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Do American toilets break that often? I've lived in the same flat for 10 years; one and the same toilet. Never had a problem that made it useless for unaccept
by Svip 7y ago
Do American toilets break that often? I've lived in the same flat for 10 years; one and the same toilet. Never had a problem that made it useless for unacceptable amount of time.
The only thing that took long to fix, was when it loaded the water slowly. But that only meant longer waiting between flushing; merely an inconvenience.
- SmirkingRevenge 7y agoPeople don't always respect the limits of what you can/can't flush down toilets, especially renters.
- RankingMember 7y agoTampons and "flushable" wipes that aren't really
- ryanmercer 7y agoAnd condoms. I've had more than one former partner tell me to go flush the condom. So I'd just wad it up in toilet paper and toss it in the trash. From what I've read around the internet this seems to be pretty standard in the sex trade too (and probably with hotel/motel guests in general).
- tuckerpo 7y agoYou have to consider American diets. :-)
- skohan 7y agoThis is a nice joke, but the reality is that standard American sewage pipes are smaller in diameter than in Europe, and European toilets tend to flush with more pressure.
- Consultant32452 7y agoLow flow toilets are the worst.
- RankingMember 7y agoThey used to be pretty bad, but with time I think they've gotten to be just fine.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoYou can't cheat physics. If you dump X gal of water from Y height it will have Z kinetic energy minus efficiency losses. We've greatly improved the efficiency of the water dumping mechanism over the years but a high end low flow toilet of today is still nothing compared to a high end toilet of decades past. That said, there's a lot of crappy old toilets out there that don't flush any better than a modern low flow toilet and take 5+gal to do it. Source: Moved into a house that was once owned by wealthy people. The upstairs toilet was clearly top of the line circa 1940s and is awesome. The downstairs toilet was clearly subject to some serious compromises for packaging reasons and is nothing special.
- wkearney99 7y agoYou most certainly can improve upon bad implementations. Kohler's most recent line (within the last 10 years) are considerably better than all toilets I've had before. They consume much less, flush once and don't make an excessive amount of noise.
- driverdan 7y agoA good, modern low flow works better than the old high flow toilets. A few years ago I lived in a new house with a Toto low flow. It was the best toilet I've ever used.
- hateful 7y agoMost toilets in the US are created to be "green" when it comes to water usage, but the reality is it takes at least 2+ flushes most of the time instead of 1 because of it - but as long as the amount of water per flush is low it passes regulation.
- bluntfang 7y agoCould you talk more about this? Anecdotally I've found american diets to not be fiber rich and full of fried foods, resulting in less solid BMs, but maybe you have more information? edit: any explanation for downvotes?
- ryanmercer 7y agoI don't know why you are being downvoted by I can chime in with my own experience. I switched to a largely whole food plant based diet last year, instead of getting 1/4-1/2 of the recommend fiber intake I now get 2x+ the recommend fiber intake. My stool has gone from clay logs that often took considerable effort to pass and would stick to the porcelain to effortlessly (amost freakishly so) pass and tend to have a considerably smaller diameter that breaks up more once it is in the bowl. My pre-whole food plant based diet bowel movements would also leave considerable residue, often requiring 4-5 different wads of toilet paper AND 2-3 wet wipes to wipe clear. Now 1-2 wads of toilet paper leave me rarely even needing a wet wipe. Honestly it's the biggest difference I've noticed since switching to whole food plant based. Frequency of bowel movements and just how easy/clean they are, I used to regularly have to clean part of the toilet bowl where clay-poo would stick and I've not had to do it once since switching my diet. Then mu grocery bill as the bulk of my kcals come from oats/bananas/potatoes now.
- thomk 7y agoAre you a single adult male with no children and few visitors?
- Svip 7y agoI've always had a flatmate. Now my flatmate is my wife. Although, not that many visitors. The toilet was already old when I moved in.
- Pigo 7y agoMy wife has two daughters from a previous marriage. It's been my first foray into having girls in the household. I've learned to just accept that the shower will clog with hair occasionally, and we have to buy 4 times as much toilet paper now. I've become a part time plumber.
- shados 7y agoGet bidet seats. Everyone will thank you and you'll thank yourself.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoIt’s so cheap and easy to install too, it’s shocking how it isn’t widespread yet.
- shados 7y agoIt is cheap, but if you have an electric outlet near by (or can invest in a minor renovation), the high end ones are worth every pennies. Auto cleaning, misting the edge of the bowl to avoid stuff sticking, warming the seat and water, adjustable jet, and even auo closing seat and auto flushing, or being able to flush with a button on the wall. It's glorious.
- marketingfool 7y agoCold water and wiping with a community towel. You forget how advanced we've become with disposable toliet paper.
- jsjohnst 7y agoModern bidets heat the water and the seat, and nobody I know with one (including myself) doesn’t have TP next to the toilet too, you just need very little of it.
- darkstar999 7y agoAs someone with a bidet, there's no way in hell I'm sharing a butt towel. The bidet wash isn't completely effective. It's not the same as sharing a hand towel.
- rsynnott 7y agoAmerican toilets are somewhat more mechanically complex than European ones, and they have smaller waste pipes.
- RankingMember 7y agoThe best toilets I've found yet are the Australian ones; the pipes are huge! I can't imagine ever clogging one.
- jimmux 7y agoIf it does ever clog, you can be 90% sure it's an issue downstream, like tree roots getting into the pipes. It's also common to have a toilet separate to the bath/shower, and we have the dual flush options. I never really appreciated how advanced we are at plumbing. Perhaps it's a product of having to take water management more seriously.
- a9h74j 7y agoAgreed. The U.S.-style fixture, floor, pipe flange, and wax ring all have to work together. A terrible interface design. I haven't seen the Australian style, but when I saw a UK style I was very impressed by the pipe-to-pipe link in the rear.
- thrower123 7y agoYou never know what kind of idiocy you'll get into with renters. The kinds of things that people think they can put down drains is endlessly astonishing. I had one guy who kept putting kitty litter down the toilet, even after I started charging him to get it snaked out. Another one that I have seen too often is people dumping paint down the drains...
- gwbas1c 7y agoA LOT of people just don't understand how to use a plunger.
- HoustonRefugee 7y agoIt is more for convenience for the landlord. A second bathroom can give them time to fix the problem for what's broken.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago> Never had a problem that made it useless for unacceptable amount of time. The acceptable amount of time for a toilet in a 1 bath rental to be useless is zero, at least from the perspective of the tenant. It is true that toilets are pretty reliable, though. I've had one problem with a toilet, but that was somewhat of a freak accident.
- angry_octet 7y agoNorth American toilets are bizarrely complex and seemingly designed to clog. Cross section : https://www.maven.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/toilets-00.jpg https://www.maven.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/toilets-00.j... This is because they use a siphon mechanism, which also results in a narrow diameter pipe. Old style ones use an enormous 14L of water per flush and still jam. Other countries use gravity flush which has lower water usage and less blockages, but forces you to periodically clean the toilet bowl. Personally I would rather clean than plunge. This article has a rather biased overview: https://toiletfound.com/siphonic-vs-washdown-toilet-which-is-better/ https://toiletfound.com/siphonic-vs-washdown-toilet-which-is... Personally I find US toilets need to be flushed repeatedly because you don't want to risk a blockage.
- samoa42 7y ago(speaking on behalf of euros) thank you so much for making this thread make sense!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dehrmann 7y agoA lot of the complexity you see in that image is the trap. It holds water in it to prevent sewer/septic gasses from entering the home. Sinks also have them.
- angry_octet 7y agoBoth types of toilets have a trap. The complexity is due to the siphon mechanism.
- chungus_khan 7y agoNo poop shelf either.
- pmarreck 7y agoLiterally the most confusing thing about German toilets, from someone who grew up in the US... WHY would you want your poop to be entirely exposed to the air like this, on an elevated pedestal, as if it is some prize?
- topkai22 7y agoIt depends on your renters- I’ll bet there are plenty out tenants out there who are so mechanically averse they won’t plunger out their TP; I know I met a few kids like that in college. I’ve also seen my kids managed to do amazing things to the innards of the flush mechanism- break the chain, tangle the chain, move the plug out of position, and in one notable instance get the toilet to start “auto-flushing." All fairly easy fixes, but you have to be willing to get in the (clean water!) reservoir and jiggle parts around. Older houses, especially those on septic, have additional issues with the plumbing becoming overloaded (my dad TWICE backed up our entire house by trying to send an half a fridges worth of food down the garbage disposal) but that will often take out multiple bathrooms.
- astura 7y agoNo, only if you use too much toilet paper. In my almost four decades on this Earth I've never clogged or otherwise broken a toilet, yet I know people who this is a regular occurrence for them. I never owned a plunger until I lived with an excessive toilet paper user. Made me buy a bidet attachment.