Titan1,
I think I should be allowed some humor here. Some things just inspire me.
Below the humor, there is some dark side however.
I've answered the question about tanks that move more times than I would like.
The real answer is "some tanks rock".
I don't care how many reps you find to say otherwise,
they aren't the ones installing these things.
The purpose of this board is to answer questions asked and inform, not to argue about what is. If you ask me how it is in plumbing, I will try to tell you.
If you don't like the answer, you can keep asking, hoping the answer changes.
I installed quite a few Drakes last week, and some of the tanks moved.
Did they leak? No.
Will they leak? No.
Throwing in shims like you did is one answer.
I've never done that.
Reps will tell you that products should be a certain way, however in the field it may be different.
I've installed other brands where the tanks moved, and the reps told my customer that it must be installer error. (
Western Potteries)
So.......Here the plumber is told by the rep, that the tank will not move, but they do.
Homeowner is upset, time is spent. Nobody is happy.
Homeowner wants it "right",
A little history about the Western 822 round front toilet.
It's a $99 toilet with a two bolt design.
Almost all Western Potteries toilets have tanks that rock quite a bit. Some not just a little.
I've never had a problem with leaks on them however.
Now I can't "make" the tank quit rocking, no matter what the rep says.
Result of this, If the rep won't back the plumber in the field, then the plumber quits selling the product. It's not worth it.
By the way, this was a customer that because I was feeling like a nice guy, Threw in a flange repair and a new shutoff valve for free. It didn't look like she had much money.
The city was giving her a $60 rebate for replacing with a 1.6 gallon toilet.
She gets $100 worth of free repairs, and a $60 rebate on a $99 toilet that works fine, and I wind up in trouble.
The only complaint was that the tank moved.
A little more history on toilets.
If you've ever worked with wet clay, you will remember that clay shrinks and sags as it dries.
It really is an imperfect world that they live in.
I've seen programs on television that mention something like a 30% shrinkage factor when some brands hit the kiln.
Toto uses much drier clay, so their shrinkage is one of the smallest in the industry.
Because of this, I've never had a bad trapway on a Toto toilet.
Because things are not perfect, I would say that no two toilets look exactly the same. There is no way of predicting how things dry or come out of the molds.
All in all, it's been a good product.
In some ways, I'm amazed that something made from clay turns out as well as it does.