These Days It’s More Important Than Ever To Choose Your Toilet Carefully
Before the advent of water conservation toilets in the 1980s, toilets used to get clogged up less often. This is because the standard toilet flush used 5 gallons of water. With that much water rushing into the toilet bowl pretty much any deposit would be washed away quickly and effectively. But since then, toilet flushing capacity has dropped to 3.5 gallons and now to the much lower 1.6 gallons. That’s less than half the amount of water in traditional toilets so it’s no wonder that toilet plunger sales are booming.
When it comes to buying a toilet, don’t automatically assume that the higher cost models will be more effective at flushing. What you’re generally paying for is design rather than flushing performance. In fact some plumbers feel that the more expensive one-piece toilets where the tank is integrated with the toilet bowl are less effective than standard two piece toilets. This is because with two-piece toilets the distance between the tank and the bowl is larger allowing a greater buildup of pressure under the force of gravity.
One important criteria to look out for when purchasing a toilet is the diameter of the toilet trap way. Stick to least 2 inches of diameter and if you can, choose a model that has a frictionless coating or glazed surface as this will help wastes travel more easily.
One of the more beneficial improvements in gravity toilet design is vacuum assist technology. Vacuum assist toilets have two internal tanks rather than one and are designed in such a way that of vacuum is created during the flush process. This helps to push the water into the bowl, and the wastes out of it. Some homeowners report positive results with using power assist toilets which use compressed air to force the waist down the trap, but these are much nosier than vacuum assist designs and may not work in houses that have older plumbing equipment.  Power assist toilet are generally more complicated to repair and require expensive toilet repair parts.