And now for something completely different. As a break from electronic stuff, here's a teardown of a typical modern toilet flushing unit. I bet there are plenty of plumbers who have installed lots of these without knowing how they actually work.
Each part of the world seems to have a slightly different tech in their toilet cisterns, so I thought it would be interesting to show a couple of versions and get feedback about what you use locally.
Something else that I should have shown is that you can just unclip the flapper valve in the simple American unit to replace it.
One system I didn't mention is the terrifying pressure flush systems in Las Vegas. They use mains water pressure to compress a small amount of water into a pressure vessel against the air in it. When you flush, it fires it with a dump valve horizontally at the bottom of the pan with a loud bang. The cisterns are odd inside because they are dry with just the pressure vessel.
That system is used to conserve water so they can use it to fill the Bellagio fountains instead.
Can I just mention that you rarely find an unemployed plumber. It's one of those jobs that is considered "dirty" (it's mostly not) and is a very good career choice that opens up other future work avenues.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
Each part of the world seems to have a slightly different tech in their toilet cisterns, so I thought it would be interesting to show a couple of versions and get feedback about what you use locally.
Something else that I should have shown is that you can just unclip the flapper valve in the simple American unit to replace it.
One system I didn't mention is the terrifying pressure flush systems in Las Vegas. They use mains water pressure to compress a small amount of water into a pressure vessel against the air in it. When you flush, it fires it with a dump valve horizontally at the bottom of the pan with a loud bang. The cisterns are odd inside because they are dry with just the pressure vessel.
That system is used to conserve water so they can use it to fill the Bellagio fountains instead.
Can I just mention that you rarely find an unemployed plumber. It's one of those jobs that is considered "dirty" (it's mostly not) and is a very good career choice that opens up other future work avenues.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I'm sure someone has invented an even more complex valve than this one.
God help us all.
I was awakened in the night by the sound of my toilet flushing itself over and over. It was a simple cause; a small air bubble had appeared between the rubber flapper seal and the plastic mount. It was preventing a good seal by forming a small bump on the seal.
I released the bubble with a small "pop" and it worked perfectly for years after that. I assume the gas bubble was formed by the slow degradation of the plastic.
US: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
UK: "There must be a more complex technological solution for this."
Changing that number moves that tiny hole and how soon it drops again
What I‘ve never understood until today is that in the UK the overflow goes to the outside of the tank, not into the toilet very often.
You often see little pipes sticking out of a wall, dripping- and the owners never really notice it.
I call that part the ball-cock
We also have the dual flush systems here but they aren't very popular yet
Some also have a foam block on the chain that you can adjust the flush volume with by raising it higher or lower. There are many variations on the flap system
Back before automatic dog or livestock water's were available around here. Late 70's early 80's.
We would take old toilet tanks put a solid pipe and seal on the bottom.
And make a automatic watering system. They used a big copper float to control the water flow.
When the float drops it turned the water supply on when it float up just short of the drain pipe it would cut the flow off.
Awfully complex for a toilet.
Foreign toilets seem so much more complicated and unreliable than South African toilets. I'm very grateful now. Your toilets must break all the time.