Because tankless toilets are connected directly to a water supply line, they can refill faster and be flushed again more quickly than their tank counterparts. They also produce a cleaner, more powerful flush each time. Which is why many experts predict tankless toilets are the future of modern day bathroom plumbing. However, it is important to note that they do tend to be a bit louder than tank systems. These modern day versions of the tankless toilet are sleeker and more high-tech than ever before.
They come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, with technologies that are both clever and stylish at the same time. Are you remodeling your bathroom? A tankless toilet may be just the thing to make your room more modern and appealing.
Andrews, Inc. The information on this website is for informational purposes only; it is deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Most tankless toilets still work using this same basic design. The first tankless toilets didn't immediately transform the world of plumbing -- Sloan sold only three units in the first two years of production. But the popularity of these flush valve toilets continued to grow throughout the 20th century, particularly in industrialized areas.
Sloan's tankless toilet became the model for commercial flushometers, a type of tankless toilet that is now by far the most common fixture in public restrooms throughout the Western world. The tank-style toilet also underwent a redesign during 20th century. The massive migration that occurred during America's Industrial Age led to the construction of high-rise apartments in which space was a precious commodity.
During this time, water tanks were moved to a perch on the wall several feet above the porcelain throne. The release of water from such a height made for an extremely powerful and cleansing flush. As it turns out, this was overkill. In the next section, we'll learn more about tank-style toilets, including the amount of water it takes to power their flush and how some early models paved the way for the use of tankless toilets in urban apartments.
Understanding how tankless toilets work requires a quick review of how tank-style toilets work. You can read about this in greater detail in How Toilets Work , but as we mentioned in the previous section, tank toilets are gravity-powered. The basic idea is that water is dumped into the bowl fast enough to activate a siphon, which pulls the water and waste out of the bowl and into the drain line.
Because of this gravity-powered flush assistance, tank toilets can function on a water pressure as low as 10 pounds per square inch psi. Tankless toilets are a different story. They use approximately the same amount of water as a tank-type toilet, but the water enters the fixture at a greater pressure.
This is generally achieved by sending the water through the line at a higher rate of speed, though the size of the feed pipe is also a consideration. For the most part, commercial buildings and some residential structures have enough water pressure to power the flush of a tankless toilet without any sort of mechanical assistance. This type of tankless toilet is usually called a flushometer. Flushometers vary in their requirements, but generally need at least 15 to 20 psi of water pressure to function properly, sometimes more.
Urinals are an exception. They generally operate using the same basic principles as regular flush valve toilets, but they require less water pressure because of the nature of the material being flushed liquid versus solid waste. For this reason, urinals can run on much smaller water supply lines. They also require much less water to complete a flush. Whether tankless toilets are poised to replace traditional models is a matter of some debate, but many experts say that tankless toilets produce a cleaner, more powerful flush than their tank-style counterparts.
And because tankless toilets are connected directly to water supply lines, they can refill faster and be flushed again more quickly than a tank toilet. This is an important consideration for toilets in commercial operations, which are often heavily used.
In the next section, we talk more about the use of tankless toilets in commercial buildings. Tankless toilets, which include urinals, are by far the most common type of toilet found in public restrooms.
The vast majority of these units operate using a valve, which is metered with either a piston or diaphragm. The valve is designed to shut automatically after completing a flush cycle, so there is no computer or other technology that regulates the operation. In the world of plumbing, traditional flush valve tankless toilets are considered low-tech yet reliable workhorses. However, there can be some degree of user control with these devices. For most models, building owners can make minor adjustments to flush volumes, though in the United States and many other countries they must comply with national standards for water usage.
A number of features can also enhance the performance of a flush valve toilet in commercial settings, including hands-free flush technologies and water conservation devices.
Within commercial settings, all tankless toilet models pretty much work in a similar way. When a toilet is flushed, a valve opens a supply line to allow a predetermined amount of water to pass through into the bowl.
According to the U. Department of Energy, the current standard for water usage in the U. The standards are similar or even stricter in other parts of the developed world, such as Australia, where average flush volumes must not exceed 0.
Recently, one of the biggest trends for tankless toilets in commercial settings has been hands-free flush technology [source: Koeller ].
This feature can be powered by battery or hard wiring, but there is typically a manual flush mechanism that still operates in the case of power failure. Hands-free flushing is beneficial in that it helps prevent the spread of germs. However, there is a common problem with this technology: Automatic flushers can misfire, leading to either wasted water or leftover waste.
For the most part, water pressure in commercial plumbing systems is high enough to power the flush of tankless toilets. Because water pressure in residential buildings and private homes is not as strong, it has limited the use of tankless toilets in many U. There are some exceptions to this rule, which we will discuss in the next section.
Tankless toilets in residential settings that rely on flush valve technology are essentially the same as those in public restrooms. However, these toilets are much less common in homes because of their high water pressure requirement. One exception is New York City , where many residential toilets are essentially identical to the flush valve style of toilets found in public settings. In New York and other big cities, the main reason for having a tankless toilet in a residential setting is space-savings.
In the case of New York, apartments built before the s were fitted with high-tank toilets, in which a water tank was mounted on the wall several feet above the bowl. Because the tank didn't sit behind the bowl fixture, architects didn't allow for the extra space to accommodate them. Based on this layout, bathrooms in most pres apartments do not have room for both a bowl and a tank. One of the best things about flush valve tankless toilets is that they are generally very reliable, though they are often a bit more expensive than tank toilets.
One of the biggest downsides to this type of tankless toilet is noise, an important consideration in small apartments with shared walls. Whether they are used in commercial or residential settings, these traditional tankless toilets are typically called flushometers. The modern version of the tankless toilet is a sleeker, high-tech model that usually comes with special features such as heated seating and personal cleansing systems.
They are commonly referred to as performance toilets and we will review these in the next section. In New York City, buildings owners have been replacing tankless toilets because of loss of water pressure from aging plumbing systems and to conserve water. Performance toilets aim to combine the most basic of human functions with extreme luxury and elegance. Flushometer-valve toilets, also known as flushometer-valve water closets in plumbing standards, are typically found in commercial, institutional, or industrial restrooms, in such places as airports, theaters, stadiums, schools, and office buildings.
These types of toilets have two main components—the toilet bowl and the flushometer valve. WaterSense estimates that there are nearly 27 million flushometer—valve toilets currently installed in the United States. Approximately 26 percent 7 million of the old toilets have flush volumes as high as 3. With many of these models reaching the end of their useful life, replacing them with even more efficient toilets that have earned the WaterSense label could result in significant water savings.
WaterSense labeled flushometer-valve toilets, whether single- or dual-flush, use no more than 1. WaterSense has also included a minimum flush volume of 1.
Facility managers should consult a plumbing engineer if they have questions about using WaterSense labeled flushometer-valve toilets in their buildings.
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