Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Stewards of the Earth
hedgie:
Hmm. The toilets at my local are about 1.6 gal (US).
LTK:
I have no idea what the capacity of my toilet tank is, but your toilets have a stop button too, right? That can't be just here, because it's stupid to empty the entire tank on a few milliliters of urine. I'd forgo flushing urine if it weren't for the smell, so I do a one-second flush at the longest. I notice that public toilets that don't have a stop button at least have two buttons for short flush and long flush. Which makes sense given that the owner wouldn't want to pay for more water than the toilets actually need. It's one of those features that makes environmental and economic sense, so I'd be surprised to see places without it.
Akima:
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 19 Feb 2015, 00:08 ---Standard in UK is 2 gallons (UK gallons, so 2.4 US gallons).
--- End quote ---
Older toilets in Australia can have an uncontrolled flush of 12 litres, but modern ones have variable flush. Normally there are two buttons on top, marked for full-flush and half-flush, but in fact neither empties the cistern. The half-flush uses 3.5 litres (less than one US gallon), while the full-flush uses 4.5 litres (roughly one UK gallon). If you have something truly horrible to get rid of, you can press and hold the full-flush button which empties the 11 litre cistern, but that is rather wasteful. One should get rid of skid-marks with a toilet-brush, not multiple flushes that waste water and rarely work anyway.
--- Quote from: explicit on 18 Feb 2015, 21:11 ---Many toilets use 5 gallons (in the U.S. many other countries have lower water pressure toilets, which is why in many countries you have to throw out your toilet paper instead of flushing it), but despite that, apparently I'm still gross. Thoughts?
--- End quote ---
The problem with getting rid of toilet paper is not typically one of water pressure; water closets are generally fed from a cistern mounted above the pan which is only filled by the mains, or other water supply, until the float-valve shuts it off, so the pressure feeding water into the bowl is only that generated by the difference in level between the cistern and the pan (so the old high-cistern, pull the chain systems had their advantages). The problem of getting rid of toilet paper (apart from gross over-use of the stuff), is the capacity of the pipework and sewage system to which the toilet is connected.
Many toilets in Asia still hark back to the days when toilet paper was not used, and users were expected to wash their bottoms with water, so they don't handle TP well at all. You will often find a bucket next to the toilet into which you should put your paper. These toilets will usually be "squatters", however, so the TP bucket might be the least of your challenges...
explicit:
--- Quote from: LTK on 19 Feb 2015, 00:52 ---I have no idea what the capacity of my toilet tank is, but your toilets have a stop button too, right?
--- End quote ---
I have never heard of a stop button on a toilet. I'm completely serious.
--- Quote from: Akima on 19 Feb 2015, 01:06 ---
Many toilets in Asia still hark back to the days when toilet paper was not used, and users were expected to wash their bottoms with water, so they don't handle TP well at all. You will often find a bucket next to the toilet into which you should put your paper. These toilets will usually be "squatters", however, so the TP bucket might be the least of your challenges...
--- End quote ---
I plan on going one day, good thing I exercise my legs. As far as the bucket thing, I only had to do it a few times and that was in Belize, which is when I learned that many toilets can't handle paper.
bhtooefr:
Standard US toilets nowadays are 1.6 gallons, and you push the flush lever, and it's not gonna stop flushing until the tank's emptied.
The annoying thing with many of the 1.6 gallon toilets is that they were a rush job to comply with the law, basically just reducing the capacity of an old 3.4 gallon toilet design. Upshot is, if you take big shits, it'd take a couple tries to flush.
I've seen exactly one toilet that has variable flush volume, through two buttons (a small button for a small flush, big button for a big flush). One problem is that they're not at all common, so parts for them are rare, and when they break, you end up having to order far more expensive parts, and can't just get them at the hardware store.
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