The latest addition to my toilet collection.

[arh1953]

Not odd at all

I still have our original 1961 American Standard toilet, hanging sink, and tub in green. Mom had to have green fixtures, they were a great break from the white in the four residences I can recall that I lived in before my eighth birthday, also in 1961. We spent a bit of time in my Aunt Teeny's house in Lynchburg, VA before we moved here. She and Uncle John had a '58 ranch with a bath and a half, both with yellow fixtures. The half bath was in the delightful knotty pine den, which was behind the kitchen. Kitchen had yellow appliances, knotty pine cabinets with black hardware, and yellow linen Formica. I loved that house, last time I was there was when we took my sister to nursing school in Lynchburg, summer 1969. Uncle passed away in '63, Aunt in summer of '91. The man who bought the house was a good friend of Teeny, first thing he did was rip the wall between the kitchen and the den out. I shudder to think of the other improvements he made. Kind of got sidetracked, but I can appreciate bath fixtures, and other home equipages from the past.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

I have 2 1.28 gallon/flush toilets and have zero issues with them. Everything flushes as it should and being on a septic system it's a good thing. There is so much other water flowing down the main line from laundry, showers, dishes, etc that once waste enters the line it is washed the rest of the way down no matter what you may think to the contrary.


 


 


I also wonder what you folks who bitch about this will do when you're told that you have to go back to using an outhouse because the use of potable water is restricted to drinking, cooking and capped at a maximum usage per day/week/month? There is less and less clean water per person every year and it is a problem. Flushing 3-4 gallons of it is just plain wasteful. We need more regulation, not less.

 

[polkanut69]

Gr8DaneDad,

<span style="font-family: 'andale mono', times; font-size: 12pt;">Seriously?  More government regulation?  I don't think so!!!  The government has screwed things up enough already by trying to "solve" problems that don't exist except in their minds.</span>

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

polkanut, just because you don't think the problems are real doesn't mean they aren't.

 

[tolivac]

In some areas water may not be plentiful-but in other areas it is-The place I live in is a swamp!The water issues I was talking about were not the lines in your home but the sewer lines the system in your home drains into-the lo flow toilets don't use enough water to wash the debris down the main sewer lines-hence the sewer lines have to be flushed and cleaned more often-so you end up using the water you thought was saved.And we need to wake up and NOT allow politicians to take away YOUR freedom of choice-this has got to stop!!!I am for voting those BUMS out!!!!To be blunt EPA has KILLED more jobs in this country over every other causes!!TOO MUCH regulation!!!Get RID of it!!!!Leave to the choice up to YOU!!!!

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Your opinion is yours and you're entitled to it. Doesn't make it right or fact.. it's just an opinion, just as my opinion is mine and I'm entitled to it. We will just have to agree to disagree in this case.

 

[cb123]

I'm sure this would make Sir Thomas Crapper brim with joy - all the way to the rim, 18 inches in all. The old toilets are the very best; they can suck a grown man's far arm all the way down, just the way it should be!

 

[polkanut69]

Clayton,

<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, our toilet does have the big blue "Standard" script logo at the top rear of the rim w/ Modernus underneath it.</span>

 

[midcenturyfan]

Please will you post pictures of the other toilets from your collection.

Thanks,

Robin.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I have that 1982 Eljer toilet in the 1st floor

bathroom, in WHITE. The upstairs one is Kohler, WHITE. Both have aa very strong force. May I ask.... where does one store/keep/display toilets? You must SANITIZE them,I trust. Not judging or bashing. (do I bash)?

 

[sonnyndad]

I will post pictures of my secondary toilet collection tomorrow afternoon. My primary collection (which I started when I was four) is in a storage unit some 30 miles away. I mostly collect old/rare/unique toilets now. Years ago, I collected everything.

 

[gusherb]

John

Mine are stored in the basement with the exception of the "Standard" Cadet as it's the treasure of my collection, that one is stored in an unused bedroom.
They've all been sanitized to the point where you could serve dinner from them.

 

[gusherb]

Most all low flows are easily rigged to flush a full tank which is 2-2.5 gallons or more per flush. I have all low flows in our house right now, and I like the lower water usage due to that. (having the Cadet or other high flow in my bathroom alone raised the consumption by an extra 1,200 gallons or so per month) With the models we have double flushes are never necessary.

I will not compromise on my shower though and MUST get as much flow as possible! So I have an italian Siroflex showerhead which doesn't even come with a flow restrictor installed, and it has the best spray pattern of any showerhead I've tried.

 

[sonnyndad]

I'm the opposite

I don't care how much my showerheads use, but my toilets must use as much water as possible. I plan to eventually install my 1951 Crane Drexel for its direct feed siphon jet and using about 5 gallons per flush. You couldn't clog it if you tried! I will get pictures of my toilets up tomorrow.

 

[gusherb]

I would drop everything low flow for a 1962-1976 Cadet if I could get my hands on one that was close or not overpriced!

Although my '59 Cadet WILL NOT CLOG it does tend to leave "particles" behind and result in needing a second flush which in the end uses up 8 gallons of water. The later models had a far more thorough clearing of the bowl which is what I want/need. I would've installed the '57 Wellworth in my bathroom if it had gotten along with my messed up flange, I later found out it suffers from "splatter bowl" too easily anyway.

Something interesting: MUCH of these old toilets water consumption was simply through refill tube waste. Adjust the refill tubes flow rate to match what the bowl actually NEEDS and you can save up to a gallon or more of water per every flush. I got my Cadet down to 4 GPF, from 5, and the Wellworth down to 5 from 6 by doing this, and it doesn't effect performance whatsoever.

 

[sonnyndad]

I've managed to flush my Eljer Emblem seen here on less than half a gallon. I have the flapper adjusted (I ONLY use Korky parts(Fluidmaster disgusts me)) to flush 1.5 gallons, and you get more than enough bowl rinse and plenty of siphonic action.

 

[dustin]

I could also care less how much water my toilets use, as long as everything is gone with one flush. Our house has (I think) an American Standard in tan upstairs, and a Mansfield (or something like that) downstairs. I think both are 2 gallon flush, and both do the job adequately. I *do* care how much showers use, that needs to be as much as possible, our showers both have the flow restrictors removed and I would guess they can pump out 3-5 gallons a minute. They are both handhelds, and the downstairs one can't be used with the faucets wide open or it blows itself out of the holder, and the spray is almost painful. We are on city water with EXCELLENT pressure.

 

[sonnyndad]

Toilets I have collected since my other collection has been in storage. I would have uploaded more photos, but my antique iPhone kept on crashing......
1936 Standard Modernus
1951 Crane Drexel
1955 Standard Compton
1971 Gerber Mt.Vernon
1978 Eljer Emblem
1987 Gerber Mt. Vernon
2001 Kohler Revival

 

[ronni]

That's a neat and unique collection! I wonder if you've ever considered including matching wall-mounted lavatories with each toilet? In my former house I had a white Rheem-Richmond toilet and a matching wall-mounted Rheem-Richmond "shelf-back" lavatory (the kind that many hospitals have with the faucets mounted in the basin rather than on the top of the lavatory,, which allows for a "shelf" on top where toiletries and such can be set without getting wet) that were both in really good shape. Actually, the faucets were in disrepair from the previous owner (after being allowed to leak for many years which led to corrosion and heavy lime deposits), but I searched high and low for replacements and finally found some online (eBay for the actual faucet assembly and an online store for the rare stems). Both fixtures were from the early- to mid- 1960s.

As long as we're on the subject of toilets, I'd like to put in a word for cleaning the inside of the tank on a regular basis to remove the mold, rust, and lime deposits that otherwise accumulate. That was the only thing that was "wrong" with the toilet mentioned above--the inside of the tank was pitch black. Even a pressure washer, scrub sponge, bleach, ammonia, vinegar, and Coca-Cola (used individually) could not completely remove the buildup after many years of neglect.

 

[ronni]

I forgot to ask where you find the date stamps on your toilets. I've been told that sometimes they are on the bottom of the base, and I've seen others debossed or stamped on the inside of the tank.

I am thinking that some toilets do not have the year of manufacture stamped in them unless they have a date code. I tried to find one on my former Gerber Aqua Saver toilet but didn't see any.

I'm pretty sure other bathroom or shower room fixtures are dated--for the most part--as well.