[Greenbuilding] Jevons's plumber

[Anne Judge]

On Aug 1, 2012, at 11:45 AM, RT wrote:

> As for the 1920's toilets, my parents' house that I grew up in had one of those "modern" 1920's era toilets. "Modern" because the reservoir was a porcelain tank down by the bowl rather than a lined wooden tank up near the ceiling.
> 
> The memories of life with that concraption are less fond. It may have used less water per flush than
> toilets of the 60s and 70s but I seem to recall that it didn't flush particularly well, often requiring multiple flushes to accomplish the task.

I must stand up for 1920s toilets - Like present-day ones, they weren't all the same.

We have one in the house I grew up with, actually 2, and the one in the bathroom I always use flushes GREAT.  Probably the best of any toilet I've used.  It has a big tank (I've never measured the capacity), but I know you didn't have to fill it, because a few times when the power was out (and once when the top of the well was flooded) I had to carry up a bucket to flush it and quite a reasonable load - 3 gallons?? - would do the trick.  

The one in the master bath doesn't flush quite as well, so as I said toilets vary.

(I saw some similar toilets to our good one - just as old - at a state campground along Lake George about 15 years ago, and as I remember they flushed pretty well, though I didn't really put them through their paces.)

Anne