Gerber Viper concerns

[ecg0107]

Gerber Viper toilets were recommended to us for a new home. Many times the waste doesn't completely go down or the toilet bowl does not wash out clean, needing to flush 2,3, even 4 times.
The rep has done every check and says they are flushing correctly. I'm considering changing to the Ultra Flush, but don't want the same problem.
Any insight? Thanks.

[wjcandee]

The waste going down issue is separate from the bowl wash issue. Both are, broadly-speaking, the result of the nationwide change to 1.6 gallon-per-flush toilets ("gpf"). How different manufacturers handled that change has resulted in toilets that perform meaningfully-differently from brand to brand and model to model. Bowl wash and waste evacuation are the two major things that people have to contend with when purchasing new toilets, along with the size of the "water spot" in the bowl, which affects bowl cleaning. To some extent, there is a tradeoff on how to use the prescribed amount of water: evacuate the bowl or wash the bowl.

That said, if you were used to a big bowl of water which then used a big tank of water to wash down, many current toilets are unlikely to do as well on the bowl wash. On waste evacuation, there are some designs that do even better than the previous swirling swimming pool of water, and many that don't.

You can look at the toilet evaluations and user reviews by clicking on the green box above. The two criteria you mention are discussed with respect to the toilets there.

At a similar price point to the Viper, you can find the original Toto Drake toilet (CST744S, elongated 1.6gpf or CST744E, elongated 1.28gpf). The list price is higher, but the price at which you can find it if you shop around at local plumbing suppliers is different. The original Drake has a legendary flush, and decent bowl wash. The bowl wash isn't perfect, but most people find it adequate. I have two, and don't consider the bowl wash to be an issue.

Toto is a Japanese company, and the largest manufacturer of plumbing products in the world. Toto toilets are made here in the US, and also in several other countries. The working parts inside the vitreous-china water tank are primarily made here in the US by Korky, a Wisconsin company.

Here it is flushing paper, so you can see that water coats the whole bowl:

For about $125 more, there is the Toto Drake II (CST454CEFG) which comes at a "universal height" (i.e. a little taller), and with Sanagloss coating, standard. The Sanagloss helps keep stuff from sticking to the bowl. It also has a "double cyclone" bowl wash, which uses some of the water in a spinning motion to help clean the bowl. I have these features on its sister toilet, the Toto Carlyle II, and they work well. The performance of the basic Drake has been more than satisfactory for us, however.

All the Toto toilets use a dual-siphon trapway, which is a more complicated design molded into the china, which helps pull everything out of the bowl with each flush, so that it is fully-evacuated. Toto was the first out with this, and a number of other companies try to copy it on their higher-end toilets.

Hope this helps.

[SamC]

If you're locked into Gerber, the Avalanche is a better performing gravity-fed toilet than the Viper.

[jimbo]

Is your Viper a new HET model, @ 1.28 gallons per flush? Good luck flushing much with a milk jug full of water!!!!!! Thank you algore!!!

[Gary Swart]

Consider this. A toilet should a one time purchase. The only parts that wear out are the flush valve and flapper which are easily replaced. With that in mind, why would you buy any toilet that clogged frequently, did not flush well, or had poor bowl wash? You're look at 30 or 40 years of problems. Any Toto toilet will give you the performance you want with out the problems. Many plumbers make a pretty good living pull out and replacing those cheap builder grade toilets. You have the chance to avoid all of that by going with quality from the beginning. I would encourage you to look at the Toto line any of them will perform well for you.