More on toilets

I wish my toilet were as clean as Brilly's. If you look carefully at the bowl picture, you can see discoloration on the seat (and a nick in it on the left side). That's why I want for Christmas two new plastic toilet seats made with antimicrobial properties that will resist stains. I had to take the side shot twice because the first time it showed a lot more pee and a hair. I got out a Scotchbrite pad and tried getting all the nastiness off, but I failed. I'm not going back and trying again. You can see it, but at least you can't smell it over the Internet ;).

I'm not sure about Australian toilets pushing and American toilets sucking waste away, but I'm going to discuss how I think American toilets work.

When the tank (cistern) dumps its load of water into the bowl, the water level rises to a height high enough for its pressure to overcome the bend I show in the first picture. Once it does that, nearly all the water in the toilet flows over then bend and down the drain from siphoning action. This is like putting a bucket of water on the counter and filling a tube with water and then carefully placing one end in the bucket on the counter and allowing the other end to remain lower than the counter. No pump is necessary, and the water will flow from the higher bucket all over your floor (better use another bucket to catch it). If you pull the upper end out of the water in the bucket on the counter, air gets in and the siphon breaks. Putting it back in the bucket under the water level won't make the water flow again; you need to refill the tube to start the flow up again.

Anyway, water is coming in from the tank this entire time, but not fast enough to keep the siphon from breaking when the bulk of the water gets over the bend. At that point, the water from the tank refills the bowl, and that water a) keeps stuff from sticking to the bowl, and b) keeps sewer odors from the drain from coming out of the waste hole in the toilet bowl. Once the tank refills, you are ready for the next flush.

I am embarrassed by the dirty side of my toilet. I have fewer guys in the house than Brilly. I will say that a casual user of my toilet ought not be shoving his face where you can see the ickiness. I used the camera in the mode where you can view the picture on the back of it instead of trying to fit my face down there to use the viewfinder. I admit I need to work on my cleaning technique.

Another comment was what Mama P said about not being able to get her lid back on if she took it off. That stumped me until I saw the dunny toilet lid. The lid to the tank of my toilet just rests on the tank. It is only there to make the toilet look better and to keep things from falling into the tank. It has nothing to do with the operation of the toilet.