Costco Water Ridge Dual Flush Toilet Review & pictures

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As of February 20th 2009, the Water Ridge Dual Flush from Costco is no longer on their web site.
If you bought one, it's now an orphan.

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Costco is introducing a new Dual Flush Toilet that is rated as 1.6gpf and 1.1gpf respectively and it has a “Fluidmaster” 2” valve system. The name of the unit is “Waterridge” Item No. 386082 and it is made in China, seemingly for Costco. Waterridge appears to be the manufacturer. September 14 2007



I cannot find any information on the Web (including TerryLove) regarding this toilet or its manufacturer. Is this a quality toilet? Would I be flushing my money down the toilet if I purchased, actually two. My local water authority has no information about this product. I would appreciate any information or opinion you might have.
Thanks.

http://www.terrylove.com/images/wr_dual_flush.jpg

I threw away a Costco faucet that was in my kitchen, too many complaints from everyone that used it.
I hated it too.

My son installed a Costco disposer for a customer that was pretty cheaply made. I won't install those anymore. I say that because the last one I worked on had such a small inlet for the dishwasher that the air gap would leak over the kitchen counter. I would say that the drain hole was a little too small.

I looked at the WaterRidge when I was doing my regular shopping.
It looks like the standard builder grade stuff that I normally replace.
You won't see me selling something like that. One of the things I look at is the trapway. The WaterRidge has some pretty tight bends. The trapway may work for a while for "some" people. But eventually those bends will collect things. And those "things" tend to hang up paper.
There are no hardware stores that carry parts. If you need parts, keep the 1-800 number and the original paperwork. You will need to get parts from whoever supplied the container shipment. There is no manufacture called WaterRidge. That's a name that Costco slaps on generic product that the buyer picks up. Keep the paper work. If you wind up with an orphan, at least you weren't out much. As a installing contractor, that type of thing would drive me nuts; not having parts handy. I am afterall, a guy that loves fixing things. You need parts to do that.

http://www.terrylove.com/images/cost..._one_piece.jpg
I'm not liking this trapway. If you don't need much, then maybe. It's looking pretty small to me though.

Big Box stores just don't stock/sell quality plumbing fixtures. The aim at the mass market who is just looking for cheap merchandise. Toilets are an excellent example of this. The toilets they sell are cheap for a reason. They are poorly designed and made with limited quality controls. You would be better off to pay more to get more from a quality plumbing shop.

If a customer tells me they want to get stuff from the box stores i tell the to goto a supply house that has a show room. If they have this crazy need to shop at a box store i tell them not to get the cheapest look at the middle prices or better.

I dont know a whole lot about Waterridge, but I have heard they are made by Danze, specifically for Costco. I did read a comment by someone who said that they had a Waterridge product, and what they liked about it was that the products had a lifetime warranty and that the customer service department was very responsive to any problems. Personally, I dont have any Waterridge products, so I cant speak from experience.

It can have a good warranty, for product defect, but constant plugging wouln't be considered a defect.
It wouldn' t be consider defective unless you have something like a crack in the porcelain.

It is what it is.
If you buy cheap, and it performs like what you paid, then keep the plunger handy. Plungers are cheap too.

Updated 8/21/08
Phone call from someone with a Costco dual flush, he says that he is returning it to Costco.
He's looking for something that works better.

I do believe that most faucets come with a limited life time warranty. Thats not the bad thing but is it worth wasting time fixing something that breaks often, or waiting for a part to come in because you wanted to get a cheaper product.
What is your time worth fixing it when you have a problem.
Somebody posted something about a toilet company that said you can only flush single ply toilet paper. To test it you had to take a piece place it in a cup of water and shake for 10 sec's and make sure it broke down properly.

That is not for me.

Hi, I recently saw a "Water Ridge" dual flush toilet from Costco selling for $200. Everything comes in one box, including wax ring and seat. Does anybody know who manufactures this toilet? Is it any good? Seems like a great price for a dual-flush, but I'm not going to buy if it doesn't flush well.

http://www.terrylove.com/images/wr_dual_flush.jpg

I have not seen anything yet from Costco that was a good plumbing fixture!
Every Faucet or, Sink from them I have seen was junk. Why would their Toilets be different?

For that price, you should buy two. One to use, one waiting to be unclogged. Sorry, that probably wasn't too kind, but my friend, you get what you pay for. Sometimes you can get a break on the price of quality, but there's a limit. Hey, Costco is great...for somethings. Other Big Box stores are great...for somethings. But sometimes you just have to pay the price for quality. A toilet with chronic clogging problems would be no bargain even if free. Pay a tad more, get a Toto and it will probably outlive you and likely never need a plunge unless a child drops a toy into it. Things like that, even Totos sometimes can't handle.;)

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Costco obviously doesn't manufacture anything.

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That's right. The Waterridge is made in China.

I had a Costco faucet that came with the home I bought.
It was horrible. It's gone now.
I haven't seen any good plumbing products at Costco.
Of course, I'm a plumber, so I expect more.
But even the non plumbers in my household hated the Costco faucet.

Have you ever noticed that the only things Costco ever has for any length of time are their own Kirkland brands. ANYTHING else you buy from them could be extinct by next week when their current stock is sold, and then where will you be for service on your toilet, assuming they even know where it came from in the first place.

It may flush ok but it may not...you can take a shot at it maybe working well enough to not want to remove it after installing it because it doesn't flush well enough for you, or after placing it on the wax ring only to find it needs to be returned because of a mold casting problem, or a few other things.

Quality control,as well as engineering, is going down the "toilet" these days due to out sourcing and it is the customer who pays the price because of their trust in a large company who's name once stood for something.

For your information, I have bought the WaterRidge toilet several months ago from Costco. I have installed it myself (I'm not a plumber) and since then it works perfectly. I am using it every day but this is not the only toilet I have at home and this is not the one we use most.

I have another dual flush installed at my cottage that cost me twice the price and this one generates some minor problems on occasion. This one seems to have a problem when you use the 3 liter flush for I would say a significant "load" but if you use the 6 liter flush, everything works perfectly.

The difference between the 2 toilets is the flush itself. I will try to explain the best I can. With the more expensive toilet, the flush is similar to any other toilet except that the quantity of water varies depending on the fact that you use the 3 liter button or the 6 liter button.

The WaterRidge flush is somehow unusual to a point that I thought that there was something wrong with it. So I have checked everything even though the installation papers say that everything is preset and there is no need for adjustments. I gave it a try for several days before deciding whether I should return it or not but I have realized that was the way this unit works and it works perfectly to a point that I am planning to buy another unit in the near future.

Hope my experience will help you make your mind. Maybe I am lucky but one way or another, I believe that I have made a very good deal.

Have a nice day

I bought two of a different model Water Ridge toilet from Costco - that was $100 for everything included in the box. After installing the first one, the second one is going back to Costco. Of course, I didn't expect the greatest toilet in the world for $100 and part of the frustration I had may not even be the toilets fault, but I won't be installing the second one. Actually, the toilet flushes fairly well. While I don't think it is a true dual flush, the tank holds more water than comes out in standard flush. Holding the handle releases more water, clearing everything I've given it so far.

Still, the bolts it came with were not brass and broke on me. The seat is crap, the tank does not sit well on the bowl (I think this has been discussed in other threads with other toilets) and the quality control is definitely lacking. Making things tougher, the flange is high after replacing time and I haven't found the rubber shims suggested in another thread. Since we're only planning on being in this place another year or so, I won't be removing this one, but wouldn't buy one again for my use. Maybe for a rental property.