Insulated Tank?

I live in the Midwest and I'm planning on replacing my current toilets with Toto Drakes. My question is do I need insulated tanks? In what situations are the insulated tanks neccesary?

tank

THey are "needed" when the water coming into the tank is very cold, the air is very humid, and you flush the toilet frequently.

Stat Man said:

I live in the Midwest and I'm planning on replacing my current toilets with Toto Drakes. My question is do I need insulated tanks? In what situations are the insulated tanks neccesary?

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Do you need insulated tanks now? How old are your current tanks?

If your old tanks are uninsulated then you probably won't need it, particularly if the old tanks are pre 1994 vintage (3.5 gpf before that.) Newer tanks use less water to begin with plus they typically only empty about half of their water per flush, so the average temperature in the tank more closely approaches room temperature. Chances are the tank water and the porcelain are close to room temp As such the surface temperature of the ceramic is unlikely to be below the dew point of the room air.

Runs with bison said:

I doubt it. Do you need insulated tanks now? How old are your current tanks?

Click to expand...

They were installed in 1992. They are insulated, but I don't remember why we purchased insulated tanks when we built the house.

My vague recollections of condensation from toilets were the 3.5 gpf variety in humid weather. I think we had some growing up with high summer humidity and cold well water. We only had a single wall mounted AC that we used intermittently.

You might want to ask some neighbors with newer toilets if they have had any tank sweating issues.

Right around 1992, they were fazing in 1.6 toilets.
There were still some 3.5's being used.
The 3.5 drained the entire tank, which when refilled could sweat.

Does your current toilet, drain the entire tank?

The newer 1.6 toilets, only use some of the water in the tank, so unless you flush a couple of times, the water will not drop down so low.

Toto does make an insulated tank for the Drake if needed.
I've sold a few.
ST743SD

For what it's worth, I found our tanks (1.6 gal hoppers) sweating due to cold well water and a water-cooled heat pump keeping the system full of cold (55 deg) water. Tends to make all the cold-water pipes sweat, too. I'm gonna try to reposition the draw-off for the heat pump so it doesn't impact the whole system, but if that doesn't work we'll have to insulate the tanks or put trays under them.

Your climate may vary......

but if that doesn't work we'll have to insulate the tanks or put trays under them.

Click to expand...

You may want to put some food coloring in the tank, and make sure the flapper isn't leaking.

Or you could pick up a TOTO Drake with insulated tank.