Sorority Sisters No Match for American Standard Champion Toilets™
(July 13, 2004) It's no secret that the Champion™ toilet can hold its own with a few dozen golf balls and assorted water wigglers. What could be tougher than that? How about a sorority house of 30 young women? For the past school year, nine Champion toilets rose to this challenge at the State University of New York (SUNY), in Cortland, N.Y.

"The toilets have worked phenomenally," said Christina Halvorsen, a graduate architect who is upgrading the 75-year-old three-story Colonial home that houses the Nu Sigma Chi Sorority members. "We haven't had a problem with any of the Champion toilets since their installation. And Nu Sigma Chi does abuse them, between themselves and their guests."

Periodically, Halvorsen contacted American Standard with reports that the toilets were performing flawlessly. That was good news to James Walsh, product director for residential toilets, Bath and Kitchen Americas.

"We survived a whole year of sorority use," he said. "That's a fairly abusive environment because undergrads are notorious for flushing unmentionables." The information will be passed on to plumbers in marketing materials, Walsh said. "They will be impressed by that. They don't want callbacks. It's money out of their pocket if there's a clog or flapper problem."


A Flawless Performance

"We didn't have a problem installing them at all," Halvorsen said. "They fit just like they were supposed to, and they didn't leak or flood. Even the guy who installed them couldn't believe it."

The sorority house's nine toilets were at least 50 years old, Halvorsen said, and well past their prime. She has tried to maintain the home's integrity by replacing products with those by the same maker when possible. Because those original toilets were American Standard, she contacted our company about a year ago.

Her timing was perfect, because we were just launching the state-of-the-art Champion with America's Best™ Flushing system. It's equipped with the latest technology that allows it to flush cleanly and quietly, while conserving water. We were happy to put it to the test, and Halvorsen was delighted to receive nine Champions.

Halvorsen is employed as an architect with Bonar Engineering and Construction Co., and the work she has done in the house counts toward her
requirements for an architect's license.