The number one job of a toilet is to flush waste from the toilet bowl. It is, in fact, its only job. The number one complaint homeowners have of toilets is clogging; of not being able to perform its number one job. The strongest flushing toilet is one that doesn’t clog, clears waste quickly and efficiently, and is quiet.
Strongest Flushing Toilet ‘Sneak Peek’
| Product Name | Powered By | Find it Here |
|---|---|---|
| American Standard Cadet Pressure Assisted Toilet | Pressure Assist | Check Up-to-Date Price on Amazon |
| TOTO Ultramax One Piece Toilet | Siphon Flushing | Check Up-to-Date Price on Amazon |
| Swiss Madison One Piece Toilet | Tornado Flush | Check Up-to-Date Price on Amazon |
| Kohler Santa Rosa Toilet | Aquapiston Flush | Check Up-to-Date Price on Amazon |
Prices and images pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
What Makes a Toilet a ‘Strong Flusher’?
Since 1992, when the Environmental Protection Agency introduced new standards for water usage in toilets, manufacturers have been producing toilets that use as little as 1.28 gallons per flush (GPF). Toilets typically use water pressure to clear the toilet bowl, so using less water resulted in less-than-stellar flushing performance.
The solution to this was for manufacturers to engineer toilet bowls to work more effectively and efficiently. Newer model toilets use a few different design elements for this:
- Enlarged Trapway. The trapway is the piping in a toilet that leads from the base of the toilet to the drain. The toilet with largest trapway will allow water and waste to leave the toilet bowl faster. It’s a balance though because, if the trapway is too large, then the siphon action of the trap is lost, which is where most of the flushing power comes from.
- Ceramic Glazing. It physics that says that less friction will mean a quicker release. Toilet manufacturers have realized that a smoother glazing on the toilet bowl and trapway can mean that waste and water flow faster and easier.
- Siphon Jet Flushing. Normal gravity-fed toilets rely on the pressure of the water released from the tank to fill the toilet bowl and push waste and water quickly into the trapway creating a siphon that then pulls the waste and water out of the bowl. Siphon jet flushing is an evolution of this process. Water is still released from the tank into the bowl, but some of it is also redirected down a siphon ‘jetway’ that directs water directly to the trap to more quickly overcome the trapway pressure and create a stronger siphon action. It’s a simple use of technology to increase flush performance while using less water resulting in toilets with strong flush while using less water.
- Pump Assisted Flushing. These toilets hold the water in the tank under pressure. When the toilet is flushed, a combination of gravity and pressure from the tank produce a very strong flushing action. These are very high performance toilets; usually seen in industrial settings but also becoming more common in households also.
- Dual Flushing. This feature allows for the release of less water (and therefore less water pressure) for liquid waste, and more water (= greater water pressure) for solid waste. It combines with the elements above to provide specific flushing performance based on the type of waste.
How Do You Measure Flush Strength?
In 2003 the University of Washington set forth to update the toilet facilities on campus. In an effort to find the strongest flushing toilet replacement that both conserved water and offered superior flushing performance, the university funded a study to determine which toilets had the best flush and could be deemed the ‘strongest toilet’.
The study authors used a variety of methods to determine flush performance:
- Increasing Lengths of Loosely Wadded Toilet Paper. One of the most common ‘cloggers’ is a giant wad of toilet paper. In this test, various wads of toilet paper were placed in the toilets and flushed to determine just how large of a wad the flush could remove.
- Tofu Cut Into Standard, Uniform Blocks. This test simulated the removal of solid waste. The researchers cut the tofu into ‘typical shapes’, placed them in the toilet and flushed. If the block was removed they flushed again to be sure it wasn’t lodged in the trap.
- Concentrated Brine Solution. To determine if the toilet bowl water was being completely replaced when flushing liquid waste, the researchers added a concentrated salt solution to the water and flushed. They then measured the conductivity of the water in the bowl to determine if the water had, indeed, been completed replaced.
While I find it super interesting that there is such a study to find the strongest flushing toilet, the results are from 2003, and are for professionally installed industrial toilets so are not valid for our use (although two of the brands below, Toto and American Standard, were among the top performers).
The Strongest Flushing Toilet
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Sometimes the design of a bathroom fixture outweighs its function but, when it comes to toilets it is performance that matters. Here we present some options for the strongest flushing toilet; check out our other articles to determine which is the best toilet to buy.
ABSOLUTE BEST: American Standard Cadet Pressure Assisted Toilet
EverClean glazing not only assists in flushing performance (reducing the resistance between waste and the toilet surface) but also helps to keep the toilet cleaner and fresher between bathroom cleanings. Comfort height meets the ADA requirements for toilets for the elderly, those with disabilities, or with limited mobility. A higher seat height makes the toilet more accessible and comfortable.two-piece models. Its comfort height dimensions elevate the seat to a height that assists those with mobility issues, and the soft close seats will put an end to the slamming of the toilet seat in the middle of the night (or anytime, really).very low flush volume of 0.8 GPF for liquid waste or a larger volume (yet still below regulated standards) 1.28 GPF for solid waste. Powerful and water conserving!
