The Toto Drake - not a dog or a dragon, just a decent toilet. (who knew?)

One subject that we all potentially have to face whether we want to admit it or not is the subject of our home toilets becoming clogged and/or overflowing. This happens all of the time and is always just one unlucky flush away from becoming areality, however none of us really wants to think about it. Seriously, who wants to dwell on the subject of clogged toilets and the aftermath of such a thing? We all know that if this happens it is time to pick up the plunger and get to work, and in a worst case scenario, it is time to call the plumber and possibly prepare yourself for a large plumber's bill and a lighter wallet. This recently happened to a friend of mine who lives in an older house with toilets that had seen more than a few years of bathroom service. He had been dealing with one of the toilets in his house that had been getting clogged more and more frequently, each time being unclogged with the timely use of a plunger. It finally got to the point where he could not in good faith let any visitors to his home use that toilet because theer was something like a 25% chance that it would cause him grief (and make a big stink, lol) if used for a 'number two' and flushed. He bit the bullet and decided to deal with the problem permanently by shopping around for an affordable new toilet. He came across a few that seemed pretty good in price but he did not know what to be looking for and was not toilet-savvy when it came to choosing anew one. He figured that buying a new toilet and having a professional install it was all that he needed to do. Well, it turns out that with toilets, like with most things, a litle time spent digging around for some consumer feedback is definitely worth the time spent. My friend was about to settle for a well known yet more affordable make of toilet made by Briggs Vacuity that was supposedly acceptable for the type of bathroom installation he was dealing with, however it seemed that the make of toilet in question had a rather negative balance of reviews from people who had installed it or had it installed in their homes; criticisms included temperamental flushing issues and somewhat unreliable interior toilet fixtures. On top of this there was some question in regards to the possibility that there was a line wide defect that had shown up in a number of their toilets, something involving a "trapway slump", if I recall correctly - nut don't ask me to elaborate too much on that because I could not tell you much about that kind of thing.

After this close call, my friend ended up with a toilet from a company called Toto USA. I find it kind of funny that a company with a reputation for well built and efficient flushing toilets would share its name with a tiny dog from a well known work of fiction. I guess in my mind, 'Toto' is just not something that I would associate with having a large flow and efficient suction. LOL! Anyway, it turns out that Toto manufactures various models of toilets (as well as many other bathroom-related components and fixtures - hey, it was news to me)and that one line in particular, known as the Toto drake toilets, came highly recommended and was considered to be very reliable by many experts in the field. The particular model of toto drake toilet that he ended up with, called the toto drake cst744s, boasts among other things, a commercial grade flush strength (good to know!), a larger 3" flush valve (uh, okay) and more quiet operation. "quiet operation? My Mother would appreciate that last point, lol. As well it supposedly is known for having easier repairs and a higher availability of replacement toto toilet parts if and whenever that should become necessary. My buddy admitted that he had ended up paying substantially more than he had originally intended to, however he said that when it came down to it he would have had a hard time going cheap on the purchase of his new toilet - for the sake of peace of mind in the bathroom if for no other reason. Of course it didn't hurt that he was spending his money on a high quality bathroom experience. This may seem like something of a commercial for the toilet toto brand of toilets or something but I dont work for them and I don't get any percentage of sales of toilets across North America. Really, I just thought that if I shared this draining (sorry) experience with others and it maybe saves even one person some grief (and plunging), then it was well worth it.

My friend also made some kind of comment about not wanting to 'cut corners' on his toilet bowl, and since he was not trying to be funny I let it go...