Toilet Choice for Small Cottage

[chuck b]

Renovating the bathroom at our small 800 sq. ft. cottage, which uses a septic field.

I am undecided about whether to use a new 1.6 gallon flush, or the old 3.? gallon flush. If available is a higher water volume toilet better? On a well, not city water. thanks.

[Terry]

A good 1.6 will outperform the old 3 + bowl. I used to have to plunge the old bowls.

A lot of the new ones let you keep the plunger in the garage.

I have a lot of Canadians coming down to Seattle to buy toilets and bring them back to Canada. They like the new low flow toilets up there.

[wjcandee]

The key word is "good" 1.6. Many still aren't. Look at Terry's Consumer Toilet Report (click on the green box above) to see which ones are best. The Toto Drake CST744S is a workhorse 1.6, with a superlative flush, and excellent quality, at a good price. Anything more upscale in the Toto line is also going to work well. The Drake II CST454CEFG is a little more, but has some nice features (dual-cyclone bowl rinse, universal (i.e. comfort) height, Sanagloss coating) all standard, and it's a 1.28gpf.

[Gary Swart]

Here's what you need to consider. Sure, there are toilets at the Big Box Stores for under $100. It would be tempting to say that, "Well, since this is just for a small cottage, why not just go for cheap?" The answer is that a clogged toilet is never a pleasant thing and in a infrequently used cottage, it might be even more of a problem than in your main home where probably there are other toilets that could get you through the emergency. A Toto Drake at around $200 would be my recommendation as well. Remember too, not only would a 3 gpf toilet not work as well, you would have to find a used one since they are not available or legal to be sold new. You seem to be still under the impression that low flow toilets don't work well. This attitude is the lingering result of the poor performance of the first generation of low flow and, sadly, still is true of some manufacturers. Not the case with Toto. All Toto models perform as a toilet should. Some may have some more features and cost more than a Drake, but for doing what we want a toilet to do, a Drake will meet your needs.

[jadnashua]

You can't buy a NEW toilet flusihing more than 1.6g, and do you really want a used one?

There are some new ones that use 1g, and work well. While you may not pay for water with your well, it's still not great to flush lots of water into a septic system. Pick a good new toilet, and you should be fine.