American Standard puts its fixtures through the paces in the testing lab. Golf, anyone?
By TOM ZUCCO
Published April 6, 2004
The American Standard Champion
In a demonstration of hydraulic prowess at the International Builders Show in January, a Kohler toilet successfully disposed of 2 pounds of cocktail wieners in one flush and five rubber ducks in another.
An impressive, even heroic, feat. But in what may be the first recorded case of commode one-upmanship, the real extreme toilet may be the $249 American Standard Champion.
"We've actually flushed 29 golf balls at once," boasts a recent American Standard ad, "and put the Champion toilet through dozens of flushing tests to make sure it will be the most trouble-free toilet you've ever owned. If it can handle all that, imagine how well it will work at your house."
The ad also states that the Champion will give users "the confidence to walk away and never look back."
Since the use of golf balls in the testing of toilets is both novel and on the cutting edge of technology, and since the Masters golf tournament starts Thursday, we contacted Pete DeMarco, director of compliance engineering at American Standard, to discuss this further.
TIMES: Do you mind talking about this?
DeMARCO: No, not at all. It's what I do.
TIMES: Who came up with the golf ball idea?
DeMARCO: Actually, when you're trying to make a point and you want to minimize the gross factor, golf balls are perfect. It came up in our testing group. They tested all kinds of stuff . . . sponges, fabric, rubber tubes, Ping-Pong balls. A variety of materials to encompass what a toilet may encounter.
TIMES: Ping-Pong balls?
DeMARCO: They bounce violently into each other.
TIMES: And if you numbered them you could run a Bingo game. But why golf balls?
DeMARCO: Everybody understands how heavy 29 golf balls are. That's pretty impressive.
TIMES: Why did you stop at 29? Does something unspeakably horrible happen when you flush 30? Toward the end, the tension in the room must have been unbearable.
DeMARCO: We were trying like hell to get that last golf ball down. And more times than not, 30 would go down. But 29 is a number we feel most Champion models will do. Although a lot of them will do 30 or 35. Oh, and 29 is a prime number.
TIMES: Were the balls in a bag or loose?
DeMARCO: Loose.
TIMES: Who had the privilege of fishing them out?
DeMARCO: We did the tests on a special test stand. There was a strainer underneath. It made a heck of a racket.
TIMES: Were any of them Golden Bear golf balls . . . because of that saying about bears and the woods?
DeMARCO: No, just standard, regulation size and weight golf balls. But that's an interesting idea.
TIMES: Did people take bets as to how many balls would flush? Was it like Cool Hand Luke eating 50 eggs? Nobody can flush 29 golf balls.
DeMARCO: There's a lot of funny stuff that goes on in the testing of toilets. I can't say nobody puts stuff in there just to see how many come out."
TIMES: The tests can be viewed at www.bestflush.com but this is one of those "don't try it at home" experiments, right?
DeMARCO: Absolutely. The folks in water treatment would be most unhappy with us.
TIMES: In keeping with the golf theme, why not call the toilet the 19th Hole? Or the Drop Area?
DeMARCO: Um, I think we're going to stick with the Champion.
TIMES: Your job is pretty cool, isn't it?
DeMARCO: Oh, yeah. I've been doing it for 29 years.
TIMES: Do you play golf?
DeMARCO: No. I'm saving that for when I'm done testing toilets.
