For a small feature, it has a mighty job to do - to correctly flush away the relevant waste material from your WC!The development of the water closet, from its humble beginnings as a box filled with earth through to the well known high level 'chain-pull' and low level lever type, has suddenly accelerated in recent years, and has much to do with our concerns over conserving energy and the efficiency improvements demanded when using water.
Toilets use about 30% of the total water used in a household. An old style single flush toilet can use up to 13 litres of water in one flush. There are around 45 million toilets in UK homes, using an estimated two billion litres of fresh water every day. Over seven million of those toilets use 13 litres of water.However, in 1980, in Australia, the dual flush toilet was born! A new breed of WC, sporting two press buttons, to remove waste material.
These more water-efficient dual-flush toilets use only six litres, when pressing one button for a full flush to remove solid waste (1.6 gallons per flush) and four litres, when pressing the other button, for a reduced flush to remove liquid waste (0.8 gallons per flush). This is half as much as traditional toilets, thus saving the average household 67% of their water usage. This will be a great saving when water metering is required in all domestic households.Not only does the dual flush WC use only half of the water as regular toilets, the trap is wider ( 4 ins) and uses a full bowl wash method, which is both cleaner and more efficient.
The new dual flush type WC has rapidly become the standard model, to be found in domestic, business and commercial premises and, as a 'close coupled' unit, are considered much quicker and simpler to install by a plumber. It is an example of knowing about a technology innovation, required to gain a fully approved qualification, that can be quickly learnt on a City & Guilds Plumbing Training Course. And you will definitely need to remember which button is which, as for some, its still a mystery