: This Saturday started with my wife waking me up telling me our toilet tank had cracked - it had. The floor is now definitely cleaner.

: Given that our older model Kohler toilet never worked too well in the past 18 years, it seems timely to replace the whole unit - it may even be a catalyst for the next bathroom renovation!

: Here is the question. We understand and definitely endorse the change to 1.6gal toilets. Which one? Okay, I have been reading with great appreciation your reviews and comments, however, it is the existing plumbing that may truly determine the best system for waste removal - Fushmate (e.g. Gerber), PowerGravity (e.g. Toto) or???

: The toilet is for a first floor bathroom. Our house (ca. 1950) is built on a slab with the floors on sleepers @ 3" over the slab. The waste pipe is probably 4" iron. The drop? from the bottom of the toilet to where the waste pipe t's with the waste line is no more than 2 - 2.5 feet - not much of a space to make waste haste.

: Our upstairs toilet has always worked fine - the downstairs one has always been quite finicky, requiring multiple flushes and regular douses with a bucket.

: My inclination is to go for the flushmate system, but wondered if the Toto powergravity unit would be a better choice.

: A quick word from you would be VERY appreciated - and as soon as you can - flushing by bucket will get old fast!

: Thank you very much.

: Geoff & Sue Lamdin
: White River Jct., Vermont
: 1-802-295-4993

Geoff & Sue Lamdin,
Either one of those would be a good choice. Both the Toto G-Max series toilets and the Gerber Ultraflush have good drainline "carry". I have used both of them. I change toilets here in my home quite often to find out which ones really work. I like the Toto for it's looks and simplicity. It seems like a 3-second flush. The Gerber has a bit better "swirl" in the bowl, similar to the Western 832 and Gerber 21-712 as the water goes down.

My water bills are lower, and the plunger stays on the truck.

I am about to replace an old 1975 Kohler in my mother's home. It has always been slow too.
Terry

• The report on toilets