How Often Do You Replace Your Toilet?

A few months ago, we caught our little ones in the master bathroom.  And we saw some things in the toilet that don't belong there.  We cleaned it out as best we could and hoped.  In vain.

Sometimes we could get a good flush.  Most of the time, no such luck.  I put off looking into it because we were still in the middle of figuring out Japan, and getting ready for our big road trip.  Yesterday, I took the gloves (and the toilet) off.  

This is the 3rd time I've had to do such a thing in 4.5 years.  The first was when our older son flushed a shoe down the kids' toilet.  I tried everything I knew to get it out, but no luck.  New 17 golf ball toilet.  The next time, our youngest was playing in the master toilet and put something down.  My dad and I removed the toilet, took it outside, poured gasoline in it and lit it.  The lego burned and shrunk enough to come out.  I cleaned the toilet, reinstalled it, and we were back in business.

This time, I did it solo.  I'd had practice.  I took the toilet bowl out to the yard, put the gas in, and lit it.  It burned.  Quite well.  And then I heard it crack.  And crack again.  And then a large chunk of the bowl fell off.  Hmmmm....  So fire is not a tried-and-true method.  But nothing else had worked, anyway, so I was probably going to have to get a new toilet.  

Wanting some vindication, I took a large paving stone and broke the trapway open.  The culprit?  A gum stimulator that we had recieved from the dentist for free.  It was metal.  Burning no so useful.

So now we have a new toilet.  This one is a Kohler, and so far it's quite nice.  I'm hoping this is our last toilet purchase.  I really didn't think they were consumables.