Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
..
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if the
reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
..
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?
..
Here are the symptoms...Flushing the toilet seems to fill the bowl, which
raises the water level in the bowl, there is a small delay, then a flush
which is not very powerful. Water pressure in my area is not great. There
is no clog in the pipe.
..
I can do the replacement, just not sure if I should. It would only be less
than $300.00 to do the job.
Thanks for your time.

On Mar 19, 6:23 pm, "Jack" wrote:
Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if the
reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
.
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?
.
Here are the symptoms...Flushing the toilet seems to fill the bowl, which
raises the water level in the bowl, there is a small delay, then a flush
which is not very powerful. Water pressure in my area is not great. There
is no clog in the pipe.
.
I can do the replacement, just not sure if I should. It would only be less
than $300.00 to do the job.
Thanks for your time.

If the stuff is going down the chute the don't bother. If it aint
broke....

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:23:20 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if the
reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
.
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?

It depends on why it flushes badly now.

Are these totos everyone talks about compressed-air powered, or just
normal?

Here are the symptoms...Flushing the toilet seems to fill the bowl, which
raises the water level in the bowl, there is a small delay, then a flush
which is not very powerful. Water pressure in my area is not great. There
is no clog in the pipe.

Have you taken off the lid to watch what goes on in the tank during
all of this?

First guess, the tank isn't filling completely for some reason. First
sub-guess, it's set not to fill very high. Second sub-guess, it
sticks on something.

Second guess. The flapper doesn't open well. First sub- guess, the
brick someone put in the toilet to save water eventually moved so that
it obstructs the flapper from opening

Third guess Something else you will see.

It sounds like you haven't looked into repairing it. Why is the first
thing people think of replacement and not repair?

The toilet in my powder room refills in less than half the time my
other toilets do because it is so close to the water input to the
house. Maybe something like this causes someone to do something to
your toilet.

I can do the replacement, just not sure if I should. It would only be less
than $300.00 to do the job.
Thanks for your time.

"Jack" wrote:

Here are the symptoms...Flushing the toilet seems to fill the bowl, which
raises the water level in the bowl, there is a small delay, then a flush
which is not very powerful. Water pressure in my area is not great. There
is no clog in the pipe.

Fill a 5 gal bucket with water and pour it quickly into the bowl. If you get a
sarisfactory "swoosh" as the bowl empties, you don't have a drain issue.

Water pressure is immaterial - the flush comes from the storage tank. Pressure
just affects the refill time.

Builder special toilets are notorious for pour hydraulics. I have a couple of
Sterling's (made by Kohler) left that are horrible. Replaced 2 of them with
Kohler Wellworth Lights that work fine. If you want to replace it, pick up a
copy of the latest Maximum Performance Test of low flow toilets he

http://www.cwwa.ca/home_e.asp

Look for the link that says "6 Litre Toilets" and then click on the 8th edition
report.

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:23:20 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if the

BTW, did it used to flush well?

reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
.
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?

Not if the problem is venting.

It seems to clog everytime my mother-in-law is over...
..
No, it always had a slow flush. Its a Mansfield Alto RF. I looked at the
MaP study, and the combination only show a 275 gram MaP flush performance,
far lower than many others available. I think it needs to get replaced.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:23:20 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if
the

BTW, did it used to flush well?

reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
.
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?

Not if the problem is venting.

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:19:34 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

It seems to clog everytime my mother-in-law is over...
.
No, it always had a slow flush. Its a Mansfield Alto RF. I looked at the
MaP study, and the combination only show a 275 gram MaP flush performance,
far lower than many others available.

Maybe it's lower, but 99% of them still flush fine, right?

I think it needs to get replaced.

What kind of toilets do you have in the other bathrooms?

And of course the other guy was right. Your house water pressure has
nothing to do with how it flushes. As long as the toilet tank fills.

Does the toilet tank fill? Could you raise the level without going
above the overflow tube that goes into the bowl?

Did you do as I asked and take the lid off the tank and watch what
happens when you flush it?

Anything unusual?

How do you know it's not the vent? In my case and many, the
downstairs toilet uses a different vent from the upstairs toilets.

"mm" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:23:20 -0400, "Jack" wrote:

Hello,
My house is 4 years old. I bought it new. Three bathrooms, 2 on second
floor, 1 on first floor.
.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if
the

BTW, did it used to flush well?

reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).
.
Would replacing this fixture with a high-grade model from Toto make a big
difference?

Not if the problem is venting.

I think it needs to get replaced.


I just replaced two toilets with one piece Toto's. Was able to
install them easily too (though the second one was easier to install
than the first!) They are great, especially compared to the cheapo
toilets that were like trying to sweep with 3 strands left on a
broom.


Debra

DebraG wrote:

I just replaced two toilets with one piece Toto's. Was able to
install them easily too (though the second one was easier to install
than the first!) They are great, especially compared to the cheapo
toilets that were like trying to sweep with 3 strands left on a
broom.

I also like the Toto's a lot. Besides the efficient flush, the soft-
close lid is such an improvement it's hard to understand why all of
the other manufacturer's haven't followed suit.

R

Rick Blaine wrote:
"Jack" wrote:


Here are the symptoms...Flushing the toilet seems to fill the bowl, which
raises the water level in the bowl, there is a small delay, then a flush
which is not very powerful. Water pressure in my area is not great. There
is no clog in the pipe.


Fill a 5 gal bucket with water and pour it quickly into the bowl. If you get a
sarisfactory "swoosh" as the bowl empties, you don't have a drain issue.

Water pressure is immaterial - the flush comes from the storage tank. Pressure
just affects the refill time.

I doubt if that is also true for "power flush" toilets which compress
air above the water when refilling. I'd expect the initial flush
strength and the amount of water released to be a function of supply
pressure.

But since I don't own and haven't worked on one of those types of
toilets yet, maybe I don't fully understand their operation.

Won't someone help me please? G

Jeff


snipped

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

.
The toilet on the first floor doesn't flush that well. I don't know if the
reason is because of venting, or if the reason is because its a 'builders'
fixture (Mansfield is the brand).


Here's some tips..........

http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/SlowFlush.htm

***Clogged holes underneath the rim of the bowl. Use a curved piece of
wire to poke gently into each flush hole to clear out any debris. Coat-
hanger wire works fine.You can also use wire to loosen debris that may
be blocking the siphon jet in the bottom of the drain.***

Dean