We replaced the crappy (no pun intended) Cranada toilet in our downstairs bathroom with an American Standard Flo-Wise dual-flush unit today. The Cranada had never, uh, done its business very well, often requiring two flushes of its outdated and wasteful 13.25-liter tank.
In contrast, the FloWise offers a choice of a 3-liter flush or a 6-liter flush.
Of course nothing went as smoothly as it should have. To begin with, we went to Home Depot to buy an American Standard regular flush 6-liter model that we'd looked at previously, only to discover they had the dual-flush units in stock. The question was, how much did they cost? The bowls were $93.60, but we couldn't see a price for the tank. A staff member came along, and told us the tanks were $137, pointing to a tank that obviously was not a dual-flush unit. We had a little debate about model numbers, etc., but he kept insisting he was right. OK, we took a bowl and a dual-flush tank to the checkout expecting an exorbitant price for the tank, and it was only $96.38! (BTW, the bowl included a seat and lid, something that not all models do). The dual-flush was actually about $80 cheaper than the 6-liter single flush.
Happy with our savings, we headed off home, removed the old toilet and began installing the new one. When we opened the tank box, we discovered the tank cover was badly chipped. OK, back to Home Depot, where they readily refunded the first tank and sold us a second one. As soon as we were out the door, out came my trusty Swiss Army knife, and we checked the second unit. It was OK.
We are pleased with the appearance, and especially the performance and water savings of the new unit.
Dual-flush toilets have been commonplace in Japan for at least 20 years, and I'm glad they're finally appearing in Canada. Another common feature in Japan that I have yet to see in Canada is the hand-washing tank recharge -- the water that refills the tank come out of a little spout on top of the tank, and the tank lid has a depression like a mini sink so that you can wash your hands with the water that is refilling it.
Posted by Paul at February 1, 2008 07:06 PM