Talk:Flush toilet

message: As a 6 foot person 190cm, I produce logs not rabbit droppings. The shape of the exit hole has a considerable relationship to whether a plunger is required. 
That aspect of design is not discussed here or at stores.
There are long oval exit paths that line up one log at the bottom as it sinks into the trough and let it out by itself when flushed.  
Round exits spin everything around by their centre points so that the logs are lined with the middle over the hole, causing the logs to break in half and both halves try to go down together resulting in a blockage.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:1970:5164:3D00:A143:1B10:787B:C438 (talk) 01:19, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Exit shape

message: Added diagrams of valaves / toilet types etc. Removed reqdiagram. Egmason (talk) 12:57, 23 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: There seems to be something missing from the types of flush toilet.   There is the american kind which sits there full of water,   the weirdo german kind,   the valve outlet kind most commonly seem in aircraft,  and then ??   none of the other kind of flush toilet normally seen outside north america -   and I don't mean "squat" toilets,   I mean the sitdown, flushing kind with a much smaller pool of water in the bottom than a north american toilet.Eregli bob (talk) 07:48, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Pictures

message: I've read Thomas M. Stewart 15 October 1907 invented the self-cleaning toilet bowl, in St. John, NB. Can someone confirm, & include it?  Trekphiler 04:37, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Toilet Tech

message: Can someone with knowledge of this add a section about the direction of the water's flow during the flush. I've heard that it changes directions in the southern vs. northern hemisphere, but I've also heard that this isn't true. Please advise. Reuvenk 01:44, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: You're refering to the coriolis effect. It is untrue infact. Read the article. 70.111.251.203 15:01, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

text: In Australia, toilets don't have nearly as much water in the bowl compared to the ones I saw in North America.  You don't really see eddies in either direction. --James 04:35, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nor in the UK. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 158.125.9.4 (talk) 00:36, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Direction of Flush 

message: What about the good ole manual flush lever? It's not on the list, not even the first. 70.111.251.203 15:02, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flushing 

message: How about a section on toilet plume? In 1975 Professor [Charles] Gerba published a scientific article describing the little-known phenomenon of bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html (also http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web2/stan.html ) Ewlyahoocom 15:45, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: "According to Gerba, close-up photos of the germy ejecta look like "Baghdad at night during a U.S. air attack"." - except the U.S. wasn't at war with Iraq in 1975! Egmason (talk) 12:35, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Toilet water on your toothbrush 

message: Can this piece be called an airlock?--I hate to register 14:23, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Possibly, but I think trap and water trap are more common terms. An airlock is usually (i) the spaceship thingy or (ii) a bubble of air in a pipe that is meant to be full of liquid. --Heron 18:18, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi, it is interesting how the airlock between two spaceships or submarines is similar in function to that of the canal lock. The bubble of air in a pipe such as in the fuel system of a diesel engine, which is called a vapour lock, and in the filtration circuit of a swimming pool can be a nuisance. The terms air trap or gas trap are better than water trap in toilet terminology because it is the foul smelling air that is being trapped. In the fuel cicuit a water trap would be used to isolate the unwanted water in the circuit. Gregorydavid 06:41, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually space ship thingey is airlock whereas a trapped bubble of air is air lock.WolfKeeper 12:00, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another word for the "S" bend 

message: I replaced it with an added link now so it's sourced.  And I understand the original research concerns, but it's a news flash to me that going "number two" is "original research."  It would be nice if a few things that were within the universal modern human experience, such as that the sky is blue, the world is round, and that people courtesy flush, could be accepted with the wikipedia equivalent of judicial notice, without people busting balls over policy to a truly ridiculous degree.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to conduct some more "original research" into the subject matter of this article.  --Hrodulf 03:49, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Restoration of the Ettiquette section

message: Why "Washout pans are not permitted in the UK." ? Maybe some words about pros and cons of washout pans ? I personally hate when water from toilet is splashing on my bottocks. It's much less likely to happen while using washout pans toilet. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 151.83.1.140 (talk) 18:34, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: I wonder

message: Should it not be flushomatic, rather than flushometer? The former implies counting the number of flushes rather then flushing automatically, which is what happens. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.204.28.240 (talk • contribs).
It doesn't flush automatically (the vast majority of flushometers in use are manually actuated.) The term comes from the primary function of the flushometer, which is to meter the volume of each flush. 50.68.13.81 (talk) 21:15, 29 December 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Flushomatic?

message: Should we not have a section on the water savings of dual flush toilets and how the industry standard for flushed water has reduced? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 158.125.9.4 (talk) 00:39, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dual Flush 

message: The pressure assist section says this method is more efficient "however" it costs 10% less.  Howver usually introduces something that conflicts with what went before, while more efficient and costs less do not conflict  Should it be 10%more ?? Lous39 12:49, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I fixed it (I hope). --Heron 19:23, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  typo in pressure assisted?? 

message: There is no mention of the P Trap toilet which allowed the waste to pass through the wall into an external down pipe. The P Trap was the first part of a S trap and exited the toilet almost horizontally at the back. I saw quite a few of these when I lived in old houses and flats in London where the toilet was not on the ground floor and fixed onto floorboards. As it's been over 20 years since I lived there, perhaps someone who lives in Britain could confirm this and tell us if they are still used today and possible include a photo. --Molbrum (talk) 15:31, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  P Trap 

message: The article falsely claims that flush toilets are designed to be used in the sitting position.  Au contraire! See this picture --Jonathan108 (talk) 20:56, 11 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Many squat toilets also flush 

message: is one of the main contributors to Wikipedia (over 67,000 edits), and practically all of his edits have to do with Islamic science, technology and philosophy. This editor has persistently misused sources here over several years. This editor's contributions are always well provided with citations, but examination of these sources often reveals either a blatant misrepresentation of those sources or a selective interpretation, going beyond any reasonable interpretation of the authors' intent. Please see: Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Jagged 85. I searched the page history, and found 9 edits by Jagged 85 (for example, see this edit). Tobby72 (talk) 21:31, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misuse of sources 

message: Failed verification. The statement to verify:
*1206: The Arab inventor, Al-Jazari, invented a hand washing device incorporating the flush mechanism now used in modern flush toilets. His device features an automaton by a basin filled with water. When the user pulls the lever, the water drains and the automaton refills the basin.
The book can be found at Google books (http://books.google.com/books?id=IxtL54iiDPUC). Page views are available.
The citation to page 9 and 10 is appropriate, but it does not completely support the statement.
#The date 1206 is not supported. The date is not given on the cited pages. (It may be the publication date of Al-Jazari's book.)
#The inventor's identity is not supported. Al-Jazari compiled the book The Science of Ingenious Mechanisms. The inventions were both from earlier works and his own, so it is not clear that Al-Jazari made the invention in question or copied it from some earlier work.
#The mechanism was for filling a basin; it was not a mechanism for flushing. The source states, "Figure 1.6 shows a female figure by a basin filled with water; when the user pulls the lever, the water drains and the figure refills the basin.  This design anticipates the modern flush toilet by several hundred years." Although the author made a statement about the mechanism and flush toilets, the mechanism was intended for hand washing.
I would delete the entire bullet paragraph in the article.  The mechanism is not about toilets. Glrx (talk) 21:54, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Al-Jazari toilet

message: In UK plumbing description, a drain pipe refers to a rain water system. 
The correct term here in the UK for the pipe which conveys effluent from a WC, would be waste pipe.
When the building's internal waste pipe meets the common area waste pipe, it would be called a sewer in UK parlance.
Sometimes it is necessary to make a distinction between different kinds of waste; i.e.  grey water from a washing machine, or waste from a kitchen sink, or human waste (sewage) from a WC, etc.
Thus a drain is the term normally used for reference to rain water systems, often kept separate from sewage systems, so a separate terminology is important for proper communication of ideas and to avoid construction errors. 
Jjaymie (talk) 18:58, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Drain pipe 

message: The current article gives the impression, that the reverse bowl design is or was the standard only in Germany.
Tha case is, poop-shelf toilets are common in Austria, Netherland, Hungary and Poland; and i assume it may be also common in the Czech Repiblik, Slovakia and maybe in Rumania.
One thing is for sure: it is quite a common design in most part of Central-Europe: for example in Hungary if you enter a DIY retail or a sanitaryware shop, you will find about 20-30% of the new toilet bowls for sale are actualy flushout design. People do buy and install shelf-toilets nowadays.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.133.26.189 (talk) 14:00, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reverse bowl design in Central-Europe, and not only in Germany 

message: Why are there two separate articles - this one on "Flush Toilets" and another on "Toilets".  Is this really such a vital and complex subject that the articles could not be merged? 204.124.92.254 (talk) 16:27, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why two articles? 

message: The summary for the wikilinked Washout toilet is incorrect and does not match its article. In fact the summary for the "reverse bowl" describes what the Washout toilet article does, so something also needs fixing there. See . Having lived there for several years I can report having used the Flachspüler shelf style (image), the Tiefspüler (or "Anglo") and a very few modern Japanese styles, but I have never seen what the "Washout" describes here. -84user (talk) 02:13, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong German toilet 

message: Why is the fellow squatting with his lower garments on? could be messy :( Dainamo (talk) 22:46, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Anglo Indian toilet diagram

message: text added:
Nowadays, there is a significant move towards using less water for flushing flush toilets. This has resulted in the emergence of new toilet designs and national standards on water consumption for flushing. In addition, some people are also modifying their existing flush toilets to use less water. This can be done by adding a floating weight (ie brick, water bottle) into the toilet's water tank. This allows the use of less water per flush since the water pressure is hence increased.[13]
more modifications may be mentioned  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.182.173.203 (talk) 09:17, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Added text

message: W.C. is not a euphemism, and it refers to the apparatus not the room.
This link http://www.theplumber.com/closet.html should make it clear - it also refers to 'pneumatic', 'plunger', and 'valve' closets.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.27.197.254 (talk) 17:52, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  W.C. 

message: The toilet at Schloss Ehrenburg also has the inscription: Thos.Crapper &Son, The King's Road, London. It is still in working condition.--dunnhaupt (talk) 22:13, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Year 1860

message: The section on the term "water closet" gives 1870 as the year of first use, but the use of term in England is older than that. Here are two quotes from the same source:
1. "Within these few years, the practice of introducing water-closets into houses has become pretty general wherever it is practicable; but in the greater part of the old town nothing of the kind can be accomplished from the want of drains." (page 33)
2, "Water-closets and public privies are both rare, the consequences of which, morally as well as physically, may easily be imagined, and no doubt much infectious disease, if not occasioned, is harboured and perpetuated by the want of them." (page 42)
The source is:
Chadwick, E. "Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain". Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, July 1842. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Reference; 1842 (006) - House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
The same section of the article gives 1890 in connection with the concern over disease from carelessly disposed human waste. The 1842 report is much concerned with this issue and cites a number of cases where effective water supply and sewage disposal, together with proper building ventilation, have all but eradicated such diseases.
So I think there's a case for revision of dates here.
Janister (talk) 14:59, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Water closet: section on first use of the term 

message: 'Closet' means close - ie it is the water in the U-bend that closes the pipe to the sewer. If you look at the link above you'll see that other methods of closing the pipe such as the 'pneumatic closet' and 'valve closet' are mentioned. According to your logic this would that there are rooms which contained something pneumatic or some sort of valve. You'll also see that the U.S. Patent office received 'new water closet designs' - this doesn't mean that the U.S. Patent Office received architectural drawings for washrooms. Water closet is, coincidentally, the only name which isn't a euphamism.
'Lavatory' is a euphamism like 'washroom' coming from 'lavare', 'to wash'.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.24.142.165 (talk) 13:44, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Water closet

message: This seems to have very little relevance to the article as a whole, and would surely be more at home within the Firestop page.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.253.161.108 (talk) 17:14, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: A little far afield, but it's a small section at the end. It's also specific about toilet firestops, and the firestop article need not get there. I'd leave it be. Glrx (talk) 18:30, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removal of Fire safety in multi-story buildings section? 

message: Something should be written, by an expert, about the arrangements for overflow of the cistern if its filling system should be out of order.  In UK houses, these cisterns (and similarly the cold-water tank) commonly have a pipe leading from the top of the cistern to outside the house, in such a manner that overflow is conspicuous; I had thought that visible overflow was in all cases required by law. 94.30.84.71 (talk) 13:58, 28 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Overflow pipe 

message: What is that german term in english? --Itu (talk) 12:48, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: From looking at the Google images of Druckspüler, it would be called a "flush valve" (or sometimes informally a "Flushometer", though I believe that may be a trademarked name).  Hope this helps.  Reify-tech (talk) 13:23, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. So, not a single image on commons, now. But a dedicated article:  Flushometer. --Itu (talk) 17:23, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Druckspüler 

message: That sub-section name is culturally biased. I'll bet the people who design, build and use such bowls don't think of them as a reverse design. And "reverse" is a crappy way to describe it anyway. Surely we can find a better name. HiLo48 (talk) 21:56, 28 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Have you got a source for a better name? I can't find one. The translations I've found call it a washout toilet, which it is, but it's the reverse from what's usually called a washout at least in the US. Hence "reverse bowl." Since this is the English language Wikipedia, I have no problem calling it "reverse bowl." Or, in the absence of an English equivalent, I'd be ok just calling it a "Flachspüler." Kendall-K1 (talk) 15:43, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: When you say "it's the reverse from what's usually called a washout at least in the US", it seems to introduce a US cultural bias. I know that what Americans consider normal in bowl design seems quite weird to Australians when we first see it. It would seem better to me to use a descriptive name saying what it does, rather than one that effectively says "it's different from the type I'm used to". In other words, use a name that doesn't depend on treating one form as "normal", and others as not. HiLo48 (talk) 17:13, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm pretty sure a washout toilet has the drain in the back everywhere in the English speaking world, not just the US. But what we really need here is a reliable source. Kendall-K1 (talk) 21:47, 7 October 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  I have tried to make some improvements here but it is actually still confusing. What might help are some very clear photos that show the difference. I don't know if the image that is currently in the section on "Flachspüler" is the right one, as it shows quite a bit of water on the "shelf". One thing I can vouch for is that these toilets (where the fecal matter lands on quite a dry "shelf") are fast disappearing here in Germany. You only find them in old houses now that haven't been renovated for a while. So that sentences saying they are common in Germany is definetely wrong (have modified it). - It might be better to move that part to the history section as it's really not that relevant anymore nowadays and should not take up that much space in the article EvM-Susana (talk) 07:55, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Reverse bowl design" 

message: I have written this also on the talk page of the toilets article which I have just restructured quite a bit: That article on toilets contains a lot (too much) content on the flush toilet, some of which should rather be merged into here. Therefore, the article on toilets could become more balanced and a bit shorter, and not have this strong focus on flush toilets. People should rather get an overview about all toilet types and then go to the article on flush toilets to find out more. Therefore, if we have flush toilet enthousiasts here, can you please go to the article on toilets and take content from there to here (also from the history section). It could be that the history section of toilets already has the same content as what is in this article here, in which case it could be drastically shortened on the toilet page. I have the feeling that the creators of the article on "toilets" were originally only thinking of "flush toilets" before the separate article on flush toilets was created.EvM-Susana (talk) 07:55, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, I have done the move now. The history section was nearly 1:1 identical, must have been a copy & paste job in the past. There could still be a bit of repetition in the first third of the article, might need some optimisation work. EvM-Susana (talk) 10:43, 19 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move content from the page on "toilets" to here?

message: After his reign in Polish-Lithuaninan commonwealth, Henry III of France has brought back to France the idea of toilets, which were by then widespread in the former kingdom (also with influence of Teutonic Knights, who has such in their castles). At that times French aristocracy tended to leave their fecal matter wherever they happened to do it (corridors, sleeping rooms - so servants had to clean it).  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.75.41.170 (talk) 21:38, 23 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, do you have any references for this information? EvM-Susana (talk) 08:36, 25 September 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Development of the flush toilet /  adoption in France 

message: The link for Philip Haas, the inventor of the rim-based flush system, goes to the wrong person's page.  It references the artist born in 1954 instead of the inventor born in 1874.  The proper link should go to "Philip Haas (inventor)."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.77.237.66 (talk) 06:50, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. Glrx (talk) 20:20, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Philip Haas mis-credited 

message: I live in one of the contries where these kind of toilets are (hopefully soon were) common. Both descriptions seem to apply to these kind of toilet bowls. Dee.lite (talk) 14:16, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Washout toilet and shelve toilet seem to be the same

message: I suggest that toilet plume be merged here, and added a template to that article.Brianga (talk) 13:29, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: oppose toilet plume is a specific topic of research, a phenomenon, separate from the object flush toilet. Brock-brac (talk) 17:33, 29 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  please provide any evidence of this, like reputable sources. What would be the content apart from what's there already? I support the proposal of merging. I can't see that there would be much content to warrant a separate page. EvMsmile (talk) 01:42, 30 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: is NIOSH a reliable source, or is it a COI? lol   Brock-brac (talk) 19:11, 21 August 2016 (UTC)

text: I merged to a newly-renamed section, Flush_toilet#Maintenance_and_hygiene. Brianga (talk) 20:41, 10 August 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Thanks! I have added to sub-headings to your new section.EvMsmile (talk) 00:06, 11 August 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[toilet plume]] 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Flush toilet. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140307165422/https://environment7.uwe.ac.uk/resources/constructionsample/Conweb/house_ages/elements/print.htm to https://environment7.uwe.ac.uk/resources/constructionsample/Conweb/house_ages/elements/print.htm
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:32, 9 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I have just been reading Jack Larkin's The Reordering of Everyday Life. From this I have realized that what we need is more social history, more context on the adoption of systems. We get a little talk here of the first flush toilets, but no talk of the process than by the 1920s made them pretty much expected in urban housing in cities like Detroit, yet in the 1930s even some LDS Church buildings in the southern United States not only lacked indoor plumbing, they lacked even out houses. Let us not even get into the total failure to cover the amount such things occur in Africa, South America and Asia. Evidently to the writers of this article the only people in the world who matter are white people.John Pack Lambert (talk) 04:37, 15 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Better sources needed