As I continued to go through my house doing small repairs and upgrades, the toilet was next up in the queue. What was wrong with the old one?
Getting old and the flush valve was leaking, so it was wasting water and topping of the tank every 30min or so.
Fill valve becoming unreliable. Refill speed was slowing down and the float was starting to stick
Non-elongated bowl. For guys, this is an annoyance.
High water usage. I think it used 3.5 gallons per flush.
So I started doing my usual research. I knew that the new toilets had to be 1.6gpf or less, and there were even some out there that were 1.28gpf. These new 1.28gpf are called High Efficiency Toilets (HET), and in some municipalities have rebates. That got me intrigued. What I found were some good things to have in a toilet.
Flushing ability. They actually have testing to see how many grams of waste a flush will take away. Above 500grams (slightly over 1 pound) of waste removal is more than adequate.
A large water spot. This is the amount of surface the water covers the bowl. The larger the better, to keep your “kids” under the pool, as opposed to stinking up the room by hanging out “by” the pool.
Rim/bowl washing ability. Sometimes you splash, or leave bits out on the sides, so you want the flush to clear away every inch of the bowl.
Low water usage.
I stuck to gravity fed units as other pnematic or mechanical assists will probably have more repair costs. Part replacement was also a factor, but not as much as many of the 1.28gpf units have more proprietary flush valves. I ended up choosing a Kohler Cimmeron 1.28gpf two piece toilet with Class Six Flushing Technology. What is class six? It’s an improvement on class five, which is just a marketing term Kohler made up to differentiate its line of 1.28gpf toilets. Basically, the class five had good flushing power, but poor rim wash ability. Class six remedies this. See the video on class five and six. Toto also makes a good 1.28gpf toilet called the Drake II. It’s a bit pricier than the Cimmeron, which I got for $238 plus tax at HD.
A few thoughts on removal/installation
It’s basically pretty straight forward. You’ll need an adjustable wrench, a small putty knife (very handy) to remove the caulking (on a hard floor after you remove the bowl) and the wax ring. A hacksaw to cut the bowl bolts back so the caps can fit. And locking plyers to hold that bolt steady — optional but I found it helped because the bolt is not very secure (it locks into PVC on the floor). Buy two new fill hoses. One the size you think you need, and one the next size up. You’ll probably need the longer one. A large sponge and a disposable bucket (unless you want to clean it) to soak up residual water in the tank and bowl (there’s water in there even after the last flush). A good idea is to wash the toilet before you actually start the removal process. I neglected to do that and wish I did. Scrub the inside and outside (as people often miss and there’s dried stuff on the outside).
Update:
Toilet Shims. If your toilet isn’t level, there are plastic shims available that you can use to level and keep the bowl from rocking. Simply insert them into place and cut away the excess and caulk around the bowl.
Also, as a rule of thumb, do not caulk all the way around the back. Leave it open in the back so you can see leaks puddle on the floor before they flood the downstairs room (if you have a downstairs).
For my work computer, I upgraded the hard drive to an Intel X25-V 40GB (sucks that no one respects the GiB anymore, other than memory manufacturers), which has TRIM support and is well supported under Windows 7, so I took out the old HD to keep as backup and did a clean install on the new drive. Thinking that my legacy accounting software would be able to run under 7, I tried to install it to no avail. Of course I did install the 64bit version of Windows 7, so maybe that has something to do with it, but who knows.
I had read about a backwards compatibility mode in Windows 7, which is why I got the Professional version just in case, since you need at least that to run it. And fortunately my laptop was able to support Intel VT (which was actually obscured in the POST Behavior section of the BIOS setup) so after downloading and installing two pieces of software, had a virtualized copy of XP running.
XP Mode is actually pretty slick. You are automatically connected to your network, host drives and network drives function as mapped drives with clear labels, and printers are automatically discovered. You can even have applications launch directly from the Windows 7 environment. However, there is a trick to that. When you are in XP Mode, right-click on the start menu and select All Users. Your application much have a shortcut in there in order for it to show up under the Windows Virtual PC -> Windows XP Mode Applications list in the Windows 7 Start Menu. Or, if you have the option when installing applications, it must be installed for all users. So now that I have all the pieces in place and the settings configured corrects, it’s pretty easy to start up my legacy accounting software and have it run as a single window inside the Windows 7 host environment with almost the same look and feel as a native app. Kudos!
Google and HTC released their new phone today called the Nexus One. A lot of info was leaked out about it. A few thoughts comparing and contrasting to the iPhone:
Form factor is very similar. I think the iPhone got people away from a physical keyboard (for better or for worse) and the Nexus One is continuing that trend. Less moving parts = less creaky and more reliable hardware
New app marketplace. Since Apple created the App store, if you are going to create a wireless platform, you better have a place for 3rd party developers to sell their wares. Hopefully some of my most used apps will be ported over — Scramble, etc
Apple is a hardware manufacturer that keeps a tight leash on its OEM’s, both to drive down cost and time to market, but also to keep a consistent look and feel. I’ve always balked at how much accessories for the iPhone costs, but they tend to just work. I use the iPhone a lot for it’s video output and I hope the accessory market for this phone is comparable.
Fugly. The other choices. I would’ve chosen the current one we have, My Texas, or the Traditional Texas. We’re not some foofoo flowery pansy state. We’re talking Texas here. Get a manly plate design. Not this piece of crap. Can’t believe it was the overwhelming favorite. I plan on getting a custom plate next time with random letters. Blue letters on plain white background.
Edit: After reading more about it, I too think that it’s a ploy to get more people to spend on customized plates. I remember reading about custom plate penetration rates awhile back. Looks like Texas had the lowest rate (0.56%). Bastards are trying to raise it. I guess I’ll chime in and blame it on Rick Perry as well :-p.
Ever been one of those without AT&T’s visual voicemail? Think the voicemail transcribing and redirection based on rules are cool features of Google voice? Have a calling plan with a GSM based provider? Now you can forward your voicemails to Google Voice and have all those cool features. From your phone’s keypad enter the following and press the call button:
*61*123456789# (when you don’t pick up) *62*123456789# (when you decline the call) *67*123456789# (when you’re on another call already)
My friend Andrew and I were testing out the backend of Google voice today. Here are a few of our findings. (And please let me know if any of this is incorrect.)
SMS Relay - GV is smart somewhat smart. If Party A txts Party B’s GV number from a non-GV number that’s associated with a GV number, it will show up in Party B’s phone/GV as Party A’s GV number. If Party A releases the association, then the txt appears from one of google’s 406 area code numbers.
Basically, all txts from others without a GV association will have a 406 area code and not be known to you — unsolicited behavior. It will however append the body of the message with the caller id of the sender. (Clever)
But, if you send a txt from the GV web interface to a number, any response will have the proper sender ID. Because GV now has a hook since you solicited the txt. If you send a txt from the GV web interface, any reply may have the same area code as the recipient, but it will not be the same number. In this case, the receiver’s name will be appended onto the body of the msg — solicited behavior.
The above two bullet points apply to numbers that you’ve never allowed GV to know about. I believe if there is past sms or calling activity to a number from within the GV website, it will remember that and use that caller ID instead of the 406 area coded number.
One more point. The reason everything is still routed through a Google owned number is so that they can keep a log of all your conversations. Only txts that originate from somewhere they do not know about (from your cell phone to another cell phone) will not be recorded.
Calling the 406 number - (i’m not as sure on this) everyone has a 406 number associated with their GV that redirects the call or txt to the number that was chosen when you sign up for GV. It acts as an intermediary that intercepts all incoming transmissions and sends them to the GV number or the other numbers associated with the GV.
Just like the SMS relay, if you use a phone that is associated with a GV and you call the 406 number, it will go to that person’s cell.
HOWEVER, if your physical phone number is deleted (not just unchecked from being forwarded) in GV, you will get a “this call cannot be completed as dialed” message and will not be able to connect.
Calling a number from within the GV website will ring your phone of choice first, then call the number you wish to reach.
When calling a GV number via cell phone, your call timer starts immediately when you hear the first ring tone. This is a clue to tell you the number is being routed through GV because your actual cell/provider starts charging the moment routing begins.
A couple of other notables:
Calls made through the GV website that connect to your cell phone still cost you money even though it’s an incoming call. This is unfortunately the way US cell service works right now. In Europe, incoming calls are free (caller pays).
There is no mechanism to call from your computer. You must have a phone associated that you can use as a terminal.
Edited 2009-08-07 09:56 CST: Added more info on the SMS caller ID relay.
I am not a Brad Miller fan at all, but this is clearly a flagrant foul that the league says stands as called on the floor. Bullshit. Stu Jackson and David Stern, you are both fucking idiots. The NBA can do no wrong eh? Dwight Howard gets suspended a game for an elbow, but this is allowed? Just bullshit. Rondo was clearly going for his head and not the ball. Such inconsistent calls. The NBA has no integrity.
