If you have child or, an elderly family member that frequently plugs up a toilet, then keeps flushing causing a flooding mess or, a toilet that vandals frequently use to make flooding messes, the Penguin Toilet may help. The Penguin Toilet offers unique protection against clogged toilet overflows. Within the bowl of the Penguin Toilet there is a secondary drain passage near the top of the bowl that allows water to drain from the bowl when clogged without ever going over the top of the bowl even with repeated flushing.
Penguin Toilets was founded by Larry Trowbridge and Pat Stack who while working in the hotel industry saw frequent toilet overflows resulting in costly damage to the building. They then came up with the idea of an independent overflow preventing drain that would prevent waste from ever going over the top of the bowl. They partnered with a large toilet manufacturer in Mexico to have the toilet built for them.
The Penguin Toilet uses commonly available Fluidmaster components in the tank and has a 5 Year Guarantee. The unique feature is a separate drain passage cast in the bowl similar to an overflow on a lavatory sink. Three holes located in the rear upper section of the bowl allow water to drain through them when the water level rises too high threatening to overflow, this water then drains through a completely independent trapped drain which discharges into the drain pipe under the toilet. In the event the three holes become clogged with paper and other debris the holes under the rim of the toilet also act as drains. This unique drain feature will not allow the bowl to overflow from a clog even when the bowl is repeatedly flushed while clogged.
The Penguin Toilet has not been listed on the 14th Edition of the MaP Report so no data is available at this time on how well it flushes. The Penguin Toilet is presently available in a 1.6 gallon per flush elongated model, and Penguin Toilets has a round model as well as a flushometer toilet and a urinal with the overflow protection coming soon as well. There are no 1.28 gallon per flush WaterSense Certified models listed at this time.
The outlet horn of the Penguin raises some concern because of its large oval shape it may not fit well with all closet flanges particularly ones that fit inside a 3” pipe. Using wax rings that have a black plastic horn built into them should probably be avoided as well because of possible interference problems. Many of the larger outlet horn toilets have interference fitting to these flanges and wax rings with horns, we have not tested Penguin Toilets for interference. Today’s 1.6 and 1.28 gallon per flush toilets will not normally overflow when clogged unless the toilet is flushed a second time or there is a mechanical problem with the toilet where water does not shut off at the end of the flush cycle.
If you have child or, an elderly family member that frequently plugs up a toilet then keeps flushing causing a flooding mess or, have a toilet where vandalism frequently causes floods, the Penguin Toilet maybe the solution to your problems.