If it were any
compact manual toilet, it would be a different story. But your Raritan PHII--something you
conveniently neglected to mention--isn't a compact manual toilet. It's a full size manual toilet pump that just happens to also fit a compact base...and it's unique--not only the top rated manual toilet in its class (topped only by $1000 bronze "thrones) since it was introduced in 1982, but designed and built to provide at least 20 years of reliable trouble-free service if it's just kept well lubricated, gets a new joker valve every year, and rebuilt every 5-6 years. It also outperforms every manual toilet in its class because it has a piston with a 2.5" diameter instead of the 1 3/4" piston that most other manual toilets have. That may not sound like much of a difference, but it is. Here's how Vic Willman, who was with Raritan for 40+ years, first as plant manager and later tech service manager explained it:
"When you calculate the cubic inch capacity (displacement) of the PHII with a 2 1/2" diameter piston, it comes out to a little over 12 cubic inches. If you do the same calculation for a pump with a 1 3/4" diameter piston, with the same 2 1/2" stroke, the cubic inch capacity is only 6 cubic inches. To put that all into English, the PHII will pump twice as much per stroke, as it's competitors will. Adding the lever-type handle, there isn't as much actual effort required. So, in a nutshell, you only have to pump half as many times to flush it, and your arm doesn't get as tired. Plus, with the lever handle, you don't have to bend over as far, with your nose practically in the bowl, while you're pumping it."
However, unless you've kept yours well lubricated, replaced the joker valve annually and rebuilt it every 5-6 years (cost about $60), it may still outperform any compact manual, but it's no longer working anywhere near as well as it would if you had. So even with a PHII, "still going strong" is a relative term.
Nice try, though...
Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein