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How to test a toilet using the Bristol Stool Scale

With all of today’s technology, one common household feature can also be one of the most frustrating.

Yes, we’re talking about the toilet. More specifically, your toilet’s flushing ability.

(Did you know that there are seven different types of poop?   We’ll get back to this in a moment…)

One thing that Web Watch always makes note of when we’re staying at hotels across the country is whether the hotel’s engineering staff “get it” in terms of providing adequate flushing power for their guests.  We were so impressed at the flushing prowess at one hotel that we went so far as to take a look in the tank to see what magic flushing mechanism was inside (in that case, it was a professional pressurized unit – all the more likely to not break by curious guests like ourselves).

Worse is when we have to report to the hotel’s front desk about the poor toilet situation in our room.  We often wonder is it an isolated situation in our room, or is it something that’s more common across the whole floor or entire hotel.  Sadly, we never do get the chance to get the answer to this.

Toilet Repair Kit with Dual Flush Converter
Toilet Repair Kit with Dual Flush Converter

But getting a quality flush out of your household toilet is a complicated scientific process.  Kohler seems to get it, as does the popular American Standard Champion unit.

And we’ve all heard about how awesome a flusher the Toto units are supposed to be.

Are they expensive?  Only if you consider $400 well-spent to not have to deal with poor flow.

So how do manufacturers TEST THEIR TOILETS?  Well — it’s exactly what you think is done:  they fill the bowl with fake poo and flush away.

What type of fake poo do they use?

  • 100 3/4″ diameter plastic balls.  Testers want to see the toilet clear a minimum of 75 balls – that’s 75% of the waste – with each flush.
  • 100 mL of plastic pellets.  On average, there shouldn’t be more than 125 individual pellets remaining after a flush.

But testing a toilet with just plastic balls doesn’t really do the toilet justice for its poo-clearing ability.  Which is why the Bristol School of Medicine came up with the BRISTOL STOOL SCALE as a way to apply some consistency to describing different types of poop.

No, we’re not making this up.

Which brings us back to the seven different types of poop that we mentioned earlier.   According to the Bristol Scale, the 7 poop types are:

  • Type 1:  Separate hard lumps
  • Type 2: Sausage-like but lumpy
  • Type 3: Like a sausage, but with cracks on the surface
  • Type 4: Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft
  • Type 5: Soft blobs with clear cut edges
  • Type 6: Fluffy pieces with ragged edges
  • Type 7: mostly water

And since our Web Watch readers are a curious bunch and always want to know if they’re normal or not — you’re looking for something along the lines of Type 3 to Type 4.

So what the researchers did to determine the best way to test their toilets was to try to come up with synthetic substitutes that could consistently (and scientifically) be used over and over again to produce similar results every time.

Some of the materials they decided upon included:

  • Play Dough (in a condom)
  • Miso paste (both contained in a condom, and separately)
  • GAK from Nickelodeon

But the absolute best poop subsitute the researchers found was this:

Water Wiggle
Water Wiggler
Water Wiggle

 Yes, the common Water Wiggie playtoy serves as the perfect poop substitute.

Two Water Wiggler toys would be flushed.  If both left the bowl, the test is considered a success.

You’ll have to read the rest of the report to see the details surrounding how much toilet paper the average person uses per bathroom trip (it could be anywhere from 8.6 squares per squat to 24 squares, depending on whose survey they’re quoting).