Toilet Suite brands...

[Batpig]

Dear Plumber-Members, Member-Plumbers, Plumbing-Members, Members who are Plumbers, and Plumbers who are indeed Members...:B (and anyone else who has had a Good Trot or a Bad Trot (...:cool:...) with a fairly current Toilet Suite...

Just wondering, do any of you have a particularly good or particularly bad opinion of any particular brand, in particular the strength and reliability of the innards, and the availability of spares?...

Am looking for something in China (well, bought here, but made of China - possibly even made in China of China, or made of China in China...) rather than made of Plastic...

And a long shot: Do any of you have a Fowler "Consort"?
Yes... What's she like? How does she go? What's she like to Krap in?... Would love to have a look inside her top...
Any chance of taking "her" lid off and getting me a photo of her topless? :o:o:o

Thanks muchly,
Batpig.

[wonderplumb]

Mate, generally any of the fowler or caroma products are good, the kohler stuff is good but fiddly to install and rediculously over priced. There is a lot of stuff being made in UAE which in my opinion be careful if selecting. Just keep in-mind your waste and water set-outs when selecting a suite. Reece have their own generic brand as im sure co-op and tradelink would.
Ive been to quite a few 'tart up' jobs (new tiles, paint, tapware, toilet suite etc.) where they have bought a 'bargain' toilet suite, paid a ridiculous amount of "cash" to get a bargain only to find it wont suit the original set-out, and its non returnable! BEWARE!

[frog's wife]

My only word of caution is to NOT get one of those new fadded, american style somewhat in-fashion type flat bowled jobbies. Americans seem to have more water in their toilets (a bit like taking the kids to the pool) whereas we dont and all that flat shiny white porcelain is just waiting to be....how should we say it......sullied. And that's a BITCH to clean.

Go for a good clean drop I always say.......:B


Sonja

[pawnhead]

And a long shot: Do any of you have a Fowler "Consort"?
Yes... What's she like? How does she go? What's she like to Krap in?... Would love to have a look inside her top...Well I don't know about Krapping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper#Crapper_and_the_syphonic_flush_toilet) in it, but my Fowler's good enough to drink out of;

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/holgerdanske/th_fowler.jpg (http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/holgerdanske/fowler.jpg)

It's a nice big coffee cup from Fowler.
You can get them from some plumbing supply joints. :p

[zelig]

My favourites are the Caroma Leda 2000 and the Fowler Newport.

There are a few reasons why but one of the main ones is ease of installation. I can have a Leda installed in 15mins on a good day. For a back to wall pan where you can't see your waste thats really good. I had to install a "Kalevit" the other day which looked pretty similar but took me 4 goes to get it in leak free.
I have to keep this in mind when I quote and ask what brand WC you are getting so the money you might save with a cheaper suite (From UAE, Turkey, China etc) goes towards extra cost of installation.

Another thing I hate is that some of those cheap brands make you bolt the cistern to the pan (on a back to wall suite) BEFORE you install it so that once it's installed theres no way to tighten the wing nuts. I've seen this on the Kalevit's but also on some expensive Villeroy and Boch's. Well we cement a lot of pans in in Australia because the bathroom floors have fall to the floorwastes so If they're cemented in you have to just pray that nothing goes wrong. The fowlers and caroma never have this because they know that in Australia a lot of pan's are cemented in.

Another reason to get the Aussie ones. Some of those euro ones have really small "landing zones" and you get a lot more skid marks!

Another reason is the customers that ring and say "Can you get it to flush a bit better" No, not really. But my Aussie Newport at home flushes 1's and 2's just with the half flush no problem.

Regards
Z

[wonderplumb]

I had to install 6 of those bastards in a house at Dover Heights, fit cistern and seat before you slide it in on a bed of silicone, it turns into a two man job and after that they came with a bit of 10mm chrome tube to connect the mini cock to the inlet valve (rear entry water) so I had to go and buy a set of mini benders. Took two days for two blokes to install 6 WC's and get them in without leaking. Im glad it wasnt my job! Some of the Kohler ones arent too bad as they are designed to bolt to the floor.

[Master Splinter]

We have wonderful water saving toilets at the office.

Sure, they save water, if you only flush once, but for anything with more er, guts, and it'll be your third flush before you decide to give it away as a bad job, so to speak.

I read an article in Fine Homebuilding about a guy at one of their big toilet making places who had the job of testing the flush action of toilets...surprisingly, he didn't have to put his bum on the line every day - a special clay mix, and some suitably shaped molds, and he could test all day! Now there's a job that will have all the kids listening when its 'what my daddy does at work' day at the local school!

[tony2096]

I bought 3 Toilet suite - Caravelle Smartflush bottom inlet (crmTl0014)
from these guys...

http://www.bathroomsonline.com.au/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=29

Very happy:


includes reasonable toilet seat in the $475 price
short flush actually works (I was dubious at the start since I've only ever had an old fashioned toilet that uses half of Warragamba on each flush)Tony

[Batpig]

Some great responses there Fellas (figuratively speaking).

Love the sheer "honesty" of your replies, Sonja, Zelig, and Splinter. Some of the technical terms used therein should perhaps be defined in a "Sticky"...

Wonderplumb, you're The Man when it comes to The Can... Knowing that you and Zelig think the Fowlers are up there with the Caromas simplifies the choice greatly.

Tony, will go the said Fowler "Consort" over any of the Caromas because:
a) I need a Linked Suite and it's Linked.
b) I don't like the new Split-Circle buttons on the Caromas. I much prefer the long-curved-rectangular setup on the "Consort". I reckon that new "Ying/Yang" button look that they're all getting into will go the way of the Dodo in about twelve months time, and they'll all start going back to the way the Caromas use to be, with the separated curved-at-the-end rectangular buttons.
c) Can pick up a "Consort" for not much more than $300. It's probably just a rebadged older-model Caroma anyway. I could get a Caroma Elba for about the same price and the Cistern is made of China, but it's got those cotton-pickin' Ying/Yang buttons...

Will be pushing hard for the Mug, Pawnhead, when the "Cash is Flashing" (or might it be more appropriate in this instance to say, "When the Eagle is Krapping..." :wink:)

Thank-You all,
Batpig.

[adriang]

Some great responses there Fellas (figuratively speaking).

Love the sheer "honesty" of your replies, Sonja, Zelig, and Splinter. Some of the technical terms used therein should perhaps be defined in a "Sticky"...

Wonderplumb, you're The Man when it comes to The Can... Knowing that you and Zelig think the Fowlers are up there with the Caromas simplifies the choice greatly.

Tony, will go the said Fowler "Consort" over any of the Caromas because:
a) I need a Linked Suite and it's Linked.
b) I don't like the new Split-Circle buttons on the Caromas. I much prefer the long-curved-rectangular setup on the "Consort". I reckon that new "Ying/Yang" button look that they're all getting into will go the way of the Dodo in about twelve months time, and they'll all start going back to the way the Caromas use to be, with the separated curved-at-the-end rectangular buttons.
c) Can pick up a "Consort" for not much more than $300. It's probably just a rebadged older-model Caroma anyway. I could get a Caroma Elba for about the same price and the Cistern is made of China, but it's got those cotton-pickin' Ying/Yang buttons...

Will be pushing hard for the Mug, Pawnhead, when the "Cash is Flashing" (or might it be more appropriate in this instance to say, "When the Eagle is Krapping..." :wink:)

Thank-You all,
Batpig.

Could you let me know where you got one from? I'm after the same and I'm on the north side of Brisvegas. :)

[atregent]

I got a Caroma Opel 2000 suite installed a while ago, and we love it (as much as one can love a toilet). It's very comfortable, looks great (everything is concealed), and only 4.5 litres for a full flush. I was a bit sceptical at first, but there has only been the odd occasion were more flushing was required. It also seems to hold about 2 full flushes worth in the cistern, so if a second go is needed, there's no waiting.

The warranty has also impressed me. A couple of days after installation, I didn't feel like it was flushing right, so a Caroma service guy came out and adjusted everything. It's been working perfect ever since.

[Batpig]

Thanks for response Anthony. Krapping by Eagle is not yet imminent, so am still taking all comments on board...

Adriang - regarding the price on the Fowler "Consort", I'm going by a current brochure from the "Plumbing Plus" chain which shows the Fowler "Consort" Linked-Suite for $319. I can't find a link for downloading it on their website, but it says on the back of the brochure that the prices are effective until 24th December. They are represented here on the northside by K&R Plumbing, who are at 431-435 Bilsen Rd., Geebung (they are on the eastern side of Bilsen Rd, about a hundred metres to the South of the roundabout with Robinson Rd. The brochure is titled "Motivations" (but it's not just about toilets...), and the Consort is down the bottom of the 4th page.

K&R are pretty good to deal with. In the grand scheme of things on the northside of Bashville in the cloistered little confines of my favourite industrial stomping ground - Geebung - the order of cheapest to dearest generally goes: K&R, PHD, Tradelink, Samios, & Reece (unless you go through your plumbers account at Reece). PHD are worth a phone call if you already know what you're after, but they don't have a showroom to speak of. K&R are therefore a pretty safe bet on prices...

See what you think, and let me know how you go pricewise if you opt for the Consort.

Good Luck,
Batpig.

[supa007]

Did a search online for toilets that flush well. It seems Toto branded ones consistently come up tops, especially those with their "G-Max" flushing system. I think it's Japanese, apparently one of the biggest toilet brands in the world, but not available here.

Anyone here know if there might be issues with using them here if I'm able to get hold of them (ie. wrong dimension of pipes... etc)