# Toilets At Home, Low Flush or Old Style?



## SeaBreeze (Aug 15, 2014)

We've owned our house for over thirty years now, and we have an older toilet both on the main floor and in the finished basement.  I am a bit familiar with the new low-flush toilets, as they put them in at my work right before I retired.  I didn't like them, even just some paper sometimes didn't go down without a second flush.  What is the point of a low flush if you don't save water anyway?

The thing I don't like about my toilet seat, is that it's too low.  As I get older, I realize how low to the floor it really is.  I looked at some in a big box store a couple of years ago, and they all seemed very short and low to the ground also.  I occasionally use the handicap stall at the gym, and the high seat is much better, even though it's only a couple of inches higher, it really makes a difference.

Is your toilet at home newer or older, and are you happy with it?


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## Pappy (Aug 16, 2014)

Old, low and uncomfortable. I notice with each passing year, it gets harder to stand up because of bad knees. There is risers that you can purchase to raise the seat higher. Will be looking into this soon and no doubt adding them to the john.


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## rkunsaw (Aug 16, 2014)

We have the new higher seat toilets. They are not low flush. Low flush toilets, as you said just don't work well.


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## Falcon (Aug 16, 2014)

No low flushes.  One BR has a round bowl and the other BR has an "extended" bowl  which I like better.

As Pappy said, there are seat extenders one can buy  at pharmacy outlets which can raise the seat.


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 16, 2014)

rkunsaw said:


> We have the new higher seat toilets. They are not low flush. Low flush toilets, as you said just don't work well.



Can you give me an idea of what brand you have, did you buy it in a big box store like Home Depot?



Pappy said:


> Old, low and uncomfortable. I notice with each passing year, it gets harder to stand up because of bad knees. There is risers that you can purchase to raise the seat higher. Will be looking into this soon and no doubt adding them to the john.



We bought a riser for my mother in law when she was old and sickly, it was a foam one with a vinyl covering.  We ended up not using it after we saw that it was more of a hazard to her than a help.  It wouldn't stay in place when she was using it, and it was very hard to keep it clean and sanitary.

Hubby and I were joking, because the little toilet in our camper is much more comfortable to use, you actually have to climb up a step to sit on it.  When we call it the 'throne', me mean it literally. k:


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## Pappy (Aug 16, 2014)

SB...I had one of those thrones in our first camper. You literally could go to the John, rest your feet in the shower and wash your hands in one move. It was tiny.

As far as the riser goes, both toilets in our place should be replaced. I will use the higher rise johns but don't care for the water saver ones. Two flushes, what are you saving?


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## Pappy (Aug 16, 2014)

Kinda like this one........


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## SifuPhil (Aug 16, 2014)

"Flammable Gas" :rofl:

Never liked the water-savers - I never saw how they saved water when requiring multiple flushes. I think it was just another money-maker in the name of "green". 

As for throne seats - I'm given to understand that _squatting_ is a more natural and healthier position for elimination than sitting. I can only assume then that the higher up you go, no matter that it's easier to sit and stand, the less healthy it is for your internals.


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 16, 2014)

Nothing like that Pappy, but we did have something similar in our old camper. When we pop up the top and get some light in there, maybe next week, I'll take a picture and post it here.  We'll be taking off camping in a couple of weeks, have to start the packing for the trip.  Squatting is easier said than done at our age Phil, that's why we did away with the tent camping, LOL.  The heck with the internals!


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## SifuPhil (Aug 16, 2014)

SeaBreeze said:


> ... Squatting is easier said than done at our age Phil, that's why we did away with the tent camping, LOL.  The heck with the internals!





Oh, I realize that - it's what we've gotten used to. 

See? You should have done the limbo more often in your youth! 

The curse of advanced culture ...


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## Meanderer (Aug 16, 2014)

I agree...toilets high, beat a low flush!


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## charlotta (Aug 17, 2014)

I have a toto toilet.  It is low/hi flush.  Your choice.


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 24, 2014)

Here's the raised toilet in our truck camper, I went in there and started packing for our upcoming camping trip.


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## Lon (Aug 24, 2014)

I flush once a week


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## WhatInThe (Aug 24, 2014)

SeaBreeze said:


> We've owned our house for over thirty years now, and we have an older toilet both on the main floor and in the finished basement.  I am a bit familiar with the new low-flush toilets, as they put them in at my work right before I retired.  I didn't like them, even just some paper sometimes didn't go down without a second flush.  What is the point of a low flush if you don't save water anyway?
> 
> The thing I don't like about my toilet seat, is that it's too low.  As I get older, I realize how low to the floor it really is.  I looked at some in a big box store a couple of years ago, and they all seemed very short and low to the ground also.  I occasionally use the handicap stall at the gym, and the high seat is much better, even though it's only a couple of inches higher, it really makes a difference.
> 
> Is your toilet at home newer or older, and are you happy with it?



Problem with the "new" low flush is that they are being used in houses with OLD drainage the goes into into an old public sewer system meaning those older drainage pipes where designed to work with a 3-5 gallon flush and not 1-1/2 gallons many use today. Thrown in decades of debris and sediment you need that extra water just to carry the flushed stuff through the system.  I've heard plumbers say they've had to MacGyver the low flush valves to use more water. Supposedly there is a restricter that can removed.


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 24, 2014)

Good to know WhatInThe, will keep that restrictor in mind if we're forced to buy that kind of toilet.  Where there's a will, there's a way!


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 24, 2014)

Lon said:


> I flush once a week



LOL Lon, sounds like a little Metamucil's an order!


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## oldman (Aug 25, 2014)

I had all three of mine replaced with the new low flush, elevated toilets. When the plumber was here installing them, he told my wife and I that he had just installed these in an older person's home and they asked him to install grab handles or pull handles on the sides of the walls to help to pull himself up off the toilet. We only had two of the three that we could do that with, so we asked him to put them on for us. Our kids at first chuckled about this until they used them and then they said they liked them.


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## charlotta (Aug 26, 2014)

The Toto toilet is the best thing I had installed in my house recently .    I saving my pennies to have another put in the guest bathroom.


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## Grumpy Ol' Man (Aug 31, 2014)

We had both bathrooms remodeled this year.  In both, we installed new Delta "Smart Height", low flush toilets.  We love the taller toilets!  Makes it so much easier to use, when you have bad knees.  I spend lots of time in motel rooms.  Too stubborn to ask for a handicap room.  The regular toilets seem so low, after having these taller ones at home.
I've heard some bad about the low flush toilets not having enough water to carry the solids to the mainline sewer.  Having worked in the sewers for over 40 years, I have my doubts that this will be a problem in most cases.  Laundry, dishwasher, baths, showers, etc. send enough water down the service line to move the solids through the system.  If you live in a small home without laundry and a dishwasher, then I could see some potential issues.  Of course... Our new high efficiency washer uses less water than the old one.  Our new high efficiency dishwasher uses less water.  And... I put water saver shower heads on both showers in both of the remodeled baths.  Hopefully, minimizing all that water usage won't give us sewer issues down the line.


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 6, 2014)

Pappy said:


> Old, low and uncomfortable. I notice with each passing year, it gets harder to stand up because of bad knees. There is risers that you can purchase to raise the seat higher. Will be looking into this soon and no doubt adding them to the john.



Here's one for $30 that's available, don't know how secure it is, but I've bought several things from this company, including 2 wheelchairs over the years, and they seem pretty good considering the price.  http://www.drleonards.com/Support-M...et-Seat/36244.cfm?clickSource=MIN_1000_107000


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