hot water baseboard heater behind a toilet.

[Packard]

I am in the planning stages of a remodel for one of the bathrooms in my house.  The entire house is heated with hot water baseboard heaters.  In the bathroom in question the baseboard heater runs behind the toilet. 

The problem at hand is that I need about 3" behind the toilet and about 8" of height.  Most toilets seem to go flush to the wall.

The American Standard Cadet seems to have the clearance but they don't call out actual dimensions.

Has anyone else dealt this this issue?  How was it resolved?

Lowes does not display the toilets (they are all in cartons), and Home Depot has them on display on an upper shelf where I cannot reach it to measure. 

The American Standard diagram is about as detailed as I have seen.  It does not have all the dimensions required however.

 

[cpw]

Could you move the baseboard and/or maybe use a hydronic toe kick unit in a vanity to make up for lost heat?

 

[squall_line]

https://www.americanstandard-us.com...roduct-specs/bulk/specsheet270da101.pdf?la=en

Looks like it has 4" from the back of the base to the wall.

That's the Round Front, hop on the AmStd website for a spec sheet if you need the Elongated Front model, Right Height version, etc.?

 

[DeformedTree]

don't design to a toilet, since it will need to be replaced, and you or the next person will be struggling to find a toilet that fits. Added that everything is moving to bigger toilets, so you will have even fewer of them that might have room.

If the heater is there, I'd either work on re-locating it. Or work on moving the toilet flange forward to make up for it's space stealing.  You can also get toilets with different offsets, but now your back to less common toilet.

It's a bathroom. You could always just remove the heater, add a small electric unit someplace to be code compliment and move on.

 

[Packard]

It might sound crass, but I am 72 years old and after this toilet it becomes someone else's problem.  I just found the same drawing that Squall_Line did.  It seems like a good fit. 

It is certainly less work shopping for the right toilet than moving a radiator. 

The previous owner replaced a wall mounted sink with a vanity.  To do that they had 30" of a 60" run of heater inside the vanity.  So the bathroom was cold in the winter and the interior of the vanity was nice and toasty warm. 

I built a custom vanity on legs that sits just above the heater.  The heat runs under the vanity and is forced out into the room. 

Do I wish I had through the floor air vents that heated the room?  Yes, I do.  But I'm not changing the utilities to suit the room. 

Even worse is that the heater is an "engineered system".  Each room has a different size valve ranging from 0 to 5.  It was designed to balance the heat in the house.  But no one understands it now (It was state-of-the-art in 1953, but a mystery in 2021).  They designed the bedrooms to be 4 degrees cooler than the rest of the house, so you would not have to adjust the thermostat for sleeping. 

Nowadays that represents an extra cost and no one knows how to deal with it.  Again, in a few years it becomes someone else's problem. 

 

[Ron B]

If I walked into a bathroom and saw a baseboard heater behind the toilet, my first thought might start with a "c"
but it would not be "clever".  Move the baseboard heater-it is just copper pipes so you have lots of options.  Fix what you can while you can, don't build problems for the future.  I am just a DIYer but I always build so the next guy does not.  The next problem will be how the inlet water comes in.  One problem just leads to another problem.    Ask any drywaller that followed a bad framer.  Don' t build "around" a problem, make it right the first time.  Just my 2 cents.

 

[DeformedTree]

The problem is "the next guy" could be you.  Toilet breaks or is a hunk of junk, so you need to replace it in 5 years and now you can't get one that fits.  Now you are 5 years older and have to deal with it.

I get where you are coming from, but that is the sort of thing that just bites you in the arse.

 

[Holzhacker]

I would move the radiator or install a toe kick radiator under the vanity. For me that would be easy though so probably not the best advice.

 

[Cheese]

I hate to be the repeating fool...actually I don't.  [big grin]  I would also move the radiator, it will ultimately prove to be a better decision somewhere down the line, you just never know what life hands you.  [smile]

However, an alternative is to just install an in-wall toilet. Nothing underneath and plenty of clearance for your radiator. That's what I did and I couldn't be happier...best move I made, I did that 2 years ago when I was 71. I'd do it again today at 73...

 

[Holzhacker]

12" from wall to Johnny bolts is standard. You can get 10" set back toilets though. Beyond that I have no idea since I haven't or wouldn't deal with that.
As someone else mentioned you could use a wall mount toilet but that becomes very expensive. As others have mentioned, I would also move the radiator. Either use a toe kick under the vanity or a wall mount Runtal type radiator. The Runtals work great. You can put a thermostatic valve on them.
While the toilet seems like the easier option it really isn't.

 

[Packard]

India,

Welcome to FOG. 

I posted the original question, and it has been resolved.  But thanks for the reply.

I ended up with Lowe’s house brand toilet.  I think it was $99.00.  I’ve been happy with it.

 

[Peter Kelly]

Can't help but think these old threads are kicked to the top by some sort of bot used to train AI systems. "India Baldwin" will make one non-F-tool related post and just scrape the answers.

 

[six-point socket II]

[member=15972]Peter Kelly[/member]  [thumbs up] either that, or they edit the post at some point to enter a spam link, or they collect enough posts to be able to post a link in first place.

Happens everywhere and is annoying as heck ...

All these nonsense answers that actually don't answer anything or are so general that they are utterly useless are spam.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Michael Kellough]

[member=15972]Peter Kelly[/member]  [thumbs up] either that, or they edit the post at some point to enter a spam link, or they collect enough posts to be able to post a link in first place.

Happens everywhere and is annoying as heck ...

All these nonsense answers that actually don't answer anything or are so general that they are utterly useless are spam.

Kind regards,
Oliver

Yes, they’re my latest pet peeve. The one that got me going suggested the OP ask the question in a forum.

 

[Packard]

Call me an optimist. I did not see anything that screamed “bot”.

I also assume that if AI can put together a post like India did, then it could also figure out how to make it read like it was the 61st postor any number other than #1.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Call me an optimist. I did not see anything that screamed “bot”.

I also assume that if AI can put together a post like India did, then it could also figure out how to make it read like it was the 61st post—or any number other than #1.

From what I have seen, those things aren't as sharp as they would have us believe. Apparently, native (natural/normal) English speaking is not their greatest achievement....yet, anyway.
You can always tell. Often the get the accent/emphasis on the wrong syllable or the flow of speech.
They really butcher the pronunciation of prices.
I can't claim to know "why" we put the dollar sign $ in front of the numbers, yet still say 50 dollars when it is written $50, but those AI reader bots never get that right.

 

[Packard]

I remember when Forest Gump hit the theaters.  I thought the CGI was awful. Maybe because I read lips, and the lip movement did not match the words.

And I was a portrait photographer and the direction of the light hitting one subject was not the same as the direction of the light hitting the other subject in the same scene.  But for me it was wholly unbelievable.

But then a few years later The Life of Pi came out and every frame of that movie was 100% believable. (In fact some jurisdictions no longer accept digital images as evidence in trials, and CSI labs are having to rever to film).

So, the tech will get better and we will be fooled 99% of the time in the near-ish future.

 

[semenza]

12" from wall to Johnny bolts is standard. You can get 10" set back toilets though. Beyond that I have no idea since I haven't or wouldn't deal with that.
As someone else mentioned you could use a wall mount toilet but that becomes very expensive. As others have mentioned, I would also move the radiator. Either use a toe kick under the vanity or a wall mount Runtal type radiator. The Runtals work great. You can put a thermostatic valve on them.
While the toilet seems like the easier option it really isn't.

  14" are pretty common as well.

Seth

 

[Coen]

A toilet as in... borders the heated home on 3 sides and the exterior wall on 1 side? Why bother with heating at all? Assuming you extract air there as well; it already draws in warmer air. Just insulate the outside wall a bit better and maybe add a few 50W Halogen spots that heat the person in there directly... for the duration they have the light on. In summer you can switch them out for the LED variant.

[...]

It's a bathroom. You could always just remove the heater, add a small electric unit someplace to be code compliment and move on.

In the land of the free, you have to have a heater in your toilet? That country keeps amazing me 

[...]
But then a few years later The Life of Pi came out and every frame of that movie was 100% believable. (In fact some jurisdictions no longer accept digital images as evidence in trials, and CSI labs are having to rever to film).
[...]

In Stalin's USSR they edited film just as well.

12" from wall to Johnny bolts is standard. You can get 10" set back toilets though. Beyond that I have no idea since I haven't or wouldn't deal with that.
As someone else mentioned you could use a wall mount toilet but that becomes very expensive. As others have mentioned, I would also move the radiator. Either use a toe kick under the vanity or a wall mount Runtal type radiator. The Runtals work great. You can put a thermostatic valve on them.
While the toilet seems like the easier option it really isn't.

  14" are pretty common as well.

Seth

12"? 14"? Huh? Google "Geberit UP720"; 8cm + sheet = 9,2 cm =

 

[Richard Parker]

Glad to hear Packard solved his/her problem. I have the same exact problem (no alternative wall space in bathroom for baseboard) and responses to move the baseboard are useless because no one would have this set up if there was a reasonable alternative. Thank God for runtals - they fit everyplace. Cheers.