American Standard Champion toilet Review and comments. Rated #1 by Consumer Reports

[jadnashua]

Put some food coloring in the tank. Shut off the water supply. The tank will empty, and you'll have colored water in the bowl 999 times out of a thousand. Choices are repair or replace...ideally, not with another AS product!

[Reader Review]

We have continually experienced one problem after another with the American Standard Champion toilet that we purchased from Lowes. There are no replacement parts available at Lowes or elsewhere. The problem is the whole flush mechanism. We could tolerate the noise if the end result was a good, clean flush with no leaking. However, the valve does not reseat after a flush, causing leaking and constantly running water. The leaking is enough to produce a moldy odor in the bathroom that is causing health problems in those with breathing irregularities. The refill tube does not stay in place and after a flush sprays water outside the commode onto the floor and walls.
Keeping the humidity low is impossible, when with every flush the toilet distributes water all over the bathroom. The metal grid which holds the drop ceiling in place has begun to rust again after being repainted once since installing this toilet. The bathroom with the American Standard Champion is the only one of three bathrooms that has this problem. No one has been able to repair this monstrocity though many have tried.The best anyone can do is by rigging makeshift repairs which are very temporary if they ever work at all. We are elderly with many health problems and should not be stuck with this problem. We need a whole new flushing mechanism. We bought this model because the advertising convinced us this was the perfect toilet. Boy! were we disappointed when immediately after installation the problems began. The cost of the Champion was so much more than we could have paid for a toilet with less expense and expectations. When the installation of a product causes adverse health problems the manufacturer should be responsible for making things right . The warranty so far has been useless. American Standard needs to put their money where their mouth is by standing behind their warranty. Obviously, ours is not an isolated problem but appears to be the norm. Have we been the victims of false advertising or what?
G. Stone

[Reader Review]

We purchased 3 AS Champion Toilets in 2005 at Home Depot while doing some home remodeling. All were installed by a licensed plumber to replace older toilets that used more water per flush and were leaking.

Although the Champion units used much less water and we had far fewer clogs; these units have not been all we hoped for.

For starters, the "flush tower" system is REALLY loud. They make a distinctive "clunk" noise that usually startles guests in our home. The other issue is the "flush tower" units are made of cheap plastic and are prone to breaking. While AS provides a 10 year warranty for the parts; it's still expensive paying a plumber to show up every couple of years to complete a "warranty" part replacement.

So far, we have been fortunate that the 3 units we purchased have not had issues with leaks others have experienced. However, given the problems with the "flush tower" design and/or quality, I would not recommend these units to someone considering buying a new toilet.
B. Rhodes


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[rexles]

I had a customer today who called me back for the second time because of a plugged toilet. A/S Champion 4 installed 1/10 by another Plumber. First time I was there I pulled back a plastic substance with my auger. It was in 2 pieces and had at one time fit together and was aboput 6' long. Customer said they were sure they had not dropped it in toilet. It seemed to kind of be conformed to the shape of the trap in toilet.
Today as I went back with the same problem. I pulled out another piece of plastic also conformed to the trap as it makes its last turn to go out the bottom.
Is this something A/S used in the making of the toilet that never came out during the process? Is it something to make the vitrious on the inside of the trap smooth to give the better flush
Anybody ever had this problem before?
I am pretty sure I could not get a straight answer from anybody in A/S customer service.

[Gary Swart]

It sounds to me like AS quality control strikes again!

[thdang]

Picked up one of these at Lowe's today. I'm willing to bet it lasts a lot longer than the American Standard blue pos seal. The original blue seal blistered and leaked in about a year - and no chlorine tablets in the tank ....

No, not really! I bought that seal also at Lowe's for about 5 bucks and it worked good for only 3 days. Now, off and on, water still leaks at shorter interval time and lower rate. Maybe it will get worse later. Please help if you have a better way to fix this chronic problem. Thanks.

[maddog]

Hmmm - a couple of things to try. Examine the seal carefully to make sure there are no cuts, nicks or dents. Make sure the seal is installed correctly and maybe try turning the seal over to see if the other side seals correctly. After installing this seal (and replacing the original garbage flush tower), the Champion has been a very reliable and strong-flushing toilet. Still no clogs and no more leaks. -dog

[thdang]

Hmmm - a couple of things to try. Examine the seal carefully to make sure there are no cuts, nicks or dents. Make sure the seal is installed correctly and maybe try turning the seal over to see if the other side seals correctly. After installing this seal (and replacing the original garbage flush tower), the Champion has been a very reliable and strong-flushing toilet. Still no clogs and no more leaks. -dog

Thanks for your tips. I will try again. Something just popped up in my mind: Do you think it is possible to convert the AS flushing system into the Universal one? I do not see the AS flushing system available in any stores. That make me thinking to put the universal (conventional flapper type) in the AS tank but the flush opening size concerns me for the AS flush opening size might be larger? I do not want to waste the whole AS toilet system but not sure if it works. Help me to brainstorm to fix this issue in a economic way, thanks.

[Terry]

If you have the old flush tower, just call support, and they will send you the conversion kit for free.

[Reader Review]

notice all of your reviews for the champion 4 toilets are 2005 or older. I work in a Major Home Improvement Box store and have sold over 90 of these Champion 4 toilets this year. I have had none returned and no complaints. You web page review is out of date.

Thank You
J/C

You must mean the old page from the old wwwboard.
http://www.terrylove.com/wwwboard/messages2/42893.html

Read this thread, it's very current.

[Reader Review]

I pruchased two American Standard toilets within the past year. I assumed as new Champion toilets Model N0 4266 and had them installed. I assumed since they were both new toilets they would work with no problems. They flushed well and I did not check to see if they leaked through the flush valve. Recently I put food coloring in the tank since we wre using more water than expected. They both leaked through the flush valve. American Standard sent me two new gaskets. I replaced the gaskets and then recently checked with food coloring for leaks. One still leaked very slowly.

I am concerned that a continual slow lead will erode a grove in the system that can not be fixed with a new gasket.
Ken in New York

[turbocruiser]

If you have the old flush tower, just call support, and they will send you the conversion kit for free.

notice all of your reviews for the champion 4 toilets are 2005 or older. I work in a Major Home Improvement Box store and have sold over 90 of these Champion 4 toilets this year. I have had none returned and no complaints.

Thank You
J/C
JackMary@wavecable.com

I'm not trying to stir the pot too much but I'm having a hard time finding reviews for the Champion 4 Series which was apparently redesigned in 2007? I too purchased this same toilet recently (05/2010) and have had zero problems thus far but after reading all the posts throughout just this one thread I sorta got spooked. The two big box stores that sell these locally both raved about them and their reliability and performance and even the local plumbing supply place (staffed by pros and shopped by pros) recommended them. I still need to purchase the replacement toilet for the downstairs back bathroom and was going to go with the Champion 4 again. Can someone with experience and expertise please advise me about the toilet that is already installed (keep it or return it), whether to get the same Champion 4 again, and whether anyone's really had problems with the redesigned toilet. Thanks So Much.

[turbocruiser]

Well to get the two sides to the story, I called AS yesterday and asked about the Champion 4. The person that I talked with seemed aware of all the problems the Champion 4 has had (pre 2007 models) but also seemed completely confident that the redesign (post 2007 models) fixed all the assorted concerns (flush gaskets leaking, tank-to-base gaskets leaking, etc.).

Additionally they told me that the bolts between the tank and the base do really require tightening to marry up the two surfaces. They said to simply tighten side to side equally in small steps until the surfaces touch.

Lastly, while the tech was completely confident in the redesign they were also very assuring that while nothing will likely happen, if I ever have any toilet trouble, they are there to provide the parts, give guidance, etc.

At least from that call my concerns were somewhat soothed but the there are tons of threads out there both criticizing and praising the Champion 4 and it is often hard to tell the toilet the person is talking about.

My preference is still to match the upstairs toilet with the downstairs toilet but before I take the plunge again I needed to know as much as possible from the folks here. If I have to mis-match to get a problem free toilet I will but it so far seems that the post 2007 Champion 4's corrected the concerns that came from the pre 2007 Champion 4's? Again any advice here is most appreciated. Thanks.

[Reader Review]

I bought three of these in 2009 and they are, without question, the best toilets I've ever used. They NEVER clog and flush better than my old 6 gallon toilets ever did. I do have to replace a valve seal now because one of them has started running, but AS is sending it right out. I also had one leak between the tank and the bowl, but that was due to overtightening. The installation is tricky because they don't exactly seat naturally, you have to be carefully to even it out. A torque wrench would probably not be a bad idea. But once it's set up, it's fantastic. AS did tell me that if it's running, one interim fix you can try while waiting for a new seal, is to turn the old one upside down. I'm about to try that on mine.
　
Craig Buck

[Reader Review]

I had the toilet installed in march 2009 and have had to have 2 valves installed but it now is leaking bad again, my suggestion is to stay away from the Champion4. R Craven 9/2010


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