Crane Drexel Toilet, pictures and reviews. A real water waster

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Terry

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Crane used to make a large tank, two piece toilet in the fifties called the Drexel.
It came in various colors, and used lots and lots of water to flush with. What do you think? Maybe seven gallons per flush for this toilet? A real water waster, but it did wash the bowl over and over and over again. How many antiques are out here like this. Water districts would love to see these all in the trash.

crane_drexel_white.jpg


Crane Drexel in White

crane_drexel_green.jpg

Crane Drexel in Green

crane_drexel_yellow.jpg

Crane Drexel in yellow

crane_drexel_blue.jpg

Crane Drexel in Blue

Most of these pictures are from 1954 to 1958
 

Gusherb94

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My grandma's house built in 1950 had the bathroom completely outfitted in Crane fixtures. The original toilet had to have been the Drexel, the style as first pictured. I remember for sure it was a reverse trap model. That was replaced 9 years ago when the bowl cracked and flooded the bathroom. I remember that old thing flushing for what seemingly was forever, like in the video's.
Seven gallons though?? Toilets back in the day varied in their water usage by model greatly and more then you think used way less water then many say. My 1959 Cadet at factory water level is only metered in at 4 GPF. even some of the 1962-197? Cadets didn't even use 5GPF, but from what I see most used 5 gallons. My 1979 Gerber uses 2.9 Gallons of water to flush effectively. In those video's it looks like the Drexel's are using more like 5GPF. Eljer's of the time were known to use somewhere about 2.5-3 gallons of water per flush, in a time where everyone was using 4 or even 5 gallons.
 

Peterson

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Don't be talkin' SMACK about Crane Drexel toilets! They are awesome! :) I had a 1958 pink Crane Drexel toilet in the house I grew up in and that thing NEVER EVER clogged. When I was little, I flushed matchbox cars, legos, tinker toys, etc. down it and that toilet took it all! Who knows about the sewers though!! When we remodeled the bathroom (pipes broke under the bathtub which forced a major whole bathroom remodel), our neighbors took the pink toilet and installed it in their basement where it still operates today good as new.

Our toilet had a built in overflow tube in the tank similiar to the 1970's Eljer Touch Flush toilets. The flapper was a unique kind that snapped into a hard plastic button attached to the tank bolts.
 

hj

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How about some pictures and videos of the "saddle seat" Crane Criterion. That was also a water waster, as all were at that time, but a VERY expensive water waster. Your picture of the yellow one looks like that commercial for a toilet cleaner where the guy goes in and all that he sees is the closet flange and water line.
 

Achutch

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My grandma's house built in 1950 had the bathroom completely outfitted in Crane fixtures. The original toilet had to have been the Drexel, the style as first pictured. I remember for sure it was a reverse trap model. That was replaced 9 years ago when the bowl cracked and flooded the bathroom. I remember that old thing flushing for what seemingly was forever, like in the video's.
Seven gallons though?? Toilets back in the day varied in their water usage by model greatly and more then you think used way less water then many say. My 1959 Cadet at factory water level is only metered in at 4 GPF. even some of the 1962-197? Cadets didn't even use 5GPF, but from what I see most used 5 gallons. My 1979 Gerber uses 2.9 Gallons of water to flush effectively. In those video's it looks like the Drexel's are using more like 5GPF. Eljer's of the time were known to use somewhere about 2.5-3 gallons of water per flush, in a time where everyone was using 4 or even 5 gallons.

Interesting observation about the 1950's Eljer, gusherb94. My 1952 Eljer (with the exclusive "Elvortex Whirlpool Jet") has a much smaller tank than my 1950's "Standard" Cadet. The Cadet is the same model as yours, but about 4 or 5 years older. The Eljer is currently set up in the summer cabin, waiting to be awakened in May, that is if we can get rid of this snow!!!
 

Achutch

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Don't be talkin' SMACK about Crane Drexel toilets! They are awesome! :) I had a 1958 pink Crane Drexel toilet in the house I grew up in and that thing NEVER EVER clogged. When I was little, I flushed matchbox cars, legos, tinker toys, etc. down it and that toilet took it all! Who knows about the sewers though!! When we remodeled the bathroom (pipes broke under the bathtub which forced a major whole bathroom remodel), our neighbors took the pink toilet and installed it in their basement where it still operates today good as new.

Our toilet had a built in overflow tube in the tank similiar to the 1970's Eljer Touch Flush toilets. The flapper was a unique kind that snapped into a hard plastic button attached to the tank bolts.

Have only seen the Crane Drexel in Texaco stations here in New England. Impressive flush! Nothing like those '50s colors ! Your pink Drexel must have looked sharp! Glad it's still alive and well in your neighbor's basement!

Of course, you had the real thing. Crane, Eljer, etc. today exist in name only.... SAD!


Terry: Nice photos. The green one is my favorite (but not in that background)
 

Woggles

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Crane used to make a large tank, two piece toilet in the fifties called the Drexel.
It came in various colors, and used lots and lots of water to flush with. What do you think? Maybe seven gallons per flush for this toilet? A real water waster, but it did wash the bowl over and over and over again. How many antiques are out here like this. Water districts would love to see these all in the trash.

crane_drexel_white.jpg


Crane Drexel in White

crane_drexel_green.jpg

Crane Drexel in Green

crane_drexel_yellow.jpg

Crane Drexel in yellow

crane_drexel_blue.jpg

Crane Drexel in Blue

Most of these pictures are from 1954 to 1958


I just finished repairing my blue Crane Drexel. In house built in 1956. Replaced flush lever and arm, coat hanger wire type linkage from arm to tank ball lift rod with chain. You can clearly read stamped manufacturing date of "NOV 19 1955" on the inside rear of the tank. Hope it's now ready for another 60 years. I'm guessing everything else in there is original. Can't replace toilet since bath tub and pedestal sink is Crane matching set. Sink has water flowing out of ceramic faucet (that is, sink and spout are one continuous piece). Two metal rods from front sides of sink bowl make it not wobbly like a pedestal sink on one column.
 

Terry

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Can't replace toilet since bath tub and pedestal sink is Crane matching set. Sink has water flowing out of ceramic faucet (that is, sink and spout are one continuous piece).

Woggles, I think we need some pictures of your bathroom, 800 pixels or less would be fantastic.
 

Jadnashua

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Keeping an old, gusher toilet around may be one thing if you live in an area with plenty of fresh water at an economical rate, but it's entirely another thing for lots and lots of people. Nostalgia aside, a good, modern toilet is better for everyone. But, if you're paying water and sewer fees, or have a septic tank, it's probably a big detriment.
 

Marlinman

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How about some pictures and videos of the "saddle seat" Crane Criterion. That was also a water waster, as all were at that time, but a VERY expensive water waster. Your picture of the yellow one looks like that commercial for a toilet cleaner where the guy goes in and all that he sees is the closet flange and water line.

HJ
This was a awesome series of Crane fixtures. Just don't break the toilet seat. I priced a seat about 20 years ago and my cost was $500.00. Crane had these hand made and the original seat was solid wood.

crane-drexel-yellow.jpg
 

Lawonthedraw

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That's my toilet! I found this thread thanks to Terry's great photos of this beautiful old "water waster." Here's the issue I'm having. For some reason, it became very difficult to flush recently. I replaced the toilet handle / trip lever (thank goodness for Liquid Wrench!) but that hasn't changed the degree of difficulty. One thing I noticed is that hole in my toilet tank is round (see Terry's pic of the blue model) while all of the replacement handles I've seen have a square piece for mounting. Consequently, my replacement part doesn't really fit -- it's quite loose unless I really tighten the lever nut -- and it has certainly not fixed the issue. Soooo...

1) Are there replacement parts that would fit the round hole in my old Drexel?
2) If 'Yes' would that even fix the issue with the difficulty in flushing? Or do I need to replace the flapper to fix that problem? Or is it something else entirely?

Or, my goodness, is the answer 'none of the above' and is it time to replace the whole tank?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!
 

Terry

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I would pick up a tile blade for a jigsaw and square off the hole for the new lever.

Funny, I didn't even notice there was a round hole on the blue Drexel.
 

Lawonthedraw

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I would pick up a tile blade for a jigsaw and square off the hole for the new lever.

Funny, I didn't even notice there was a round hole on the blue Drexel.

Thanks for the response, Terry...
Yep, it's a classic 'round hole, square peg' situation on the Drexel! I don't think squaring off the hole will work because the hole is already too big. (Although it's quite possible I'm not understanding your suggestion.)
 

PennsylvaniaBrian

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I have two of the Crane Drexel toilets, both from May 1955. I have measured one of the toilets at 5.9 gpf.
Any easy way to lower the water usage? I really hate to get rid of them since they fit so well in my two “funky” 50’s era bathrooms. I also don’t want to do anything that will harm them since it appears they still have a high value after 65 years in use.
 

Terry

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Those aren't water wasters. They use what is needed to do their job.

Seriously, they need how much water? What decade are you stuck in?
Do you still have a tube TV to watch your old show too?
What year is your car?
Do you have a cordless phone yet?

toilet-byrd.jpg


A seven gallon toilet.
 
Last edited:

Terry

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What I do with old toilets. My mothers place had a sewer line that was 250 feet long. One toilet was a 1.28 GPF, the main one she used, and the other two were 1.6 gallons. Everything worked great.

 

AlexL

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First, thanks to Terry and this forum for helping me all these years as I tackle the issues in the houses I live in. I wanted to post a pic of the Crane (NOV 8 1959) I have in my new house, which I will replace as part of my plan to get this place efficient (previous owners had $200 / month water bill) and the video also reminded me of Toilet Mountain, a pilgrimage of sorts! In Thousand Palms, CA, and have to take your toilet there for recycling to qualify for the utility rebate.

IMG_0001.jpeg
IMG_5152.jpeg
 
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