European designed toilets

[DIY]

Just recently replaced my bathroom and chose a toilet from a brochure - a 'No-Code' Igloo.

(Although this web-page shows the Igloo - I did not buy the product from this retailer).

What I didn't realise was that many modern toilets, mainly those designed abroad (the Igloo is Italian), have stupidly designed bowls on the inside.

Most UK toilets have a decent sized water trap, located to the rear of the bowl, with a vertical drop of the porcelain down into the water.

The Igloo has a very small water trap, located in the centre of the bowl, with a virtual 'shelf' all the way around it.. Without going into (unpleasant!) detail, it's almost impossible to use the loo without always having to clean it with a loo brush afterwards - and then doing a second flush.

Had I known the loo was designed in this way there is no way that I would have ordered it but neither my retailer, nor the importer, show any sympathy. "That's the way it's designed - and it complies with European standards" is their response!

Anyone thinking of replacing a toilet would be well advised not to choose from a brochure - but see the loo 'in the flesh' and examine the interior of the bowl prior to ordering!

DIY

[Astral Voyager]

The image linked does not show the inside of the toilet. If it is like the ones we used to have in Germany (admittedly over 30 years ago) then the 'shelf' (so I was told at the time) was to allow you to inspect your droppings for worms before they vanished around the bend. I'm not sure where the worms were supposed to come from - probably less than clean water supplies. Even then it may have been a design that was a throwback to earlier times. I was never keen on them - especially after a curry... :-( You knew you had had a good clearout if your head hit the ceiling... ;-)

Mel.

[DIY]

LOL!! Yes - you're not the first one to suggest that this toilet may have been designed for the German market. Strange hygiene practices some of these continentals!

DIY

[Astral Voyager]

If memory serves (it often doesn't nowadays) then the toilets in Germany at that time did not have cistern flush, but were flushed by direct mains pressure operated by a lever. This meant you could flush as much or as little as needed. Obviously a cistern flush limits the amount of water available to deal with any heavy loads. I doubt that system would be legal in this country for fear of contamination of the water supply.

Mel.

[Bob Hardwell]

In message , Astral Voyager writes

Pigs! (Where the worms come from, not the Germans)

[Gazz]

That's correct, i lived in germany between 1983 and 1990,

the 'poo shelf' in the bogs was there to inspect your droppings, and also to enable easy sample taking for the yearly medicle checkups the germans have, they go for prevention rather than cure there.

the flush was a big bore plack pupe to the bowl, and a chromed lever at the top, lookeld like a nose, press it and you get a hell of a pressure to totaly flush the bog, and as you say, you hold it for as long as is needed to flush.

only problem with that was when the water had been off for pipe repairs in the street, the first person to flush the bog after the supply was resotred, got an explosion as the air went thru the valve, often blowing the pipe out the bog connection, which if you didnt realise you got very wet when the water came through :)

i was amazed when i went back to germany recently to find that style of bog has almost dissapeered, using cisterns now,

[Astral Voyager]

It sounds like the current style is a hybrid. The traditional German (continental?) pan fitted with a cistern. Neither of which is really suited to the other. Which may explain the OP's problem with cleaning.

AV.