Quote:
Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007
In U.S.A. I know that you have sometimes an kind of flush and vacuum toilet. You pull a rod of the flusher, an valve opens, the water from the toilet gets out, and when the valve closes, the toilet is refilled with water. How common is this system?
|
Your description seems to match the standard toilet design of almost every "typical" toilet in the homes or small businesses in the USA. The tank has a rubber or equivalent "flapper valve" that is lifted open by a chain from the flushing lever as you mentioned. The valve is held open by the flow of water until the water level gets lower in the tank, then the valve's weight is stronger than the force of the remaining water and it closes again, allowing the tank to refill. A sealed air-filled ball or other device with an adjustable lever floats in the tank and rises as the tank refills until its lever position causes the filling valve to close.
Ten years ago or more, I replaced my toilet with a water-saving one, the American Standard brand, Cadet model. In my state (California) as of then, and perhaps in many or all other parts of the USA as of now, the water-saving ones are the only style available, required by law. A few months ago, I had to replace the valve components of mine because both valves were leaking and wasting water. The replacement valve system had several adjustments, and I found that I had to set it to the lowest settings to get it to use 2 gallons (7-7.5 liters?) or less per flush. So, that seems as if it is a big loophole in the water-saving laws; anyone who wants to deliberately use lots of water when they flush their toilet could buy one of these common valve-replacement kits and set it a high flow rate.