It’s likely that very few people make a hobby of reading toilet reviews the way the Professor does, but this take on the superior flushing ability of the Champion 4 up at HomeDepot.com is a must-read. Follow the link above for the touching story of how the virtually clog-free toilet kept an Atlanta resident out of federal prison and saved the life of a mother-in-law whose regular diet apparently consisted of “broccoli, cabbage, and gravel.” Enjoy.

Coined “Drain Line Carry,” the ASME Standard requires that every toilet – regardless of water volume used in a flush – be able to drive 100 ¾-inch polypro balls down a 3-inch rigid pipe an average of 40 feet.  All of American Standard’s water closets meet this standard and many, including Champion 4, Cadet 3, Colony FitRight, Evolution2 and H2Option, exceed that requirement by more than 16 feet. Here’s where we test:

Helping to transport waste through drain lines is what engineers term “supplemental flow,” or additional water generated from faucets, showers, clothes washing, etc., which is obviously more prevalent in residential than commercial applications.

In other words, drain line clogging isn’t likely to be caused by a water saving toilet. Other common causes of drain line clogging are broken or misaligned pipes, buildup of grease or grit within the drain, as well as flushing inappropriate materials.

Special note to commercial building professionals: Installations with extremely long drain lines (e.g., shopping malls or industrial sites), may require evaluation on a site-by-site basis, especially if no supplemental flows are available.

Colin McEnroe hosts a talk show on the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and today, it’s all about toilets.

But first, Professor Toilet turned the tables and asked Colin a few questions:

Professor Toilet:  How do you feel about the toilets in your home?  Do your toilets work well?

Colin McEnroe:  NO! I have a nagging, epic sense of of what Goethe called Toiletteschmerz (toilet sadness.) Neither one of my toilets really gets the job done. In fact, there’s a huge undocumented class of Americans who have to flush the toilet twice every time they poop. The U.S. Census Bureau should be asking about this.

My toilets are not cutting edge eco-toilets. They’re sort of the opposite. They’re old toilets that don’t work that well. Of course I, as toilet depositor, am old and don’t work that well either. So it’s the Circle of Life.

Professor Toilet:  Indeed it is.  What do you think of toilets that use less water?

Colin McEnroe: You mean really good toilets that flush with less water, right? See above. Asking me that is like asking some Neanderthal who hasn’t really mastered the art of making fire what he thinks of gas grills. I’m stuck in a previous toilet evolutionary period from the one you’re talking about.

I totally approve of water saving toilets, but they are, right now, a distant dream for me, like flying cars.

Professor Toilet:  Do you own a plunger? And why, for Pete’s sake?

Colin McEnroe: I own a plunger for the same reason everyone else does: in case I am ever called up, hastily, to audition for a Three Stooges remake.

Actually, I’m pretty good with a plunger. I don’t want to go into details, but there’s something kind of orgasmic about the release that comes at the moment when effective plunging realizes its goal.

I can’t believe I wrote that.

Professor Toilet:  Neither can we. And far be it from us to suggest other ways to achieve orgasmic release.  Just so you know,  you don’t really need a plunger when toilets like the Champion 4 can take down 1,000 grams in one flush.  That’s 2.2 pounds, equal to about 66 chicken nuggets.

Tell us, does your toilet suffer from skid marks?

Colin McEnroe:  I’m not sure toilets can suffer.  But if they do suffer, that raises the question of whose fault it is. Is there something wrong with the way the mark-maker poops? (Bad angle?)

I’m dodging the question.

Professor Toilet:  It can happen in the best of families when they are stuck with the worst of toilets.

Finally, you say your show  is about “Giving you something new to laugh about in your car and talk about over dinner.”  Will you make an exception on the dinner thing for this topic?

Colin McEnroe: My recommendation would be that this topic should be resolved, one way or another, in the car.

Listen live today at about 1:20 ET for Colin McEnroe and James Walsh to continue the toilet talk.

Designed more than 30 years ago by an Australian Toilet Scientist, dual flush technology can reduce water usage by up to 67%. To put this into perspective, that’s like saving an average of 9,600 gallons a day over the old 3.5-gallon behemoths, or enough water to fill three hot tubs each day when compared to a 1.6-gallon toilet.

Dual flush toilets are actually mandated in Australia and Singapore, and catching on fast in North America because of the simple premise: “push 1 for 1 and push 2 for 2,”  A number 1 flush uses less water, a far more pleasant alternative to “if it’s yellow, let it mellow.” A number 2 flush is designed to take down solids without clogging, typically using the same 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf) as standard toilets like the Champion 4 and Cadet 3.

Dual Flush Washdown vs. Dual Flush Siphonic

One issue slowing more widespread adoption of dual flush toilets in the US is a technical term that toilet scientists call skid marks. The Professor assumes that you don’t need a visual on that; in short, it’s a bowl that won’t stay clean after pushing 2 for 2.  You may use other words for it when it happens.

Dual flush toilets rely on the “push” of water to cleanse the bowl in what is known as a washdown flush.  In contrast, standard toilets depend on the more popular siphonic action to “pull” waste out.

To strengthen the push action, the bowls of dual flush models are sloped more sharply than standard toilets to give the water greater momentum, which can also increase splashing.  The steeped bowls mean a smaller “water spot” or water surface area in the bowl, which makes it more likely that toilet paper or other waste will cling to the sides of the bowl, staining and generating odors.

The toilet engineers at American Standard have overcome these two hurdles with a dual flush toilet that removes every last trace of paper and waste, as well as one that offers a large traditional water surface area.

The WaterSense-certified H2Option Dual Flush Toilet is the first truly siphonic dual flush toilet, which generates strong push and pull action through forceful but quiet jetted action under the rim.  When the user flushes H2Option, some of the water is instantly diverted to the rim where there are a series of chambers.  The air in the chambers pushes the ongoing coming water forcefully out into the bowl. The resulting downhill rush of water creates an all-but-irresistible pull on the water behind it, so that every last trace of waste is removed from the bowl.

In their own words, on their forum, Dunbar Plumbing explains the benefits of the Champion 4 toilet:

“With the American Standard Champion 4 toilet, our customers have been extremely pleased with the flushing action of the toilet with a “no worry” attitude about what possibly gets thrown down the toilet. This toilet uses a small fraction of water compared to the older 1.6 gallon toilets including the 3.5 gallon flush toilets. Now that these new style toilets use so little water compared to the wasteful 3.5 gallon toilet, it’s a no brainer that those older toilets were such a costly design. We’ve watched the advancements in the technology grow over the past 25 years and it has been a road hard paved with good intentions to finally get a good working, good flushing toilet.”  Read more at the Dunbar Plumbing Forum.

Doral Classic Champion 4

The Professor is a fierce but fair competitor.  As a toilet scientist, third party testing data from Maximum Performance Testing (MaP testing) is most compelling in choosing a new toilet.  In those tests, the Champion 4 toilet reigns supreme.

Nonetheless, user feedback is important.  As such, Professor Toilet offers up a variety of opinions via commentators at WikiAnswers – Are Toto or American Standard toilets better.  If you have an opinion about American Standard toilets vs. our competitors, talk back to the Professor and tell you story.

The Professor is mightily humbled.

MSN Real Estate chose only one toilet in a recent feature profiling innovative products that make housework and home maintenance easier.

Calling the Champion 4 a “low-maintenance, plunger-free toilet,” the editors at MSN note that it “dispatches 70% more material than usual in each flush thanks to a 4-inch flush valve.”  MSN also cites our exclusive EverClean surface that inhibits the growth of mold, mildew and the bacteria causing toilet stains and smells.

Granny in the Toilet

What Granny's toilet might have looked like.

When I was a little girl and visiting my Great Granny, all there was to use was an out house…..or at night under the bed was these pretty crock bowls called PeeCans! Well, one beautiful sunny morning during a summer visit, I heard this loud noise followed by the screams of my Great Grandmother……several of my aunts ran out to see what the commotion was about….

{First you gotta understand that this was a rather large robust woman}….well, upon opening the door of the OUTHOUSE….all you could see was feet sticking up in the air swinging back and forth in the air. It seems that when she went out to relieve herself…she had climbed up on the side of the seat to clear some cobwebs and fallen head first into…well, you get the picture and was now stuck head down into heaven only knows what and was stuck.

My aunts called an uncle and they managed to get her unstuck, but out came a sight that I’ll never forget….to this day I am thankful for indoor plumbing away from bugs, smell, cobwebs and the like. My Great Granny used to laugh that it took a tomato juice bath to finally get rid of the awful smell in her hair and on her body. Also, from then on..she never tried to do any climbing. When I ride by her old home place now the house and OUTHOUSE are all torn down and gone….they are finally a thing of the past, but I’ll never forget my great Granny and the spunky woman she was.

More contests to come in 2010!  Fan our Facebook page.