The Best Seat in the House is no Longer in the Family Room...

Vindog2/08/2024 7:00 PM

B2M Productions. Getty Images.

It was back in 1992 that then-president George H.W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act mandating all new toilets use a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush. Prior to that, the standard had been 3.5. When I first entered the plumbing trade in '81, there were a lot of 5.0-gallon water-guzzling toilets still in use. The new law went into effect in January of '94.

The mandate said any 3.5 toilets still in inventory were okay to use, and there was a mad rush to buy up the remaining stock. Despite their success in European countries, American plumbers didn't have much confidence in the 1.6 toilets. Once the old inventory was gone, plumbers were forced to install the new toilets…

Some of the major manufacturers were having a tough time designing a 1.6 that worked. Kohler, American Standard, and Eljer, the big three at the time, all had different designs, but they were works in progress, continually clogged, and were nightmares for plumbers like myself. I needed a 1.6 toilet that actually worked…

When I heard that Universal Rundle, in my opinion, the American Motors of plumbing fixtures, had a basic model that worked, I bought one and gave it a try, and it didn't disappoint.

I continued using URs for about a year, as did many plumbers, but the smaller company never anticipated the toilet's popularity and was having a difficult time keeping up with demand. They began manufacturing them in other countries where quality control was severely lacking.

I needed to find another 1.6 that worked and didn't have quality issues. Enter Toto! They were a product of Japan, and the packing was nothing short of incredible. Where other manufacturers filled boxes with either spray foam or hard foam spacers, Toto designed an all-cardboard system that prevented the vitreous china fixtures from moving. I can't remember opening one of their boxes and finding a cracked fixture, something that happened frequently with other manufacturers.

B2M Productions. Getty Images.

The first model I installed was the Ultimate. It was a good-looking one-piece toilet that came in a box and included a seat. At the time, no one else was doing that. I normally had to buy a generic seat separately in either plastic or wood, one that was either elongated or round and in a matching color. It amazed me how many times my suppliers shipped the wrong seats, and I had to make late afternoon trips back to the supply house, which was just a waste of fucking time.

The first Ultimate I installed looked great out of the box, and after it was installed, I mounted the included seat…

I immediately noticed how stiff the seat was. I needed to force it down to get it to drop in a normal time. It was late in the day, and the supply house was closed, so I frantically worked it up and down, over and over, until there was sweat dripping off my brow. I was hoping it would loosen up, but it didn't. It was a faulty seat. Every time I dropped it, it lowered itself in slow motion. I told my customer about the problem and asked her to give it a try and see if it loosened up, and if it didn't, I'd replace it…

The next morning, I got a call. The seat was still stiff, and it was annoying, and her husband was pissed. I apologized and assured her I'd pick up a new one and replace it later in the day.

I called my supplier, and they said they didn't stock Toto seats, that they'd have to order one, and it would take weeks to get it. I knew my customer wouldn't be happy, so I drove to the supply house to buy a generic seat at the counter.

The guy at the counter asked me what was wrong with the one that came with the Toto, and when I said it was "kinda stiff" and that it "dropped like a fucking sloth," he started to laugh. He said all Totos come with "Slow-Close" seats, something I'd never heard of, and that "they're designed to drop slowly on their own with very little effort, and they don't make any noise when they land on the rim of the bowl." Once I understood the concept, all I could say was, "Fucking Brilliant!"

I went to my customer's house not to replace the seat but to demonstrate how the new Slow-Close toilet seat worked. She watched and listened as I let it drop on its own, and when I was done, I waited for her reaction… She admitted her husband frequently got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, and the sound of him dropping the seat always woke her up. She liked it!

It didn't take long for Slow-Close seats to become all the rage and for other manufacturers to start including them in the box with their toilets.

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but in the span of 24 hours, that Toto seat went from "faulty" to "fucking brilliant!" A real game-changer.

Once everyone understood the concept, slow-close seats became the best seats in the house! (especially for multitaskers looking for some privacy)