DU toilet experts: A little advice.

[denverbill]

We've got one of those special toilets in the basement (the kind with a tank within the tank that does high-pressure flushes). It's been malfunctioning for a while. The first time you try to flush it, nothing really happens and it starts to refill. After that, it's fine, but it gradually loses pressure if you don't flush it for a while. It's annoying cause you have to flush twice and wait for the refill anytime you use it.

So we had a plumber give an estimate to fix it and he said it was rusted out and it would cost $170 to fix, or $240 to replace it with a brand new, regular (not the special kind) of toilet.

Money's not a big concern here but this current toilet has only been installed for a few years before 'rusting out'. I don't want to have this same problem in 5 years if I fix the current one. Is there any reason not to take the plumber's advice and just put in a brand new one?

[Worst Username Ever]

1. Just curious, do you have hard water?

Hard water is very hard on all of your appliances... it could be the cause. If you are considering installing a softener, you can do whichever and the toilet will likely last a much longer time.

[denverbill]

4. No, our town has a reverse osmosis system, so it's pretty soft.

That system hasn't been there forever though, so maybe the toilet was on that system when it got hooked up originally. Don't know for sure.

[eyesroll]

2. Ah! A toilet question. Yes.

Get a new one.
In general, if it costs almost as much to fix as to replace, it's better to replace. Think of that extra $70 as insurance against having to do this again.

[denverbill]

5. But the question is,

is it better to fix your 3 year old Lexus or buy a new Ford?

Not that I have the Lexus of toilets, but it is a 'special purpose' one.

[johnnie]

3. What rusted out?

The porcelain?
I don't know much about the high pressure toilets, but I don't know of any standard one rusting out. I would go for the regular one. When one of those mega hardware/home stores went out of business I pieced together a toilet (tank and seat) for 25 bucks. It cost me around 2 bucks for the wax ring and it's been five years with no problems.

[denverbill]

6. No, not the porcelain.

Inside the toilet tank, it doesn't just fill with water like a regular toilet. There's a tank inside the tank which is metal and apparently pressurizes the water to force it through the system rather than just let gravity do it's work.

[TNDemo]

7. We had a couple of those

in the house we just sold. Ours would do just what yours is doing and my husband would do something about the air in the pipe related to the toilet and it would cure the problem. I can ask him what he did if you want.

[denverbill]

8. I would have thought the plumber would have known about that.

If you think about it though, you might ask your husband and see. Maybe the plumber just hadn't seen one of them before.

[TNDemo]

9. Hubby is a plumbing engineer

(not an oxymoron he likes to remind people - he designs plumbing and piping systems) so he always gets our toilets and stuff from reps who want him to specify them. The last toilet we got was a power assist kind and the home inspector said he had never actually seen one of those, which I thought he would have. Anyway, I will ask what he did and PM you if I find out.

[BiggJawn]

10. Those things are horrible.

The idea is to save water by using stored energy from the water pressure to flush with a gallon or less of water, as opposed to the 3-5 gallons used in a "regular" toilet. Reminds me of trying to lift yourself up by grabbing your own belt and pulling...

but to get all the nasty stuff to go away, you have to flush the damn things 4-5-6 times.

Where's the savngs in THAT?

My Dad HATED installing and working on those things. Guarranteed call-back from the unhappy customer...

Shame you can't still buy the 5-gallon models.