring, surging the water out of the tank at a high velocity. The pressure or air assisted are the best flushing, but they are expensive, noisy and more complicated to repair than a gravity flush toilet. A wide selection of 1.6 GPF toilets are now on the market. Here are a few things to consider before purchasing a toilet.Price. Please don't make your decision on price alone. Other factors affecting the performance of the toilet are important to consider as well. Trap Size. The number one concern regarding toilet performance is its ability to flush well without clogging. Larger traps are less likely to clog. Also, lower priced toilets are more susceptible to inconsistencies in the internal glazing of the trap way. This will cause the toilet to stop up more frequently. Surface area of the bowl water. Another important concern is how clean the toilet remains between regular scrubbings. Toilets with larger bowl water surface areas generally require fewer cleanings. In conclusion. Over the years, I have installed toilets made by numerous manufacturers, in all price ranges. I believe the air assist is the best flushing toilet on the market, followed by a handful of gravity toilets. When it comes to toilets, I believe you do get what you pay for.
