American Standard Flowise Cadet 3 toilet problem / compared to Champion 4 toilet

[Commodes]

How old was the toilet? Was there not a warranty? Lowes sucks :( Anyway either lowes or American standard should have replaced the toilet. .

[SeanBoburk]

@Commodes It was less than a month old. Lowes just told me to call AS, and that if AS did not do anything, to get back with them. When I contacted AS, and sent them a copy of this video, they refunded my money.

[Commodes]

@SeanBoburk ok I am glad to hear that AS did the right thing..

[MrWilkat1]

My saga continues--the fact remains, these newer units need ideal conditions to function correctly--mine keeps acting up about once each week, and I will need to do something to improve the vent system, that's something I am sure of--however, the old water-wasting unit was trouble free, and I think I am wasting more water now just trying to keep the new unit working! My advice, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"--wish I had followed that advice myself!

[MrWilkat1]

Yeah, these new toilets (all makes), seem to be prone to irregularities of one sort or another, & they can be very annoying. I've been considering changing an older model we have in the upstairs bathroom, but I am worried that I might invite new problems into my house instead of making an improvement! Knock on wood the AS one is still working since I reestablished the water in the trap. Time will tell for how long this will be okay...

[MrWilkat1]

Called a plumber and he could not get it working, and so $150 poorer, and I wasn't sure what to do next. Then I had an idea, since I suspected a problem with the venting, I ran the tub full blast in the upstairs bathroom, waited a few minutes, then flushed the troublesome toilet downstairs, & amazingly, it worked. I shut the tub water, & it still worked, & has been working for the last 2 days now. I believe these new low flow toilets are very sensitive & require near perfect conditions, or else

[SeanBoburk]

@MrWilkat1 I own 2 Champion 4 toilets. One in the video, and one in my master bathroom. The one in my master bathroom does not flush as well. Some days it flushes better than others. Both flush better than what I pulled out (they were prone to clogging). But big difference in how they flush. I think this is an example of the inconsistencies with AS toilets. I also have a cadet 3 one piece toilet in the basement. It also flushes well (compare to the one in the video I removed and smashed).

[MrWilkat1]

Well, I am getting closer to smashing it! LOL! I got the kit American Standard sent to me, installed it (a new flapper ball assembly with overflow tube which proved to be a little shorter than the original otherwise I see no difference), and it made no difference. I also bought a closet auger and double checked to see if I could find a blockage and there is none. It still wont flush, and once the bowl fills, it slowly drains right down until there's virtually no water left in the bottom.

[MrWilkat1]

The warranty is still valid for another year, and I called American Standard yesterday, and they are sending me a new flushing kit--hopefully this will resolve the problem, but I am skeptical at the moment. However, it does not seem to have the suction effect that it had before, and I don't how that's controlled. It also worked once yesterday and once today--don't know how long before it craps out again (pun intended)!

[MrWilkat1]

Wow--thanks for posting this. I have pretty much the same problem with an American Std. model Evolution 2/Mainstream and it worked fine for almost a year, but occasionally it would not flush properly and then would return to normal operation after letting it sit for a while. But now it is doing the same thing you had where it just slowly drains away until it's almost empty, and then if you try to flush, it just fills the bowel and does not evacuate like it should.

[SeanBoburk]

@MrWilkat1 Hopefully you can find of way of fixing it, without resorting to smashing it.

[MrMONEYFORNOTHING]

Put in 3, cadet 3 elongated, right height, flo-wise models based on Consumer Reports ratings. I purchased from Lowes in Las Vegas for $150 on sale. They have made a difference in my water usage, handle anything anyone in my family has thrown into them. I do not work for Lowes or AS and would recommend them with the caveat that the seats are uncomfortable and I replaced mine but OEM seats always seem to SUCK. I would buy another. It is false to call them American Standard as they are Mexican.

[andrewps84]

I would have liked to see the vid where you smashed it...

[SeanBoburk]

@andrewps84 I would need to see if I can find them, but I took some still digital pictures of it...maybe I can put it into a slide show video and post it when I have time.

[andrewps84]

@SeanBoburk Nice, I'd enjoy seeing it.

[andrewps84]

@SeanBoburk I'm still surprised this wasn't inspected and tested before leaving the factory. I think there should have been some kind of quality check. Did you end up buying the Champion 4 after the Cadet III failure, and what led you to replacing the other toilet you had in there?

[SeanBoburk]

@andrewps84 Pictures of the plastic stuff are posted as a video response now. When we bought our house, none of the toilets in it flushed very well. We put a Champion 4 in the master 1st, so figured it was a safe bet. My experience shows AS toilets are NOT consistent. The Champion 4 in the video flushes much better than the one in our master, both flush better than what we replaced. One piece Cadet 3 in the basement is doing well. The one in the garage has not given me reason to change it yet.

[andrewps84]

@SeanBoburk Yeah that's the feeling I get based on some of these YouTube vids. The last toilet I purchased (and oddly enough I got it from Lowes, too) was a 2001 AS Plebe, which replaced a 59 Standard Cadet that broke. It's in my mother's house, but it hasn't given us any trouble. My plumber friend seems to think Kohler is better, but I wouldn't know for sure.

[SeanBoburk]

@andrewps84 BTW, I am surprised they did not want it back. I would think they would want to know where they went wrong. I am guessing they already knew, or did not have enough problems to think it worth their time/money. The red in one of the pics is my kids blood. She is such a boy sometimes...heh. As soon as we smashed it she reached in to pull out the clog.

[tolietmaster5000]

What kind of technician works bare foot? No workers comp it you hurt your bare feet.

[tolietmaster5000]

Nice feet is this a foot fetish porn

[lonestarguy77]

Totally dittos on this dude! I never would have thought I'd seen this on the internet! I have an AS Cadet 3 (I think)... 'power flush'.. but has 1.6 gal stamped inside the tank. At any rate, have had nothing but problems with this since day one... although somewhat intermittent... until recently... and it is doing exactly what this video shows. Just brought home a Champion 4 but with all I'm reading about AS quality issues, I'm tempted to change course and go with something else.

[SeanBoburk]

Update to the problem...I finally got around to hauling the bad toilet to the dump and smashing the trap on it. There was a plastic sleeve left in there. I guess it was part of the moulding process from when they made it. It was obstucting the normal flow of stuff through the bowl of the toilet.

[SeanBoburk]

@TheJoey1978 They sent me a check. I am really surprised they did not want the old toilet back. It is sitting on my back stoop right now...heh. Was going to gut it before I took it to the dump. Kind of curious, and want to smash the bowl to see if I can figure out what is wrong with it.

[toiletpeople1001]

the cadet 3 flowise and champion 4 is same brand,but very different things on flush

[SeanBoburk]

An update...we got a letter today, from American Standard, saying they are going to refund us the cost of the toilet. Sounds like a company that takes customer service seriously...

[sanders8323]

That's really strange. There must some kind of internal design defect. Too bad you can't get your money back.