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Was your house built in the last 5-6 years?

15,891 Views | 24 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Cromagnum
GoneGirl
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AG
If your home was built in the last 5 or 6 years, check your toilet tanks...

If the toilet was made by Vortens, you need to see this. This exact thing happened to one of ours last November. We were on vacation and our house would have been flooded if the friend we had watching the house hadn't caught it...

Vortens faulty tanks lead to flooding

quote:
Thousands of toilets in homes all over the country, and many in the Houston area, are defective and prone to cracking. It has happened in dozens of homes, causing thousands of dollars in damage from leaking water.

"I've been doing this nearly 30 years, and I've never seen any toilet fail like this," general contractor Mike Teeple said.

Teeple installed 2 Vortens toilets in a client's Copperfield home in 2013. When one of the tanks cracked a few months later, he thought it was odd.

When the second one cracked in an upstairs bathroom flooding the home, he was more than skeptical.

"Toilets don't fail like that," Teeple told consumer expert Amy Davis. "They don't crack for no reason."

Channel 2 Investigates found the Vortens toilets cracking in homes from The Woodlands to Pearland, Copperfield to Garden Oaks. Teeple blogged about the problem, and he said he receives about two complaints a week about the toilets cracking across the country.
Bondag
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Im guess the "friend" cracked it while taking an upper decker and is just happy this news came out to take the heat off.
BrazosDog02
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I had one of these installed for a remodel. Need to check the model number. But even a 'cheap' American Standard is only 120 bucks. Really no reason not to replace it if it falls under the affected models.
tx4guns
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Ours is 13 years old and discovered the BOWL is cracked last week. Trying to get it covered under our home warranty. All my toilets in the house are Vortens. May replace them all.
CDUB98
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Ya know, sometimes you just rip ass so hard the pressure overwhelms the system.
Dr. Doctor
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frick.

House started in 2011, finished in 2012, all three commodes are Vorteens.

I guess I can sue them in court though and get money from them (almost finished without laughing....)

~egon
CDUB98
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quote:
frick.

House started in 2011, finished in 2012, all three commodes are Vorteens.

I guess I can sue them in court though and get money from them (almost finished without laughing....)

~egon
Sorry, but you'll be....wait for it......**** out of luck.
JSKolache
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Buddy is a retired insurance adjuster, and he said several years ago the #1 type of claims he saw was flooding due to faulty/worn out toilet valves. Keep an eye on them, all brands.
tamuags08
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AG
all 3 in our house are affected.
jobu93
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son of a gun!

last month we had a 3464 fail upstairs but the kids told us quickly.

Our house was finished in 2010, but I'm still concerned.


the tank failed spontaneously.
tk for tu juan
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strohag
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AG
Not all tanks with that model number are affected. It was a limited batch from the manufacturer. Just because you have that model number doesn't mean it will fail. A bad batch of mud went through the factory. Factory was completely shut down and whole system was cleaned. You should check your toilets regularly no matter what brand you have.

Channel 2 did a good job of telling one side of the story as usual. I sell plumbing for a living so I'm very familiar with both sides of this story. Just a heads up if you decide to change out your toilets you will be changing to a 1.28 gallon per flush which may not have as good of flushing power as your current 1.6gpm toilet. If you do switch them id recommend Kohler. Nice looking and good flushing power.
Ducks4brkfast
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AG
^ This guy obviously knows his shit.
ccolley68
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quote:
^ This guy obviously knows his shit.


strohag
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quote:
^ This guy obviously knows his shit.


The world's gotta **** so might as well sell ****ters
agsrwe
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All 4 match the problem model number.
Probably have no luck getting response from them if I try.
teecoy
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Where does it show model no.?
agsrwe
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Mine was on back of lid.
aggiemike02
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one of ours failed. it was awesome, sheared right in half practically. we caught it fast so not a huge deal...

edit to mention ours was dated 2003...so this isn't so much a new problem.
GoneGirl
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quote:
Not all tanks with that model number are affected. It was a limited batch from the manufacturer. Just because you have that model number doesn't mean it will fail. A bad batch of mud went through the factory. Factory was completely shut down and whole system was cleaned. You should check your toilets regularly no matter what brand you have.

Channel 2 did a good job of telling one side of the story as usual. I sell plumbing for a living so I'm very familiar with both sides of this story. Just a heads up if you decide to change out your toilets you will be changing to a 1.28 gallon per flush which may not have as good of flushing power as your current 1.6gpm toilet. If you do switch them id recommend Kohler. Nice looking and good flushing power.
For a "limited number," I'm stunned how many people I'm coming across who've had one or more of them fail.
wessimo
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AG
This just happened to me in an upstairs bathroom. No one was home at the time so leaked through the ceiling on the 1st floor onto hardwood floors.
BBRex
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Our neighborhood had a rash of toilets break in the older homes. I think they changed brands in the later builds in the mid-2010's.
P.H. Dexippus
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JSKolache said:

Buddy is a retired insurance adjuster, and he said several years ago the #1 type of claims he saw was flooding due to faulty/worn out toilet valves. Keep an eye on them, all brands.

If it looks like this with the number and UPC, even a different brand, replace.
http://www.duraprotoiletconnectorsettlement.com/Home/Products
Cromagnum
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strohag said:

Not all tanks with that model number are affected. It was a limited batch from the manufacturer. Just because you have that model number doesn't mean it will fail. A bad batch of mud went through the factory. Factory was completely shut down and whole system was cleaned. You should check your toilets regularly no matter what brand you have.

Channel 2 did a good job of telling one side of the story as usual. I sell plumbing for a living so I'm very familiar with both sides of this story. Just a heads up if you decide to change out your toilets you will be changing to a 1.28 gallon per flush which may not have as good of flushing power as your current 1.6gpm toilet. If you do switch them id recommend Kohler. Nice looking and good flushing power.


Now ain't that some *****
Charismatic Megafauna
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BrazosDog02 said:

I had one of these installed for a remodel. Need to check the model number. But even a 'cheap' American Standard is only 120 bucks. Really no reason not to replace it if it falls under the affected models.

This. Kohler doesn't have problems like this and you gotta really try to spend more than 6 bills on a kohler ****ter. And if you have more than 3 turlets then you are probably not whining about toilet prices. Builder grade cabinets is one thing, plumbing stuff is entirely another.
Cromagnum
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My home was built in 2012 and has the 3412 serial on all 3 of our toilet tanks. Knock on wood no issues.
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