American Standard Cadet 3 Three Toilet consumer product review

Oh, forgot to mention that the exit part of the trap was different than in all the pictures too. On both Cadets, there was no little "hump" before exiting, it made that flat almost 90 horizontally across the floor to the exit, just like all the other cheapos. The display model at the store had the hump. The two I got, none. Buyer beware, or at least open that box and inspect it before taking it home.

Right is Right

Right is right and I was wrong and am paying for it.

I read reviews here and elsewhere on the Cadet 3 Flowise. They were on sale ay Home Depot so i bought one to replace the misserable excuse for a toilet my wife and I have been plunging eveytime we use it it seems for the last 6 years.

WOW does it flush great, does it flush down fecal matter well? I'll never know, the damn tank bolts leaked, nothing I did helped, just made more of a mess. Putting a level on it the casting is not flush either on the bowl portion. I double checked my install, the floor is level and all was done properly. The toilet was simply cast defective.

I called AS and I called Home Depot, they both agreed it should be returned for a replacement. Once was enough. I figured out of the thousands made what are the chances I would get a defect described in these and other forums. I got exactly that. Having read this forum I figured why do the same job three times. I called around and found a TOTO Drake closer to me than the Home Depot was. I uninstalled the Cadet 3 and pulled a muscle in my back and neck while carrying the heavy damn thing to the truck. Home Depot got it back, I opted for a full refund and stopped by the plumbing supply store up the street and bought the last TOTO Drake they had in stock. I figured the exrta $60 and pulled muscles were my punishment.

It took no more time to install the Drake then did the Cadet 3 and DOES NOT LEAK from its tank bolts, It seems to flush just as forceful as the Cadet 3. I still don’t know how it does on fecal matter, nature hasn’t made that call yet but it has to be better than the no name lame excuse for a toilet it replaced.


When your right, your right.

Joe

EDIT: So far so good, the TOTO Drake has flushed the best we can throw at it so far on the first flush with no plunger needed.
Neither my wife nor I care for the TOTO slow close seat. I will be replacing that with something more comfortable to us.

I guess YMMV. I just installed my 5th Cadet 3, no problems, leaks or defects. In fact, the only problem I have with them is that the "higher quality" all metal flush levers that came with the 2 "Tropic" tanks for my own place are sticky and the tanks would run until I adjusted the arm with a bend. The cheaper plastic ones don't.

I just returned a Cadet 3 that I tried installing. I spent the better part of the last week trying to get the bolt at the tank connection to quit leaking. I refitted the tank five times.

John A
Palmer AK

Reader Review said:

I just returned a Cadet 3 that I tried installing. I spent the better part of the last week trying to get the bolt at the tank connection to quit leaking. I refitted the tank five times.

John A
Palmer AK

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I was sorry to hear about your problems. I'm a non-plumber that has by now probably installed about 15 American Standard Cadet 3's. Along the way there have been a few problems but nothing like this. I've never seen a tank leak and most of the toilets I've installed have been in an apartment building we own and I am confident that I would have heard of a tank leak if it had occurred.

FWIW, the last American Standard Cadet 3 that I installed was a round front 10 inch rough in that we special ordered through Home Depot. We were happy with it, but before we ordered that we had ordered an American Standard Colony fit right 10 inch rough in. We ended up taking that back and ordering the American Standard Cadet 3. The Colony toilet wobbled badly. It would have been possible to shim the base to fix the problem but I installed the tile floor under the toilet and I work hard to get a flat surface so as to minimize shimming and installing a toilet that wobbled badly and that would have left a significant gap between it and the floor in places wasn't good enough in my opinion.

We selected the Colony toilet because it was a little cheaper and a little smaller (important given our very small bathrooms). In the end we were happy to pay more money to get the Cadet 3. We've just ordered another AS Cadet 3, 10 inch rough in. I will certainly mention it here if we have any problems like John A. describes.

Dave

American Standard Cadet 3 splash

I had the same problem but found an easy solution at http://www.fixya.com/support/t5132463-bought_3_cadet_3s_monthe_ago_1

It appears that the water flow tube came out and was running into the tank instead of the overflow tube. With the picture on this link, I fixed it and now my Cadet 3 does not splash up anymore. Yay!

First of all thanks to everyone for all the information. I am remodelling my house with 3 1974 colored and near useless toilets. Complete renos as I dig neither the green, blue or purple themes I currently possess.

Today I bought a Cadet 3 for bathroom #1. It wont be installed. Here is why:

Severe rocking. It rocks both side to side and front to back. I tested in on many flat surfaces to make sure it wasn't me. I can also see one side of the footing is at least 1/4" thicker than the other. I wouldn't care about the visual and sure I could shim it, but that's to much rocking for me. I don't expect machinist perfection .. but this is ridiculous.

Bad glazing. AS is really cheap with the glaze. Its glazed from the top. When I turned it over to inspect for cracks etc its looked dirty. They simply didn't fully glaze the toilet. with the toilet upside down the upper trapway (outside) is not fully glazed. It looks dirty and would get dirty. I guess no one will look at it upwards from the floor when installed but for keeping clean I want a fully glazed toilet and I don't think thats to much to ask.

Cracks. I found 2 cracked on the underside. One was a hairline crack that likely doesn't go all the way thru. The other is obviously a factory repaired crack with a slather of clay on it but they didn't fully repair it as half inch of crack is very much exposed. I can see and feel it. It runs deep and is in the front bottom lowest portion of the bowl. Does it go all the way thru? I felt up there from the inside but impossible to see that part. Why take the chance I say.

Not glazed under the rim. This is disgusting to me. I know many toilets are not glazed here. Why not?

Goopy debris under rim. I am guessing this is where they join the castings? Because under the rim of my toilet is a ring of goop. They cleaned this up for the most part except the 1/3rd of bowl at the front. I can see right now will interfere with the water flow. Maybe this is what caused the "splash" issues some people are having. Water would hit the roll of goo and bouce off it rather that swirl the bowl (and rinse)

Level? No. The bowl is not terrible but not at all level with variations I checked aroud the bowl with a torpedo level.

The back of the tank is not glazed.

My old toilets maybe a hippy colorfest but they are glazed fully. They are AS "Plaza" toilets that I assume were original to the house as they match the tile in each room. Terrible performers but when I ripped the old one out is was glazed every inch front, back, underneath ..... FULLY glazed.

Anyway, this Cadet 3 is going back to home depot. I would buy a Toto but they are really hard to get around here. And expensive. No parts available. I don't want to call a plumber every time I need a toilet part. But I cannot be wasting my time returning toilets either. Even as a homeowner DIY'er my time is worth more and if I have to play the Cadet lotto with 3-4 toilets in the end that's going to be one expensive toilet factoring in time. I do not understand Home Depots rationale for selling this junk either. They seem to have less choice and more complete trash every year. I assume they process tons of returns too. No wonder there are always 4 people at the returns counter and 2 check out clerks on shift at my local orange box. Anyone near Windsor, Ontario selling Totos to the home user?

Best toilets I ever used were everywhere in Japan. I believe these are toto? Every Japanese toilet I used flushed like Al Bundys wet dream. It seems a standard almost every place has the same toilet.

Anyway ... I am disappointed with the Cadet 3. Really poor quality. What's with the Styrofoam glued in the tank? Is this really the proper way to line a toilet?

pburydboy said:

I would buy a Toto but they are really hard to get around here. And expensive. No parts available.

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Home Depot and many on-line sellers carry Korky internal parts for Toto. If you need a new ceramic part, they're available from lots of on-line sellers; easier to be careful not to need a new ceramic part.

whats with the censorship?

Posts were moved to a new page. This is an American Standard Cadet 3 thread. The TOTO questions were moved to a new page.
Terry

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What's with the Styrofoam glued in the tank? Is this really the proper way to line a toilet?

I installed a Cadet 3 from HD last October and didn't have anything inside the tank but the fill/flush valve. I had two different tanks as one leaked.

Censorship???????????

EDIT: The first tank lid had a huge notch along the back edge on the right side. Noticed a notch but not as bad on a dual flush floor model at Lowes also. The second tank lid has a notch also but very minor.

That must be their insulated tank version?

Trapway of the American Standard Cadet 3

I just purchased a cadet 3 and ready to install and found this forum. My toilet had the blue stain in the bowl which I was able to remove with soft scrub. The trap is not fully glazed, one of the ports in the top of the bowl was clogged, under the rim in the bowl there is no glaze ( I guess not many toilets have this anyway) I think all this is minor.
But my main concern going forward is this factory patch job, should I be concerned it may leak without me knowing only to ruin the basement/floor joists/ceiling/bathroom?

newuser said:

I just purchased a cadet 3 and ready to install and found this forum. My toilet had the blue stain in the bowl which I was able to remove with soft scrub. The trap is not fully glazed, one of the ports in the top of the bowl was clogged, under the rim in the bowl there is no glaze ( I guess not many toilets have this anyway) I think all this is minor.
But my main concern going forward is this factory patch job, should I be concerned it may leak without me knowing only to ruin the basement/floor joists/ceiling/bathroom?
View attachment 22727

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<set sarcasm on> Nice to know their quality has been consistent the last several years. <set sarcasm off>

If you want a good workhorse toilet, price yourself an original Toto Drake CST744S (1.6gpf) or CST744E (1.28gpf). Great toilets, street price around 200+-ish. Excellent quality, excellent flush, decent bowl wash, takes what you can throw at it and will last a long time, uses inexpensive, industry-standard, user-replaceable, readily-available moving parts. (i.e. Korky makes reasonably-priced, factory-authorized replacements that you can buy at any Lowe's).

Here is a Cadet 3 Pro that I installed the other day. Sometimes you see caulking on the bottom. This may or may not be an issue. At least they caught it before it was boxed.





https://terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?54741-Cadet-PRO-Elongated-Toilet-10-quot-Rough-In-1-6gpf

stopped by home depot and picked up 2 more cadet 3s. Looks like this is a common fault area, both have a crack in the same spot but not as well patched. But these 2 others have more separation between bowl and rim. I guess I will silicone the first one a bit more. Unfortunately we need to finish this bathroom in the next couple of days or I would order a toto. thanks

I was about to install this one but noticed the largest crack of all. Right where the flush valve opens down to the bowl it is cracked. I cant see any farther to tell for sure that it does not crack all the way to the trap. If it did this could waste a BIT of water! I guess I'll use one of the others.
It's fun detective work to search for all of these cracks!

It's scary what they let out of the factory...

I'm sure it has been "mentioned" many times in the 24 pages of this thread, but AS has very poor quality control. Defective toilets are common, perhaps more so with those from Big Box Stores, but elsewhere too. I know folks who read the many raves over Toto think it is just hype, but that isn't the case. True, AS toilets that have no defects work just fine, but there are too many bad ones for most of us.

It's now almost January 2014. Has the Cadet 3 proven itself over the last several years?

There seems to still be individual quality issues. Blems and defects that should never be passed on to consumers. It continues to be popular opinion that most of the blems and defects are pushed on to the discount houses. Those that do not have these issues apparently are decent appliances. There continues to be Toto toilets that do not have these issues at or near the same price.