Drake, Drake II, and Ultramax II quietness

[salpine]

Kudos for the blog... overwhelming amount of information here.

We are headed into a remodel and are considering new toilets in the master and hall baths. Was considering the Drake II Het double cyclone flush for the hall bath, but my wife is concerned about how much noise it would make. We have friends that installed an older 1.6 gpf Drake and found it was a bit noisier than they expected. Any difference in what we could expect from the older to the newer model? Ditto with the Ultramax II Het double cyclone

Thanks!

[wjcandee]

Kudos for the blog... overwhelming amount of information here.

We are headed into a remodel and are considering new toilets in the master and hall baths. Was considering the Drake II Het double cyclone flush for the hall bath, but my wife is concerned about how much noise it would make. We have friends that installed an older 1.6 gpf Drake and found it was a bit noisier than they expected. Any difference in what we could expect from the older to the newer model? Ditto with the Ultramax II Het double cyclone

Thanks!

I have both types. They are both fine. Expect the Drake II and the Ultramax II to sound basically the same, with the Drake maybe a little different.

Don't know what your friends are talking about, although noisiness really varies from person to person and location to location and house to house.

Any of these toilets would be appropriate for a hall bathroom.

There's no giant pressure-assisted whoosh on these toilets, and no click-clack or other weird noise when flushing. It's just a good flush and a relatively-quick refill.

The double-cyclone might be a smidge quieter insofar as it has maybe a little shorter gurgle at the end of the flush. Shades of distinction, and, again, depends on what component of the cycle (flush, fill, shutoff) makes it "noisy" to your friends or what your wife is concerned about.

The good news about these toilets is that you won't be using a plunger. Plungers make an annoying squishy noise, and sometimes a bit of a mess.



EDIT: Here's a simple video of the Drake Flush: Drake Flush

Here's a video of the same 1.6gpf Drake flushing paper. The distorted noise you hear during refill is just a distortion of the sound of water dripping; it sounds weird when the camera mic is right next to the toilet. It doesn't sound like that in real life; it's just a hiss of rushing water with a little dripping sound. Slurp, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, hisssssssssssssssssssssssss, tap. Drake G-Max Flushing Paper

Here's a video of the thing working with the lid off. It's the whole cycle, from flush to completed fill. Again, you can see that there are no unusual or loud noises, even with the cover off the tank in a very acoustically-live room with hard tile and a glass shower immediately to one side of the toilet. Full Drake Flush Cycle -- Tank View

[Terry]

I have noticed that noise levels can vary between homes, and bathrooms within homes.
Sometimes they are remarkably quiet, and sometimes not. I do know that many of the old 3.5 gallon toilet can be quite noisy from the 80's.

[eddiegorniakjr]

I have both types. They are both fine. Expect the Drake II and the Ultramax II to sound basically the same, with the Drake maybe a little different.

Don't know what your friends are talking about, although noisiness really varies from person to person and location to location and house to house.

Any of these toilets would be appropriate for a hall bathroom.

There's no giant pressure-assisted whoosh on these toilets, and no click-clack or other weird noise when flushing. It's just a good flush and a relatively-quick refill.

The double-cyclone might be a smidge quieter insofar as it has maybe a little shorter gurgle at the end of the flush. Shades of distinction, and, again, depends on what component of the cycle (flush, fill, shutoff) makes it "noisy" to your friends or what your wife is concerned about.

The good news about these toilets is that you won't be using a plunger. Plungers make an annoying squishy noise, and sometimes a bit of a mess.



EDIT: Here's a simple video of the Drake Flush: Drake Flush

Here's a video of the same 1.6gpf Drake flushing paper. The distorted noise you hear during refill is just a distortion of the sound of water dripping; it sounds weird when the camera mic is right next to the toilet. It doesn't sound like that in real life; it's just a hiss of rushing water with a little dripping sound. Slurp, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, hisssssssssssssssssssssssss, tap. Drake G-Max Flushing Paper

Here's a video of the thing working with the lid off. It's the whole cycle, from flush to completed fill. Again, you can see that there are no unusual or loud noises, even with the cover off the tank in a very acoustically-live room with hard tile and a glass shower immediately to one side of the toilet. Full Drake Flush Cycle -- Tank View

Which ones clean the bowl better? The Drake or Drake II and the Ultramax or Ultramax II?
Thank you.

[Terry]

The models with Sanagloss clean better.
That means the II series bowls with Sanagloss and the G bowl originals.
Anything TOTO with G in the model number.

[Gary Swart]

I have two Toto toilets, neither have Sanigloss. Funny thing though, I have no problems keeping them clean. Maybe it's diet. Sure once in awhile there is a slight skid mark, but often just a couple of facial tissues and a flush gets rid of them. If not, a quick brushing does the job. Now, if you eat a lot of rich food and have gooey waste, you may have a cleaning problem. But yes, to do over, I'd get the Sanigloss anyway.

[jadnashua]

The dual cyclone flush from Toto does a better job of bowl wash than the original, but the original isn't bad. Streaks are a result of two things: diet and where you sit on the toilet. Some people like to perch near the front of the toilet, and that means you don't always hit the water spot.