Based on all the great information at this site, I recently installed two Toto Drake II toilets for my mother. The first one installed fine and works great. Mom loves it! The first one was installed at my brother's house where my Mom stays part of the time. Mom liked that one so much we installed a second one at my Mom's house.
With the second one, I have a problem where after every flush, I hear a dripping noise from within the base of the toilet. The dripping noise goes on for about 15 minutes and stops. At that point, the water spot in the bowl has lowered maybe 1/4" to 1/2" and is noticeably smaller.
I called Toto customer support and they said I need to pull the toilet and check it (put it on 2x4's, add water and see if the level goes down). It could either be a defective bowl or back siphonage. Now it's easy for the support guy to tell me to do that, but it's a pain and expensive. The cost to have a plumber come in to remove the toilet, take it outside from a second story, check it, and re-install it is going to be more than the cost of the toilet! Worse, if it is a defective bowl, then I need to do something in the interim because Mom can't go without a toilet while I wait to receive a replacement from Toto.
The second toilet was purchased online as I checked the local suppliers and they were all much more expensive and they were all special orders which had to be shipped anyway. I was wary of purchasing online as I was concerned about damage during shipping, but based on the good reviews went ahead. I did carefully check the toilet after unpacking using high-power reading glasses to check closely for fine cracks and such. Didn't see any.
The Toto support tech says that 9 times out of 10, the problem is with back siphonage in my plumbing system. One out of ten, it's a defective bowl which you can't see from the outside of the toilet. I googled back siphonage and don't really see how it could be an issue with my dwv system, but I'm not a plumber.
Given I had no problems with the old toilets in the house before I installed the Toto, how likely do you think it's a back siphonage problem? How likely do you think it's a defective bowl? Anything else I should check before I'm stuck going to the expense and hassle of pulling the toilet. If somebody local had the Totos in stock which I could buy with the ability to return if not needed, that would make the process a whole lot easier, but that doesn't seem to be an option.
Would appreciate any and all suggestions.
With the second one, I have a problem where after every flush, I hear a dripping noise from within the base of the toilet. The dripping noise goes on for about 15 minutes and stops. At that point, the water spot in the bowl has lowered maybe 1/4" to 1/2" and is noticeably smaller.
I called Toto customer support and they said I need to pull the toilet and check it (put it on 2x4's, add water and see if the level goes down). It could either be a defective bowl or back siphonage. Now it's easy for the support guy to tell me to do that, but it's a pain and expensive. The cost to have a plumber come in to remove the toilet, take it outside from a second story, check it, and re-install it is going to be more than the cost of the toilet! Worse, if it is a defective bowl, then I need to do something in the interim because Mom can't go without a toilet while I wait to receive a replacement from Toto.
The second toilet was purchased online as I checked the local suppliers and they were all much more expensive and they were all special orders which had to be shipped anyway. I was wary of purchasing online as I was concerned about damage during shipping, but based on the good reviews went ahead. I did carefully check the toilet after unpacking using high-power reading glasses to check closely for fine cracks and such. Didn't see any.
The Toto support tech says that 9 times out of 10, the problem is with back siphonage in my plumbing system. One out of ten, it's a defective bowl which you can't see from the outside of the toilet. I googled back siphonage and don't really see how it could be an issue with my dwv system, but I'm not a plumber.
Given I had no problems with the old toilets in the house before I installed the Toto, how likely do you think it's a back siphonage problem? How likely do you think it's a defective bowl? Anything else I should check before I'm stuck going to the expense and hassle of pulling the toilet. If somebody local had the Totos in stock which I could buy with the ability to return if not needed, that would make the process a whole lot easier, but that doesn't seem to be an option.
Would appreciate any and all suggestions.
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