More than you ever wanted to know about toilet design!

I was intrigued to read an article about the problems faced by hotels in getting their toilets to perform reliably.

That perfect pot -- or "bowly grail," if you will -- was found in something called the Champion 4, made by American Standard, a toilet so powerful it can supposedly flush 18 golf balls, 38 rubber tubes, 16 water wigglers and 40 feet of tissue without getting clogged.

According to James Walsh, American Standard's vice president and general manager of consumer fixtures, the Champion 4 proves that not all low-flow toilets do a crappy job.

"The first generation of low-flow toilets had such poor performance that they left many people under the impression they weren't, pardon the expression, worth a 'crap,' " said Walsh, whose knowledge of the inner workings of toilets has led some of his co-workers to call him "Professor Toilet."

Clogged toilets have increasingly been a problem ever since toilets were mandated to flow 1.6 gallons per minute from 3.5 gallons a minute about 15 years ago.

"Toilets in the U.S. work like siphons," Walsh said. "Once the toilet gets flowing, it pulls everything down. Early on in the days of low-flowing toilets, the only way to get the flow going was to reduce the size of the trap, which is the opening between the tank down into the pipe."

Walsh and company have eliminated the problem of clogs by increasing the size of the trap, or outlet; increasing the size of the flush valve from the standard 2 inches to 4; and changing the bowl design to get more flow going.

But how they test those toilets can make some people lose the lunch they lost when they went to the bathroom.

"We test toilets with miso paste," he said, describing a soy paste used in Japanese cooking that is close to the consistency of human defecation. "We use up to 400 grams [about 14 ounces] at one time, while the average amount of human waste I think is about 250 grams [8 ounces].

The miso paste is used in a variety of ways to simulate real human waste, which Walsh divides into three categories: sinkers, floaters and semi-floaters.

"We test it like this to figure out how to keep the bowl clean, because you don't want -- how should I put it? -- skid marks," he said.

Although various products, including corn cobs, pencil shavings and rubber tubes, are put into the pot, Walsh says pingpong balls are actually the best test of a toilet.

"Pingpong balls float, so if you can flush them, you know you have a good flow," he said.

But it was the golf balls that sold Loews on the Champion 4, and Senechal believes a good toilet flow can lead to a good cash flow.

The hotel chain usually only updates its plumbing every 10 to 12 years, but it was so flushed with excitement about the elimination of clogged toilets that it is starting to install the super-commodes in its 18 properties six years earlier than normal.

There's more at the link.

Having suffered through the vicissitudes of many low-flow toilets that didn't want to dispose of debris at all, I'm pleased that someone's getting the design right at last! However, I'm not sure I want to know more about the 'water wigglers' used to test it. They sound somewhat obscene! And as for the golf balls . . . it sounds like golf ball divers are going to have to cross-train for a rather more demanding diving job!





Peter