Before we begin exploring how tankless toilets work, we need to have a good understanding of how traditional toilet, with tanks, work. The conventional toilet consists of three components, the toilet bowl, siphon, and the container. Each of the three components of the toilet works together, without any moving parts to achieve an engineering feat we take for guaranteed.
Table of Contents
Toilet Bowl
The bowl is the major part of the toilet and is the part that gets its contents flushed and refilled with water after each use. The bowl is the round repository with a large opening located at the top and smaller opening at the bottom.
Tank
The tank contains a flush valve to refill the tank after each flush. The fill valve, which is the component that brings water back to the tank after each flush. The float arm is attached to the fill valve that is used to help the correct amount water enter the tank. The handle arm that is what we use to trigger the toilet to flush. The arm pulls the flapper which lifts to allow the water to enter the bowl after a flush.
The Siphon
The siphon is a critical part of the toilet and is used to move the contents of the bowl away to the sewage system. When the toilet is flushed, the water pulled to the siphon and down the drain.
For toilets to flush effectively, water must enter the bowl with enough force to trigger the siphon to remove the contents. In most instances, the water pressure is too low to move the waste effectively, so that’s where tanks come into play. The water from the tank uses the force of gravity to create enough energy to a flushing toilet.
How Tankless Toilet Work?
Tankless toilets are simply toilets without the two-gallon tank attached. Tankless toilets are sufficient because they can receive enough water force or an electric pump to move the contents from the bowl and out the siphon directly from the water supply.
In commercial settings, the water pressure is much higher and is strong enough to flush the tankless toilets effectively. The problem occurs in residential settings because the water pressure generally isn’t strong enough to support tankless toilets.
A tankless toilet has a special valve to control the amount of water that is allowed to enter the bowl. To have a tankless toilet in your home, you will need to have installed the plumbing infrastructure to support it. Tankless toilets require ½” to 1″ size pipe. Tankless toilets need for high pressure can cause damage in older homes.
Keep in mind, due to the connection on electricity for the tankless toilet to flush; if there is a loss of power, your toilet will not flush. The large pipes and electric pump are built into the walls so a professional will be needed to troubleshot any malfunctions with a tankless toilet.