Flush your toilets!
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Water can evaporate from the bowl and trap down below, too. When that happens the sewer gases will perfume the air in the bathroom and beyond. We had that happen once in our vacation home when we didn’t use it for an extended period of time and the dehumidifier in the house was running.
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So flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.
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So flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.
@Axtremus said in Flush your toilets!:
flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano
Pretty sure none of us thought we’d ever see this comparison here!
Back to the topic at hand: in our new house, the toilets are low flow, and we end up flushing more than once because there’s not enough water moving. Seems like that defeats the purpose, but I’m more worried about our plumbing.
I’m pretty sure that when the house was built, low flow wasn’t a thing.
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@Axtremus said in Flush your toilets!:
flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano
Pretty sure none of us thought we’d ever see this comparison here!
Back to the topic at hand: in our new house, the toilets are low flow, and we end up flushing more than once because there’s not enough water moving. Seems like that defeats the purpose, but I’m more worried about our plumbing.
I’m pretty sure that when the house was built, low flow wasn’t a thing.
@ShiroKuro If I may be so indelicate to ask, how did you determine there is not enough flow? Have your sewer lines backed up? Or do you need two flushes to get rid of solids?
All reduced water usage toilets are not created equal. Models from different manufacturers may use the same (lower) amount of water but flushing efficiency can be very different depending on the toilet design, especially when it comes to earlier models of the efficient toilets. It took them a while to figure out how to empty the bowl with the reduced amount of water.
We have a 60 plus year old house that had the old fashioned 5 gallon tanks on the toilets and sewer lines to accommodate that volume of water. The Totos that replaced them are 1.5 gallon flush and we haven't had a sewer backup and don't need to flush twice.
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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So flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.
@Axtremus said in Flush your toilets!:
So flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.
In the following famous quote, just replace “practice” with “flush.”
If I neglect to practise for one day, I notice it; if for two days, my friends notice it; and if for three, the public notice it.
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@Axtremus said in Flush your toilets!:
So flushing the toilet is like practicing the piano; you just cannot go too long without doing it.
In the following famous quote, just replace “practice” with “flush.”
If I neglect to practise for one day, I notice it; if for two days, my friends notice it; and if for three, the public notice it.
@RealPlayer Too funny!!
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@ShiroKuro If I may be so indelicate to ask, how did you determine there is not enough flow? Have your sewer lines backed up? Or do you need two flushes to get rid of solids?
All reduced water usage toilets are not created equal. Models from different manufacturers may use the same (lower) amount of water but flushing efficiency can be very different depending on the toilet design, especially when it comes to earlier models of the efficient toilets. It took them a while to figure out how to empty the bowl with the reduced amount of water.
We have a 60 plus year old house that had the old fashioned 5 gallon tanks on the toilets and sewer lines to accommodate that volume of water. The Totos that replaced them are 1.5 gallon flush and we haven't had a sewer backup and don't need to flush twice.
@wtg said in Flush your toilets!:
how did you determine there is not enough flow? Have your sewer lines backed up? Or do you need two flushes to get rid of solids?
When you say "sewer line backing up" I assume you mean something more serious than a clogged toilet that's fixable with a quick plunging? If so, no, we've never had a sewer line back up. Well, I mean, I don't really know what a backed up sewer line looks like.
Anyway, I might be overly cautious, because as I say, we haven't had any serious issues. But we maybe had a toilet clog up twice (i.e., fixable with a quick plunging) and since then I'm just very careful. Anything more than a little paper and I flush twice, and so does Mr. SK.
These toilets are actually Toto btw. They are probably a higher end of the Toto line, and I am certain they're not original to the house.
BTW in Japan, the standard is that all toilets have two flush options, one that's very low flow and one that sends more water through.
This makes a lot more sense to me, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that for home use in the US, and the ones I've seen (like in hotels or other public toilets) aren't set up the same way. I don't know what's different, but the Japanese one seems to work better/more reliably.
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@wtg said in Flush your toilets!:
how did you determine there is not enough flow? Have your sewer lines backed up? Or do you need two flushes to get rid of solids?
When you say "sewer line backing up" I assume you mean something more serious than a clogged toilet that's fixable with a quick plunging? If so, no, we've never had a sewer line back up. Well, I mean, I don't really know what a backed up sewer line looks like.
Anyway, I might be overly cautious, because as I say, we haven't had any serious issues. But we maybe had a toilet clog up twice (i.e., fixable with a quick plunging) and since then I'm just very careful. Anything more than a little paper and I flush twice, and so does Mr. SK.
These toilets are actually Toto btw. They are probably a higher end of the Toto line, and I am certain they're not original to the house.
BTW in Japan, the standard is that all toilets have two flush options, one that's very low flow and one that sends more water through.
This makes a lot more sense to me, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that for home use in the US, and the ones I've seen (like in hotels or other public toilets) aren't set up the same way. I don't know what's different, but the Japanese one seems to work better/more reliably.
@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
BTW in Japan, the standard is that all toilets have two flush options, one that's very low flow and one that sends more water through.
That’s similar to what I have now. A quick flick of the lever uses very little water but if you hold the handle down you can empty the tank.
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@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
BTW in Japan, the standard is that all toilets have two flush options, one that's very low flow and one that sends more water through.
That’s similar to what I have now. A quick flick of the lever uses very little water but if you hold the handle down you can empty the tank.
@Steve-Miller said in Flush your toilets!:
A quick flick of the lever uses very little water but if you hold the handle down you can empty the tank.
Does it work well? What brand is it?
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Yup. Dual flush.
There are different dual flush designs. One type has two buttons, one that gives you a short flush for liquid waste and the second one for a long flush. Or they can have a lever that moves forward or backwards depending on whether you need a short or long flush. Or a lever like @Steve-Miller describes, where if you push it down briefly for a short flush or hold it down so it empties the tank.
@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
What brand is it?
Just knowing the brand and even the particular model isn't quite enough. Toto has several flushing mechanism designs (G-Max, E-Max, Tornado, etc.) and amounts of water (1.6. 1.28, etc. gallons) that they use. We have three Toto toilets, two Drakes and one Ultramax. They are all 1.6 gallon G-Max. 1.6 gpf was the standard years ago when we installed ours, but now they have 1.28 gpf models, and I think maybe even lower than that.
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@wtg said in Flush your toilets!:
how did you determine there is not enough flow? Have your sewer lines backed up? Or do you need two flushes to get rid of solids?
When you say "sewer line backing up" I assume you mean something more serious than a clogged toilet that's fixable with a quick plunging? If so, no, we've never had a sewer line back up. Well, I mean, I don't really know what a backed up sewer line looks like.
Anyway, I might be overly cautious, because as I say, we haven't had any serious issues. But we maybe had a toilet clog up twice (i.e., fixable with a quick plunging) and since then I'm just very careful. Anything more than a little paper and I flush twice, and so does Mr. SK.
These toilets are actually Toto btw. They are probably a higher end of the Toto line, and I am certain they're not original to the house.
BTW in Japan, the standard is that all toilets have two flush options, one that's very low flow and one that sends more water through.
This makes a lot more sense to me, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that for home use in the US, and the ones I've seen (like in hotels or other public toilets) aren't set up the same way. I don't know what's different, but the Japanese one seems to work better/more reliably.
@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
When you say "sewer line backing up" I assume you mean something more serious than a clogged toilet that's fixable with a quick plunging? If so, no, we've never had a sewer line back up. Well, I mean, I don't really know what a backed up sewer line looks like.
A sewer line backup is when the pipe that goes out to the municipal sewer gets blocked. Quite often it's tree roots that are the problem. Or it can be broken clay sewer pipe that causes a negative slope where solids can pile up. Newer homes have plastic sewer pipes that don't break or separate the way the old clay ones did.
Water can't get out and eventually everything backs up into the house. We had the tree root issue years ago. We were doing laundry and the dishwasher was running and I went to flush the first floor powder room toilet and the toilet bowl started filling up rather than emptying out. There was a greater volume of water than what could percolate through the blockage. It settled down eventually and we used minimal water until the plumber could come and rod out the sewer line.
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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@Steve-Miller said in Flush your toilets!:
A quick flick of the lever uses very little water but if you hold the handle down you can empty the tank.
Does it work well? What brand is it?
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@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
When you say "sewer line backing up" I assume you mean something more serious than a clogged toilet that's fixable with a quick plunging? If so, no, we've never had a sewer line back up. Well, I mean, I don't really know what a backed up sewer line looks like.
A sewer line backup is when the pipe that goes out to the municipal sewer gets blocked. Quite often it's tree roots that are the problem. Or it can be broken clay sewer pipe that causes a negative slope where solids can pile up. Newer homes have plastic sewer pipes that don't break or separate the way the old clay ones did.
Water can't get out and eventually everything backs up into the house. We had the tree root issue years ago. We were doing laundry and the dishwasher was running and I went to flush the first floor powder room toilet and the toilet bowl started filling up rather than emptying out. There was a greater volume of water than what could percolate through the blockage. It settled down eventually and we used minimal water until the plumber could come and rod out the sewer line.
@wtg said in Flush your toilets!:
@ShiroKuro said in Flush your toilets!:
A sewer line backup is when the pipe that goes out to the municipal sewer gets blocked.
Ahh. Fortunately we’ve never experienced that.
Newer homes have plastic sewer pipes that don't break or separate the way the old clay ones did.
I assume here you mean specifically the pipes outside the house?
So what counts as “newer”? Our current house was built in 1990, do you think we should expect to have clay pipes or plastic?
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Not sure when they switched over. @Steve-Miller might have a better idea.
Background:
We have an overhead sewer that's original to our 1960 house. A lot of homes around the same age here had a standard connection. In a big rainstorm the municipal sewer can fill up and back up into the basement through the floor drain. Sewage. yuck.
In our case we have an overhead cast iron pipe from the house. Because it's an overhead sewer we can see it going through the basement wall. It's also cast iron under the garage floor and driveway and then it jogs over and switches to clay out in front of our house; we know this because it's been scoped with a camera.
If you have an overhead sewer and see plastic going out the wall in the basement, then it's almost certainly plastic all the way out. And I assume if you have a standard connection, that you can pop the cover off the basement floor drain and see if it's plastic down there.
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Plastic drain pipe came in during the late 1960’s in most areas.
It’s superior to clay pipe in every way.
