Are you a toilet expert? Can you help me ?

We adapt.

 

My dad says his father got married young so he could move out of his parents' house and get his own bathroom!(LOL) Seven sisters!

 

Depends on where you were! In NYC, Sewers started being built in the 1850’s, and most of the city had them within 60 years. One WC per unit was required by law shortly after the turn of the last century (1902? Or therabouts), though of course it took a while for that to trickle down, so to speak.

 

https://www.brownstoner.com/archite...ory-plumbing-brooklyn-architecture-interiors/
And
https://victoriaplum.com/blog/posts/a-brief-history-of-the-toilet

 

No, it doesn't.
Doubts anyone on this forum even knows what the term "modern plumbing" means.
I'll try to explain in layman's terms, it means when we finally figured out how to vent a drainage system to keep fixture traps full of water.
All plumbing fixtures have "P traps", the purpose of which is to have a water seal to prevent sewer gas from escaping into a building.
On the inlet side of the trap you have gravity pushing down on this water seal (approx 14 PSI).
On the outlet side of the trap, you must maintain this same PSI or you will lose the trap seal with very unpleasant consequences.
This is where the "vent" comes into play, it maintains the same pressure (gravity) on the outlet side of the trap thereby ensuring the water in the trap stays there.
It only took plumbers 2000 years to figure this out but HEY! we got there eventually!

 

A quicky drawing sometimes works better than text, showing the principle of modern plumbing. Plumbing systems can get complicated in a hurry! Trust me!

 

Your Lateral is going uphill.... you need a 1/4 inch per foot down hill for good flow.....lol. Worked for the sewer department for 7 months starting 3 days before the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake ... so I do know $h!t .........lol.... and I vow I will never pick up a jack hammer ever again ....thank god fire season started and I went back to the Fire Department .....lol .

 

Not a problem! There is an ejector pump on that sanitary lateral that I didn't show!

 

Getting back to OP water closet value, it is zero. No one (except a few on this forum) is installing used plumbing fixtures on new plumbing systems.
You can buy new vintage plumbing fixtures but they are very expensive. Take claw foot bathtubs for example which are popular.
Kohler makes one that lists for 10k & wholesales for about 8k which does NOT include the faucet to fill it nor the contractor to plumb it.

Kohler Birthday Bath

 

They may be junking serviceable and well made vintage plumbing in the US and adding to landfill as a result, but that certainly isn't the case in the UK.

No clue why anyone would bury piping in walls, it's madness. But then, ours are brick.

The S bend was patented here in 1775, although water closet style loos existed well before that. Doulton Lambeth, my passion, were making S bend loos from around 1850 ish.

 

No one cares about the UK when it comes to plumbing, the USA invented modern plumbing.
American Standard used to be the big dog in the plumbing world, then Kohler, now it's TOTO, times change.
Plumbing is a very complicated subject in the modern world and covers everything from faucets to nuclear power plants.
It's a 2000-year-old profession, the word plumber comes from the Latin "Plumarius" which means, "worker of lead". 2000 years later, we are STILL messing with it!

 

my home was checked.....lead free !!!!

 

LOL, Good to hear! Lead is a tricky substance, no doubt!

 

I'd not heard of Toto, apparently they're Japanese:very fancy loos. Kohler, is not really known or sold here, seem to be made in China.

Plumbing is one of the more straightforward trades, especially if you'v studied hydraulics, which I did. As davey says, much easier these days with push ons and no need to weld. I've not done anything as "big" as a bathroom, but I'll happily do basics. My dad used to do a fair bit: the only complication was the mix of imperial and metric sometimes.

We did totally rewire our own house. Biggest challenge was having to bury the odd cable in places in walls made from solid brick with concrete plaster. They knew how to build in the 20s.

I'd not touch gas works, I'll do most other things.

 

Popping in with my recommendation.
I put in a Toto a few years ago, the draw being a larger route for the um... you know... to flush through. Plunging is now a thing of the past in our house.

 

Toto, I know to be Dorothy's Dog and the name of a band.
Otherwise I got nothing.

 

There we have it! Another plumbing mystery SOLVED!
The UK is just a SMALL step away from antique baths, A HOLE IN THE GROUND!

TOTO are the guys who figured out how to make low-flow water closets ACTUALLY WORK! It made them a STAR in the plumbing world.
The answer again is ALWAYS about physics with plumbing, with 2 piece toilets, you have a tank & bowl with a 2" hole between them. Pull the tank lever, the water goes down the 2" hole and flushes the bowl. With 3-5 gallons that works FINE but with 1.6 gallons or less? NO! it does NOT work.
TOTO made that hole 3" instead of the usual 2" and BAM! IT WORKED!
And the rest as they say, is HISTORY!

 

Of course, their patent ran out and now everyone has copied that design but, that doesn't matter. It is TOTO's claim to fame and that's THAT!
The latest in water closets? "Skirted" water closets with some costing in the 10k range, NOT INSTALLED! Not only do you need water & drainage but electricity as well, that's RIGHT! the seat is heated as well as the water for the bidet function.
It comes with a remote control! The "guts" of the toilet are sealed, they can NOT be fixed or worked on even if the parts were available which they are NOT. You ship them back to the factory for service!
I would add that cats are absolutely SMITTEN with these new water closets.
I do not know why.

 

We've had low flush and dual flush loos here for decades. They work very well.

Sounds more like poor siphon design or outlets to the foul down pipe being too small.