The WC (explained)

Most people think they know what the words WC mean. The normal version is water closet which is correct, however most people don’t realise that WC is actually the pan and cylinder of the toilet no the room where they are situated

N9 Plumbers know all about WC’s and fittings and can fit or fix them all. The pan and cylinder have changed drastically over the last few years. Water regulations set a water volume limit that can be stored and used to flush the toilet. A new toilet pan will have has a maximum of 6 litres, when not too long ago the volume allowed was 9litres. WCs today are called ‘wash down’ types as they use the water pressure from the cylinder to wash away the waste. A siphonic action can be found sometimes, this was fitted during the 1970’s and are regarded as old fashioned nowadays. This type had one advantage, though, in that it had the additional siphonic action which helped the removal of the waste from the pan. (An N9 Plumber is a skilled tradesman and can fit wash down pans). The siphonic loo worked by lowering the air pressure in the pocket of air that is caught between both traps. This action was achieved by allowing the water for flushing to flow over a fitting that reduced the pressure, creating a negative pressure resulting in the removal of the air that sat between the two traps of water. The action of the vacuum resulted in the waste located in the pan being sucked out at some speed by the resulting siphonic process. This system as stated earlier is not really installed in homes any more and it was quite expensive to fit.


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