Costco blog/discussion forum

Recently our toilet became clogged with a foreign object, a pine cone, due to a three year old boy, who will remain nameless. When flushed, this pine cone happened to be just the right size to make it partially through the toilet. It was no longer visible, but still encased within the porcelain.

I tried a toilet auger , but that wouldn't work. I pulled the toilet up from the floor and tried to work at it from the other end, but no luck that way either. I was left with two options, call in a professional or replace the toilet. The toilet was old, so I went with replacing it.

Our local Costco Warehouse stocked the WaterRidge one piece dual flush toilet-in-a-box. (Costco Item 368062) These toilets were selling for $199 with a $20 instant manufacturer's rebate, total $179.99. It took about one hour to unpack this toilet and install it. The job is very easy and a number of web sites detail how to do it. The hardest part is lifting the 70 pound toilet and placing it directly over the drain.

The toilet-in-a-box comes with everything you need to install it, including a wax ring, floor bolts, a braided supply hose and even an angle supply valve. You need to supply common tools, an adjustable wrench, and a screw driver.

The toilet is a high efficiency model. It saves water. It does this by offering you two options for flushing, a full 1.6 gallons flush or a reduced 1.2 gallon flush. The flush control is on top of the tank, it is two semicircular buttons that you push to activate.

One problem with high efficiency toilets is that you sometimes need to flush multiple times, which defeats the purpose. Some water conservation organizations sponsor the MaP test, which gauges how well popular toilets can flush simulated human waste.

This toilet is not highly rated by the MaP test (
Maximum Performance Testing of Popular Toilet Models, 11th Edition. This test simulates the flushing of human fecal matter. Based upon some medical research, they suggest that the toilets should flush a minimum of 250g of solid human waste. This model could only flush 150 g of simulated human waste consistently. Had I known about these rating before, I probably would not have purchased this toilet.

Of course, if this toilet does not perform according to my expectations, I can always return it.

UPDATE: After using the toilet for about a week, I am satisfied. I have occasionally needed to flush twice, but nothing has clogged the toilet. This toilet is comparable, in flushing power, to the Toto model that it replaced.