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A toilet is one of the greatest
inventions every conceived. It modernized our homes by allowing the backyard
privy to be brought into the house, without all of the negatives that are
associated with an outhouse. A toilet works due to 6 major components and a
mechanism known as siphon action.
The 6 major parts that are
instrumental in how a toilet works include the toilet bowl, toilet tank,
toilet fill valve, toilet flush valve, float, overflow tube and handle.
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The toilet bowl is specially
designed to hold water in the base of it. In addition, it has the
ability to accept water in from the tank via the rim and a siphon jet
hole located at the base of the toilet bowl. Finally, at the heart of
the toilet is the siphon tube. The siphon tube, as the name implies, is
a tube shaped unit integrated into the rear of the porcelain toilet bowl
that serves two purposes. First it acts as a trap such that no sewage
gasses can leak up into the home.
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Photo by Mark Donovan
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Secondly, and more importantly,
it acts as the mechanism for drawing water and waste products out of the
toilet bowl base.
The siphon tube is actually a
very interesting invention. If for example, you repeatedly pour individual
cups of water into the toilet tank you will notice that the water level does
not rise. If however you pour a bucket of water into the toilet bowl
rapidly, you will notice that the water level in the bowl will initially
rise but then be drawn down dramatically, to a point where there is
practically no water left in the toilet bowl.
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This phenomenon occurs due to the siphon action. When you pour a large
volume of water into the toilet bowl it causes the water in the siphon tube
to rise and spill over into the sewage pipe. Then due to the principles of a
siphon, the water is automatically and rapidly drained from the toilet bowl
into the sewage pipe.
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The toilet tank acts as the
reservoir for holding a large volume of water. In addition, the base of the
toilet tank has a large hole in it. The hole is approximately 3 inches in
diameter, and allows a large volume of water to rapidly flow into the toilet
bowl, similar to dumping the large bucket of water into the toilet bowl.
When you push down on the toilet
tank handle, a rubber flapper is lifted off of the large tank hole via the
toilet tank flush valve, to allow the water to rapidly pour into the toilet
bowl. As the water pours into the toilet bowl, the siphoning function occurs
which causes the toilet to flush and empty the waste from the bowl. The
toilet bowl is specifically designed to have the water flow via the rim and
one large hole at the base of the toilet bowl into the toilet. This design
helps create a swirling function to aid in flushing the waste from the
toilet.
Once the toilet tank has been
emptied of water, the flapper falls back down onto the toilet tank hole to
seal it. The toilet tank filler valve then begins to refill the toilet tank.
In addition, it feeds water into the overflow tube to refill the base of the
toilet.
When the toilet tank is
momentarily empty, a float unit will sit near the bottom of the tank. As
water fills up the tank the float unit will rise with the water level. Once
the float has reached a predetermined height, the float which is commonly
connected to a rod, will turn a switch off in the filler valve assembly to
prevent any additional water from flowing into the toilet tank.
So the next time you flush a
toilet, think about all of the operations that are simultaneously occurring.
The toilet is a pretty ingenious invention and has played a major role in
improving our health and making our lives more comfortable.
Additional Home Plumbing Resources
Toilet Tank Fill Valves and other Toilet Parts from Amazon.com
