Water Supply line on wall...

[Jeff57]

I installed 2 Ultramax II's last year based on Terry's recommendations. I was thinking of replacing the old American Standard that is in the basement with another Ultramax II. That was until I noticed that the water supply line exits the wall directly behind the toilet. It protrudes about 5" and is about 6.5" off the floor. So the Ultramax doesn't have the clearance. I was wondering if there are any Toto models that would work.

Thanks!

[wjcandee]

How far to one side of the centerline of the toilet is it? (I know you said "directly behind", but is it at least a little to one side or the other?)

Regardless, if you're up to a little plumbing, you could just 90 over a couple of inches, or possibly even do something like an angle stop right where it comes out of the wall. I would think that there would be room behind the Ultramax II for that if you have a full 12" rough-in, but you can measure off of the ones you have, I'm sure. Give us a little more info and we may have more suggestions.

[Jeff57]

It appears to be directly on center. Prefer not to have to do any plumbing unless I have to. Not sure if it's a 12" rough in. Guess I'll have to remove the old toilet first to confirm.

[wjcandee]

Just measure from the wall to the center of the closet bolts holding down the toilet.

[Jeff57]

Ok. It's 12" from the wall to the first set of bolts. So that will only leave about 2" clearance between the Ultramax II & the wall. Definitely not going to work with the 5" supply line protruding from the wall.

[Gary Swart]

I know of no toilets that connect on center. All are to the side. The specs for toilets are the ideal but with the flexible supply lines most of us use today, there is room for considerable variation. I think with a bit of shopping in plumbing store (not just Big Box Stores) you can find fittings that will work to connect your new toilet.

[Terry]

We just 90 over the shutoff in that case.

[wjcandee]

Is the pipe coming out of the wall copper? If you're not up to soldering on a 90, you could just (after turning off the water to the house or area, of course) cut it an inch or so from the wall and install a compression quarter-turn angle stop right there, then use a braided stainless flex hose to connect from there to the toilet. Turn the water back on and voila! It's really not advanced plumbing to install a compression angle stop; someone at a really good hardware store (not an apron at the big box) or a good plumbing supply can discuss what you need and how to do it. (You don't want to cut the pipe right at or just off the wall because if you want to replace the stop later, you want to leave a little pipe so you can cut off the old compression fitting if you need to and install a new one.)

A quarter-turn compression angle stop looks something like this, so you can see how easy it would be to attach the braided hose to the top and run the other end to the water inlet on your toilet. Photo of quarter-turn compression angle stop

Also, if the picture I showed you is going to be too deep to fit, Dahl makes a quarter-turn valve where you just compression-fit the end over the pipe, and the 90 is sort of built in. Have a look at this PDF: Dahl Toto toilet install kit

And here's a video of a dude doing what I'm talking about with an angle stop for a sink. Pretty straightforward process. Installing Angle Stop

Pros, please correct me if I'm wrong about this.


PS Dumb question: you said "the first set of bolts". Is this an old-timey toilet with two sets of attachment points on the floor on each side of the toilet? I had a couple of those. If so, just make sure the bolts you measured to were actually the Closet Bolts, and not just some screws into the floor (i.e. make sure you don't really have a 14" rough-in, say). I'm sure you can tell which bolts are the closet bolts, but I didn't want to let that pass without double-checking.

[Jeff57]

Thanks guys for all your help. I now realize it's an easy fix.

wjcandee...I like that Dahl Toto valve. I think I'll search out one of those. Your question wasn't dumb. Don't know why I said "first set of bolts". There is only one pair of bolts on the existing toilet.

Cheers guys!

P.S. This is a great forum!

[wjcandee]

Happy to help! One other thought: if this is in the basement, unless you have an isolation valve for that area, make sure that besides turning off the house water you do what you have to do to make sure all the water from upstairs doesn't drain down and out your basement toilet supply pipe when you cut it.

You probably knew that, but I didn't want to not mention it...

I think that Dahl valve is a very cool solution. Glad you liked the recommendation. Make sure that you get the right size for your pipe, of course.