The toilet is a vital piece of functional plumbing in your home. You can’t get along without one! But you also shouldn’t tolerate having an old toilet that’s starting to have chronic repair issues or is wasting water. Like any fixture or appliance in a household, a toilet isn’t designed to last forever. At some point, you’ll want to have professional plumbers take out the old one and install a new one. When is it time to take this step with your bathroom plumbing? We have some tips below.
ONE: The toilet is over 20 years old
For most toilets, a 20-year lifespan is the outer limit. A toilet may continue to work after this, but it will be at a higher risk of starting to leak and suffering from numerous clogs and other repair issues. Get ahead of the problem and replace a toilet that’s 20 years or older.
TWO: You are interested in saving water
The amount of water that older toilets use is much higher than current ones and special low-flow models. Older toilets can use up to 6 gallons of water per flush. By comparison, newer models can use around 3 gallons per flush. If you want to make the most difference, however, in conserving water, arrange to replace the old toilet with a low-flow one. These models only use around 1.5 gallons per flush. When you consider that the toilet accounts for 40% of the freshwater used indoors, this amount of difference is significant—and you’ll notice a drop in your water bills.
THREE: The toilet clogs all the time
Continued toilet clogging may be a sign of problems down in the sewer line itself, but this will usually create clogging in other drains as well. If only the toilet is clogging on a regular basis, it’s probably because it’s too old to work effectively. Have a professional plumber look into it and see if it needs to be replaced.
FOUR: Leaking from a cracked bowl
Any time you notice leaking from the toilet, you need to have plumbers find out what’s causing it. It could be a decayed wax ring around the base or bad gaskets between the tank and the bowl. But if the problem is cracked porcelain, then the best solution is to have the whole toilet taken out and replaced.
FIVE: You just want a change
You’ve had the same bathroom for ages, and you want to change it a bit but aren’t ready for a full remodel. You can replace the sink, or the shower, or the toilet. Any of these are improvements, and if you already have an older toilet then it may be the best item to have replaced. (Why not replace them all?)
As we mentioned above, toilet plumbing in Hamilton, OH must come from professionals. This is a big job, especially removing the older toilet, and you want to make sure that it’s done without a hitch. Our plumbers have the experience, training, and tools necessary to handle any bathroom plumbing jobs you need done.
Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. offers 24-hour plumbing service to Cincinnati and the Tri-State area.