Advice needed: Best type of toilet/cistern for strong flush

JadeHighland

Hi all,

I’m in the middle of planning a full bathroom renovation, and part of the redesign involves rotating the toilet 90° from its current position. It’ll no longer back directly onto the outside wall/soil stack, and instead will run along a boxed-in waste pipe before connecting to the stack. I’m concerned this might affect flushing performance.

The current toilet occasionally blocks (nothing a bucket of water doesn’t fix), so I want to avoid making that worse. Are there specific types of toilets or cisterns I should look for to ensure a powerful, reliable flush – especially given the longer waste run and possible bends?

Would a certain flush mechanism (gravity-fed vs. pressure-assisted), pan style (rimless, open-back, etc.), or WC configuration make a difference in this kind of setup? Any recommendations or things to avoid would be really appreciated.

GDB2222

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

FreeBear

GDB2222 said:

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

The original toilet here had a high level cistern. Don't ever remember having issues with it flushing cleanly.

The bathroom got updated towards the tail end of the last century, and the toilet was replaced with a close coupled one. Some days, it took multiple flushes to get rid of the deposits and I built up a real dislike for the whole thing.. Didn't help that the glaze in the U bend became pitted and took on a real nasty brown/black appearance.

Fitted a low level model (Tywford Classic) last year, and once the flush volume had been adjusted to my liking, I can't fault it. It helped to use a Viva Skylo siphon that could be adjusted to increase the volume of flush water beyond the 6l mandated by regulations.

stuart45

I replaced ours with a Thomas Dudley turbo flush last year, and it made a massive difference to the power of the flush. Really easy to change the flapper valve on them as well. Cost around £20.

JadeHighland

stuart45 said:

I replaced ours with a Thomas Dudley turbo flush last year, and it made a massive difference to the power of the flush. Really easy to change the flapper valve on them as well. Cost around £20.

Thanks for your response. So I understand, this is the cistern you replaced? 

stuart45

I kept the same cistern. I just replaced the siphon. It's around £20 in Screwfix. It's called a Thomas Dudley turbo 88 dual flush. 
Thomas Dudley make cisterns as well, but you might just need a new siphon.

GDB2222

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

The original toilet here had a high level cistern. Don't ever remember having issues with it flushing cleanly.

The bathroom got updated towards the tail end of the last century, and the toilet was replaced with a close coupled one. Some days, it took multiple flushes to get rid of the deposits and I built up a real dislike for the whole thing.. Didn't help that the glaze in the U bend became pitted and took on a real nasty brown/black appearance.

Fitted a low level model (Tywford Classic) last year, and once the flush volume had been adjusted to my liking, I can't fault it. It helped to use a Viva Skylo siphon that could be adjusted to increase the volume of flush water beyond the 6l mandated by regulations.

The high level cisterns flush really well, but nobody wants them these days. 

Just to clarify one point: There are flush valves, and there are siphons. They do the same job, but work differently. The Viva Skylo is a flush valve, and the one Stuart recommends is a siphon. Flush valves are usually button operated, and siphons require a lever.

I’ve fitted several flush valves, and they work fine, but I expect that siphons will last a lot longer.  They are all made of flimsy plastic, but siphons have fewer things to go wrong. 

JadeHighland

GDB2222 said:

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

The original toilet here had a high level cistern. Don't ever remember having issues with it flushing cleanly.

The bathroom got updated towards the tail end of the last century, and the toilet was replaced with a close coupled one. Some days, it took multiple flushes to get rid of the deposits and I built up a real dislike for the whole thing.. Didn't help that the glaze in the U bend became pitted and took on a real nasty brown/black appearance.

Fitted a low level model (Tywford Classic) last year, and once the flush volume had been adjusted to my liking, I can't fault it. It helped to use a Viva Skylo siphon that could be adjusted to increase the volume of flush water beyond the 6l mandated by regulations.

The high level cisterns flush really well, but nobody wants them these days. 

Just to clarify one point: There are flush valves, and there are siphons. They do the same job, but work differently. The Viva Skylo is a flush valve, and the one Stuart recommends is a siphon. Flush valves are usually button operated, and siphons require a lever.

I’ve fitted several flush valves, and they work fine, but I expect that siphons will last a lot longer.  They are all made of flimsy plastic, but siphons have fewer things to go wrong. 

This is useful! Can you recommend a valve equivalent of what Stuart mentioned?

FreeBear

GDB2222 said:

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

The original toilet here had a high level cistern. Don't ever remember having issues with it flushing cleanly.

The bathroom got updated towards the tail end of the last century, and the toilet was replaced with a close coupled one. Some days, it took multiple flushes to get rid of the deposits and I built up a real dislike for the whole thing.. Didn't help that the glaze in the U bend became pitted and took on a real nasty brown/black appearance.

Fitted a low level model (Tywford Classic) last year, and once the flush volume had been adjusted to my liking, I can't fault it. It helped to use a Viva Skylo siphon that could be adjusted to increase the volume of flush water beyond the 6l mandated by regulations.

Just to clarify one point: There are flush valves, and there are siphons. They do the same job, but work differently. The Viva Skylo is a flush valve, and the one Stuart recommends is a siphon. Flush valves are usually button operated, and siphons require a lever.

Just to confuse matters further, Viva also do fill valves in the Skylo range.
The Twyford Classic uses a lever to operate the flush mechanism, and this is the one I used -> https://www.screwfix.com/p/viva-skylo-3-part-dual-flush-siphon-215mm/284hr

GDB2222

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

FreeBear said:

GDB2222 said:

Just get a large cistern, and make sure there’s enough fall on the pipe to the soil stack. 

The original toilet here had a high level cistern. Don't ever remember having issues with it flushing cleanly.

The bathroom got updated towards the tail end of the last century, and the toilet was replaced with a close coupled one. Some days, it took multiple flushes to get rid of the deposits and I built up a real dislike for the whole thing.. Didn't help that the glaze in the U bend became pitted and took on a real nasty brown/black appearance.

Fitted a low level model (Tywford Classic) last year, and once the flush volume had been adjusted to my liking, I can't fault it. It helped to use a Viva Skylo siphon that could be adjusted to increase the volume of flush water beyond the 6l mandated by regulations.

Just to clarify one point: There are flush valves, and there are siphons. They do the same job, but work differently. The Viva Skylo is a flush valve, and the one Stuart recommends is a siphon. Flush valves are usually button operated, and siphons require a lever.

Just to confuse matters further, Viva also do fill valves in the Skylo range.
The Twyford Classic uses a lever to operate the flush mechanism, and this is the one I used -> https://www.screwfix.com/p/viva-skylo-3-part-dual-flush-siphon-215mm/284hr

Ah! Apologies. I mistakenly thought that the Skylo range didn’t include a siphon. 

twopenny

I had a high level cistern too and seldom needed to clean the toilet.
The flush was good even in the days when we had to reduce water by hippo/brick

New one installed on move to new place is a Twyfords classic and it's excellent.