h a l f b a k e r y
A hive of inactivity
idea:
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random
meta:
news, help, about, links, report a problem
account:
Browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
or Create a new account.
|
|
|
Stands up, pulling up pants. Flushes toilet, goes to wash hands. Reaches for soap, toilet bowl is filling. Bowl keeps filling, panic sets in. Thoughts of wet dirty mess clouds mind, reaches for plunger. Bowl about to overflow, discards plunger. Reaches for toilet lid, removes decorative doily, book
and ornament. Drops ornaments in sink, water overflows toilet bowl. Lunges for lid, removes lid. Sets lid down, lifts metal wire thingy. Bowl stops filling, water runs along floor in tiny effluent rivers.
Much stress, strain and perhaps... stain, could be saved if the toilet bowl stopped filling immediately when the toilet lid was removed. The lid is rarely removed in any other circumstance than an overflowing, so a simple mechanism could be added that performs this function to save precious seconds.
FlowManager System
http://www.plumbing...verflowmanager.html
Just in case the Toilet Lid Mechanism fails to operate. [Amos Kito, May 18 2006]
[link]
|
| |
A simple thing to design and make real (+), and we've all needed it at one time or another. |
|
| |
This should SO be an existing feature already. |
|
| |
No-one else keeps their secret stash inside the toilet reservoir? |
|
| |
Your flushes are in excess of the volumetric capacity of the bowl? What a crazy world we live in! |
|
| |
Just get a toilet made in the past sixteen years. 1.6 gallons is not going to overflow. |
|
| |
Put a breeze (cinder) block in the tank. Same effect. |
|
| |
An example of a mechanism, would be a piece of string that is attached to the wire dealy at one end, and the lid at the other. When the lid is lifted, the string would pull the wire lever dealy, stopping the flow. |
|
| |
/Put a breeze block in the tank/ Strikes me that the unfortunate poster is more accustomed to putting breeze blocks in the bowl. |
|
| |
//don't you think more bran would worsen the problem// |
|
| |
I'm thinking not. Unless, of course, your food intake by volume exceeds your peristaltic movements' capacity to expulse the byproducts in reasonable quantities. |
|
| |
We used to have a "Stealth Bomber" whose identity we never uncovered, at a place where I worked. We called him "The Phantom 40-pounder". He would render one cubicle completely inoperable, every day. The cleaners even began leaving rude notes for him, about his habits, attitude and appetite. |
|
| |
Dirty, filthy, prodigiously oversized bastard... |
|
| |
[+] Hahaha! I had this 2 weeks ago. The toilet bowl filled, the lumps of human waste spiralling upwards towards me .. thankfully it stopped mere inches from the lip. I'd still want this system anywho! |
|
| |
I'd prefer the tank to either have a runoff built in to the toilet to drain thru an auxilary pipe to prevent overflows. I think the fancier ones might come with that. But for those of us stuck with the cheap rental apartment, it might be easier to install something with a sensor that goes on the lip. It would attach to the hose that pumps the water in. If the sensor is triggered it simply blocks the hose so no more water can enter. Automating this process seems better than depending on someone who flushes and runs without noticing. |
|
| |
A spring loaded (or counterweighted) arm parallel to the float arm, sharing approximately the same pivot point has a 90 degree bend sideways that crosses a segment of the arm under the float arm near the float, another upward 90 at the end of that segment brings the end of the arm straight up where its tip extends above the plane of the lid several inches. When the lid's off, the springylifty arm is allowed to lift the float arm, thus shutting off the water. When the lid's on, the lid pushes down the springy arm via the sticky-uppy tip and allows the float valve to open and float as normal. |
|
| |
As a retrofit, this safety arm mounts with a "U" channel dropped down over the top lip of the tank on the end nearest the float pivot. |
|
| |
Might be able to make a prototype using a tubular plastic clothes hanger and a heat gun. |
|
| |
Beats my lid on a string, [half]. That device might be saleable as a retrofit. |
|
| |
Ha, I thought of the lid on a string too. I then immediately visualized myself ripping the float assembly apart with the string and causing a much worse mess. |
|
| |
Unless I am not misinterpreting incorrectly, it is not the float that needs stopping (the overflow is not caused by the re-filling of the tank but by the volume of water already in the tank flowing into the bowl) but the valve that allows passage of water from the tank to the bowl.
I propose the device be modified by dispensing with the tank lid lifting and installing a red "STOP" button on the lid that, when pressed, forces the valve connecting the bowl and the tank to shut. More elegantly, a tank side-mounted lever performs the same function but looks like a Vegas slot machine (dings and bells are optional). |
|
| |
Certainly the flapper valve would need to be closed too. That's a separate, closely related, but I think less critical problem. I focused on the explicitly mentioned problem. |
|
| |
For the most part, while the float is open to refill the tank, water is also being supplied to the bowl via the "refill tube". Even if the flapper valve is closed, water is being suppled to the bowl so closing the float valve is a must. |
|
| |
Even if the flapper is stuck open, once the toilet has been flushed and you become aware of the problem the tank is usually pretty darn near empty so the stopping of the water supply will take care of the bulk of the concerns expressed in the original idea. |
|
| |
So that's how it's called, "flapper valve". Who woudda thunk it.
Surely the button or lever could both close the flapper valve and the float. Hey, Presto. no more water to the bowl. |
|
| |
Maybe not as easily. The flapper valve is lifted in to a mostly vertical position. If it's stuck in that position, it might be tough to push down with a simple movement. If it's stuck because the pull chain is tangled, it might resist the mechanism so ---since we're in the business of overengineering here--- I wouldn't want to tie the two safety mechanisms together. |
|
| |
I'd have to think a bit on how to make a dead simple safety mechanism for that bit that could be actuated by lid removal and wouldn't potentially interfere with the normal operation of the flapper. |
|
| |
I agree that a big red stop button could be effective. Reminds me of the "STOP" tab that you press to shut down my old Mercedes when the vacuum pot fails. |
|
| |
An easy solution for both problems: The "STOP" lever actuates two quarter turn valves, one that shuts the pipe feeding the tank and one that shuts the pipe between the tank and the bowl. This plumbing is a tough trade, I tell you. |
|
| |
One thing to note: a single flush won't generally overflow the bowl anyway. It's that second one that might get your feet wet, and worse. |
|
| |
Yet another argument against the "courtesy flush". |
|
| |
You could have a float lever in the bowl connected to the flush mechanism to prevent overflow. Just not in my toilet. |
|
| |
I thought this would be an idea to get people to put the toilet seat down. It could be combined with it though, if the toilet automatically overflowed unless the lid was put down. |
|
| |