Toilet Trouble

Before I moved in with my wife, she bought and had her father install a new toilet. The toilet was nice enough, but soon after we discovered that it had some issues. First, one of the openings in the porcelain through which the water was supposed to exit was slightly misshapen and caused water to spray out over the seat and making it nearly as far as the wall at times. Second, it didn't do a great job with light waste, like a single sheet of toilet tissue. Third, it didn't always handle the larger waste loads either, often needing a second flush or plunging.

These issues grew steadily more annoying, especially the fact we had to lift the lid and seat up before flushing, otherwise the seat got sprayed with water, which we didn't think was very sanitary. We set aside some money for a replacement. Along the way, we learned that toilets do have a warranty and, if we had acted sooner, we could have replaced the non-working toilet with the same model/brand. This may have fixed the spraying water issue, but I think the waste removal issues were endemic to that model and brand of toilet, so we still would have had those.

This time, we did a lot more research. We checked with Consumer Reports, we read personal accounts of toilets, and even watched our favorite brands on YouTube (believe it or not, there are toilet flushing videos on YouTube -- nothing gross, just tests of various toilets in action, often with golf balls, pepper, and similar objects and materials being flushed).

M was convinced we needed one of the ultra, best, most expensive models. I argued otherwise. Soon we came to a brand (American Standard) and model (Flowise Cadet 3) that seemed a nice middle ground and that seemed to have pretty good reviews both on Consumer Reports and by people actually using them. It was important to us that it be the highest rating for waste removal (1000 g) and that the bowl was easy to clean (the model has a super slick coating that stays very clean). It turned out it was a 1.26 G, which was smaller than the 1.6 we had before and far better than the much bigger, older-style toilets use (4 or even 6 G). The fact that the flush is so quiet was a pleasant surprise.

We found the model on sale at Home Depot and, after checking the box to make sure everything looked good and all the parts were there, we went home. I installed it that weekend.

What a difference having such a quiet, powerful, spray-free flush back in the main bathroom! It did not take long to install (longer than it needed to because I was working alone, but it wasn't bad all things considered). The bowl stays pretty clean, it has so far flushed everything we have provided it to flush, it has no issues with lighter loads returning or removing heavier loads, and it is using much less water than the previous toilet. We are actually having to retrain ourselves not to lift the lid and seat when flushing, because there is no spray or issues.

We definitely recommend the American Standard Cadet 3 Flowise (two-piece) toilet. A very good value for the money.