Requirements Of A Sanitary Closet

To be efficient and sanitary, a water closet should be made of porcelain enameled iron or of porcelain, and must be absolutely free from working mechanism within the receptacle. It must contain a sufficient depth of water to completely cover any excremental matter deposited in it, so as to prevent odor. It must have no surfaces that can become soiled or that are not thoroughly water scoured every time the fixture is flushed. It must be supplied at each discharge with a sufficient volume of water to remove the entire contents of the bowl and trap and replace it with fresh water. The water should be discharged into the closet suddenly, with force, and in a large volume.

Hopper Closets

The simplest form of water closet is a hopper closet, shown in Fig. 140. It consists of a funnel or hopper-shaped bowl fitted with a flushing rim or pipe-wash connection. This type of closet contains no water in the bowl and the converging sides are dry and present the maximum surface to be soiled. Hopper closets are installed principally in exposed places where other types of closets that contain water would be damaged by the frost. When thus installed the closet trap and water supply valve are located in a pit below frost level, and after each flush of the fixture the water is automatically drained from the flush pipe down to the valve. When fitted up in this manner the entire inner surface of the pipe, from the hopper to the trap, sometimes becomes covered with a coating of bacterial slime that in warm weather gives off a very disagreeable odor. Hopper closets located in warm places should be flushed from a tank or flush valve and should have the trap placed as close as possible to the closet bowl.

Fig. 140

Washout Water Closets

A washout water closet is shown in section in Fig. 141. The body of water in this • type of closet is so shallow that faecal matter is not submerged, consequently it gives off offensive odors. Should the bowl be made deep enough to submerge the faeces, the flush of water would not have sufficient force to remove it from the bowl. The action of the closet when operated is as follows: Water flowing through the flushing rim and closet bowl converges toward the inlet to the closet trap. The largest volume of water sweeps down the back to dislodge all matter from the bowl, while the lighter flush at the sides serves to detach any soil from the rest of the surface. The water leaves the bowl with a slight upward motion due to the shape of the bottom of the bowl, and is dashed against the front wall of the closet outlet, which deprives it of its momentum. The only force the water then has to wash matter out of the trap is the momentum it acquires in falling from where it was dashed against the side of the bowl to the surface of water in the trap; consequently, if a large volume of water is not used, particles of matter will be left floating in the water of the trap where it sometimes remains for a long period of time, giving off offensive odors until finally displaced. The outlet to a washout closet is usually at the front, so that a person standing before the closet does not notice the filthy condition of the outlet, the sides of which are often foul with bacterial slime. When a washout closet is flushed, the upward force of water in the bowl discharges foul air from the closet into the room. This objectionable feature can be observed by standing in front of a washout closet at the moment the chain is pulled.

Fig. 141

Washdown Water Closets

When properly designed, washdown closets, Fig. 142, are quite sanitary. They are clean, impervious, well flushed and contain a sufficient depth of water to prevent odors. The flushing rim is large and has numerous well-proportioned perforations through which a copious flush of water flows down and floods the contents from the closet. Washdown closets are open to the objection that they are noisy in operation and are often designed as in Fig. 143, so that the surface, a, which is not submerged, is' generally soiled and unsightly.

Fig. 142