Girard College is a boarding school for grades 1-12, operating in Philadelphia since 1848. In one of their restrooms, several old flushometers that time and tarnish had turned green were due for an update, but they still worked perfectly. Those flushometers were made in 1909 and 1910. And, of course, they were made by Sloan.
We were happy to replace those old valves with brand new Royal flushometers that could last another hundred years. Meanwhile, here’s a story we like to call “This Old Valve.”
Detective Work Identifies Century-old Flushometers
Identifying the Girard College flushometers took some detective work by Sloan Sr. Field & Technical Support Technician Dominick Pacione.
“They were up and running, no problem,” he says. “The only reason the school changed them is because they just didn't like the way they looked. We didn't make chrome-plated valves back then—we used nickel plating, so anything that was exposed turned green.”
Once he had the flushometers in hand, he was able to pinpoint the years they were manufactured.
“I figured out the first two were shipped to Philadelphia in 1909. They did not have a patent stamp on the side of valve body—they had a patent pending stamp. Three more were from 1910, which actually have patent dates on them.”
Higher Quality Brass Enables a Century of Durability
These flushometers from Girard College aren’t the only Sloan flush valves that worked perfectly for more than a century. They aren’t even the oldest! The first Sloan Royal flushometer was installed in Chicago’s historic Monadnock Building in 1906 (on consignment), and it is still there today.
What makes Sloan flushometers so durable? Pacione’s answer is simple: superior engineering and high-quality brass. “We’ve always used semi-red brass, which does not have the zinc content of other alloys.”
He explains, “The Achilles heel of brass is how much zinc it has. More zinc means less copper. Chlorine in the water causes the zinc to leach out of the brass, and as it leeches out, you also begin losing the copper. And when that happens, what used to be nice and smooth on the interior where the water flows through now looks like somebody took a sand blaster to it.”
On the Girard College flushometers, Pacione notes that, even after more than 100 years of use, the threading inside the flushometer body is still in perfect shape. “By using the semi-red brass that we do, we don't see that dezincification.”
Maintenance Makes Millions of Flushes Possible
Assuming the Girard College auditorium toilets get flushed 1,000 times per month—light traffic by commercial restroom standards—these flushometers delivered more than 1.3 million flushes each since they were installed.
That track record reinforces the need for regular flushometer maintenance. While the semi-red brass flushometer body may be long-lasting, parts such as the diaphragm that regulates water flow must be replaced regularly.
“Back then the diaphragms were leather,” says Pacione. “We didn't change to vulcanized rubber until the 1920s. Leather lasted longer than rubber, but it didn't have the consistent spring tension.”
Today’s diaphragms, of course, are made from far more durable synthetic materials. You can find them—along with every other part you need to maintain every Sloan product—in our searchable, sortable parts section. You can also find complete maintenance guides for every flushometer, faucet, sink, water closet and urinal in the Sloan lineup.
“You can have a valve that's over 100 years old. And you can go to your local hardware store, pick up a diaphragm, drop it in there and it'll work,” says Pacione. “Because we never changed the dimensions, we only changed the technology of the diaphragm material.”
We’ve also never changed our commitment to building durable restroom products. So the Sloan flushometer you install today—assuming proper maintenance—could still be flushing perfectly in 2123.
Get a firsthand flushometer maintenance lesson from Dominick Pacione in this video. Have additional questions about flushometer durability and maintenance? Contact Sloan!
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