On Aug 30, 10:22*am, John wrote:
Two weeks ago I wrote about my trials and tribulations regarding a
toilet that wouldn't flush any solids.

After reading all of the suggestions, I figured it would be easier to
just replace the toilet and see what happens.

My plumber indirectly suggested that I do my own plumbing from now on by
handing me a choker of a bill for the last job so went to Home Despot to
look at the toilets with the intention of installing it myself.

I found one that grabbed my eye: *"Virtually guaranteed to flush a
bucket of golf balls" *(note the operative word 'virtually'). *Rated a
'10' on the flush scale (seriously). An American Standard (made in
Mexico) Champion 4 toilet. *About $140 on sale.

The bottom part must have weighed just a wee less than myself. *I nearly
broke my back getting it upstairs.

Okay, having never replaced a toilet before I approached the job with
much trepidation. I had outlined a battle plan days in advance. *I read
all of the instructions many times. *I bought all the necessary
equipment. *I was ready for action.

The day before I replaced the toilet, I flushed the toilet (no solid
wastes at all) and it overflowed massively. *As there was no caulking
around the trim work, the water I wasn't able to vacuum up with a
Floormate came down through the floor and stained the living room
ceiling. *Another project for another day.

The old toilet came off easily. *As expected, with no children or pets,
I found nothing in the drain.

I noticed that the bolts that attach the toilet to the floor came off
fairly easily so I figured out that the goal was to tighten the bolts
just enough but no so much that the pressure breaks the fixture. *When I
attached the toilet, I used a small wrench and didn't apply any
significant torque.

After several hours, I completed the task. Of course, now that I've
installed a toilet, I can smugly tell everyone that it's so easy, simple
and quick to replace a toilet. *The next toilet will take less than an
hour to replace. *If I was bigger, I could do it faster.

After assembling, I anxiously turned the water on looking for leaks.
Initially there wasn't any but after flushing the toilet a few times I
noticed that some dripping coming from the tank. *I hadn't tighten down
the tank enough because I was terrified of cracking something. *A few
more turns and the dripping disappeared.

Now for the litmus test: *Will the toilet flush solid wastes or not?
Since there was no immediate demand to fulfill that task, I resorted to
placing a large bunch of old wet clumps of paper in the toilet. *99.99%
flushed down. *There is no flapper with this toilet and it acts very
differently than any other toilet I've ever seen. *It seems that a quick
press on the lever is sufficient for non-solid wastes and holding the
lever for an extra second or two does the trick for solid wastes. *I
don't know if that's by design or not. *There's nothing in the
instructions to suggest that it's a design feature. *Anyway, the toilet
flushes quickly and it seems that the water is pressurized. *It doesn't
have that forever swirling action. *Just a quick "whoomp" and it's gone..
* I'm going to replace another toilet (that must have cost $50 10 years
ago and built for young children since it's so tiny) to see if the
toilet flushes in the same manner or if the replaced toilet doesn't have
enough venting.

Aside from the time, I saved myself about $150 in labor costs and
received an education.

Stay tuned for more of my exciting adventures in toilets.

Suggested uses for recycling old fixtures. *My neighbor thought it was cute.

http://i31.tinypic.com/2qin511.jpg

John

Congratulations! Oh, and nice photo.

Joe