Potty talk.

[BarbaRosa]

I need a new toilet.

I'd like to stay in the $450± range

any suggestions?

[ret5hd]

1. First, I would check if your municipality has a...

toilet replacement program. Ours does, and if you have an old high-flow toilet, they give you a voucher to replace with a new low-flow toilet.

[Warpy]

2. My old one finally plugged up beyond repair, started to leak, connections rusted solid so I couldn't

shut the supply off. Clearing the drain and putting in all new connections was about $250. The new loo was another $250. 3 days of using a bucket in 100+ degree heat made it very much worth it. The old one was so far gone that installing new guts wouldn't have helped it all that much. The new one uses half as much water and does a better job.

My advice is bite the bullet and do it. It costs what it costs. Also, the new low flow desert toilets are much better than the old ones. If your town mandates a low flow toilet, there might be a rebate on installing it.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I have Kohler low-rate two stage flushing toilets. 4 of them.

They installed in 1996 and going strong.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. Check out this guy's blog. He has some ratings.

I really like his website's diy sections.

http://terrylove.com/crtoilet.htm

All the plumbers I know like Toto.

I've put a bunch in for friends and customers. The aquia is a really nice looking toilet and flushes great. I've probably installed 10 in the last several years.

I like Toto's Aquia (and others?)installation method - you set the wax ring and bolt a the plastic flange on top of the wax ring. No more questing did you land the toilet on the center of the wax ring. Once the ring and flange are set, you only need to set the toilet on the flange. The "horn" outlet on the bottom of the toilet slides in to a rubber gasket. Also makes removal of the toilet easy as you don't have to fuss with a new wax ring. The wax stays put. You do have to drill a few extra holes for mounting blocks. So if you have tile you should be get a drill bit.

The one piece with skirt is nice to keep clean. Less nooks and crannies to pick up gunk.

I've done a bunch of Kohlers too. Some models are better than others.

I have two Kohlers in my house.

One - the Persuade- flushes great.

The other one - the Memoir- was purchased based its look and a matched set. Sucks. Can't handle more than two wads of TP. Guaranteed to clog every party. I would change it but it is so nice looking and matches the sink and tub.

[BarbaRosa]

5. Thanks for the website.

It turns out the couple of toilets (Toto) I've been watching on Amazon at the top of his list. I'm tending towards the Drake II.

Last year I bought an American Standard "Clean Dual Flush" because I liked the idea of smaller flush for liquids. Not good at all, it should have come with a brush.

Thanks again.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. That Drake II seems nice and reasonably priced.

That sanigloss seems like a nice idea. Let us know how it works out.

Lol. I was just reading the reviews and someone commented on the old toilet slowly rising and swirling. My buddy had two of those giant bowl toilets that must have used about 10 gallons of water. I swear it could have been a kiddie pool.