Pressure Assist & Dual Flush Questions

I'm having my townhome built and really want pressure assisted toilets. However, they do not offer these, but offer a dual flush toilet. I'm not sure of the brand. My question is, if I have a guest and they hit the 1/2 flush instead of the full flush when taking a #2, etc will it clog? What's your thoughts?

Also, what's a ballpark figure for having a plumber purchase and install 3 pressure assisted toilets (Gerber Ultra Flush is what I want)?

Thanks

It depends always on the model toilet you have.
Some dual flush work very well, and some don't.

Of the dual flush that I like, the Toto Aquia and the Caroma

Gerber has a dual flush pressure assist made by WDI, that has been glitchy.\
Gerber Dual Flush and the WDI EcoFlush tank



Their 1.6 and 1.1 gallon made by Flushmate is better.

This link has pricing
https://terrylove.com/store/index.htm

If you do some research, and understand how these things work, there's no good reason for the added complexity of a pressure assisted flush. They tend to shread things leaving little bits in the bowl, they're noisy and actually can scare some little kids (and wake your spouse or kids at night), and when they need service, cost lots more and you may or may not have quick access to parts easily, especially on a weekend.

They were an attempt to make old designs work when the feds mandated low flow. The better companies redesigned their toilets to actually work with the low flow. Some never have to this day figured it out.

Buy a well designed gravity flush toilet and it works, is much quieter, and generally , you can buy parts to repair whatever needs fixing at the big box store for peanuts and restore it to like new operation in minutes. Can't do that with a pressure assist toilet.

Jim has made an interesting point. I am definitely not a professional plumber, and I do not install toilets for people other than myself, but for the three years or so that I have been hanging around this forum, I have yet to hear of anyone with a gravity flush Toto (any of their models) having a flushing problem that would necessitate a power assisted flush. It seems the only time there is a clogging issue it is caused by something such as a child's toy. I have been puzzled why some folks seem to think they need a noisy power assist toilet. Toto has gravity toilets that use only 1.3 gallons of water and they work very well. My Toto Dartmouth (1.6) is a gravity model and it has performed flawlessly since I installed it last September. Perhaps there are conditions where a power assist would be preferred, but I sure can't imagine what those conditions might be.

Count me in as agreeing with the 2 posts above...
I too would favor the gravity flush toilets...
The 1.28 GPF Toto's are an excellent choice!
No noisy toilets that are expensive to repair...
No worries about someone messing up on the #1, #2 button choice...
Just a good toilet that flushes great every time!

I am developing a theory about this topic. In the olden days before computer designed the highly efficient low flow toilets, these power assisted and dual flushers were likely an attempt to make the poor designs work. And, perhaps they did improve the poor designs somewhat. Manufacturers such as Toto redesigned the basic structure of the toilet to work better, but by then the public looked at low flow toilets as devices that needed help and pressure assists and dual flush seemed to be a way that worked. The average homeowner does not keep up with toilet technology, so when he shops for a good toilet, he is still under the impression that low flow toilets need added assistance. Every manufacturer keeps them in their product line because they fear that if they don't offer them, these customers will go to another manufacturer's line. This same principle is why certain well known names from the past continue to sell well even though they no longer produce a first rate product. As I said, this is just my theory. I wonder if you professional plumbers can offer your opinions on the topic.

I would agree that your theory has a lot of evidence supporting it!

I owned a pressure-assist toilet for several years (Eljer brand) purchased at a big box store - just hauled it to the dump this weekend. It was noisy as stated previously - something to get used to, particularly in the middle of the night. Cats sure didn't like it lol! Water recovery into the tank was very fast, don't know if that had to do with the pressure assist or not.

Additionally, this model did not have the capability to add any sort of cleaner in the tank (some do apparently) - so the bowl was perpetually yukky looking. This was made worse by the fact the water level in the bowl was just way too low (no way to adjust also) and when #2 well... you get the drift.

I will say it never clogged once, tho. Wouldn't buy another one again, unless I was having severe clogging problems for whatever reason - but I would make sure the negative points above were addressed in the model I selected.

One feature often overlooked when shopping for a new toilet is the water spot. This is the water that is in the bowl not the tank. The size of the water spot is determined by the weir which is part of the trap that is built into the toilet, and it is not adjustable. A small water spot mean the toilet will be subject to much more streaking that one with a larger spot.