Originally posted on https://www.beehiveplumbing.com/what-is-a-pressure-assist-toilet-how-it-works-and-why-you-need-one/

 

Pressure-assisted toilets are powerful, ejecting water out of the tank with full force. As a side effect, they generate a loud noise. It’s so distracting that it’s become a deciding factor when choosing a toilet.

However, that shouldn’t be the only deciding factor. Despite its noise, many building owners are choosing to install this type of toilets instead. This is also despite its higher price than the typical toilets.

It’s a high-efficiency toilet that offers much more than a loud flush. Keep reading to see how a pressure assist toilet can benefit you, even if you’re a regular homeowner.

What is a Pressure-Assisted Toilet

The typical toilet you know uses a gravity-flush mechanism. It relies on gravity to pull the water from the tank into the toilet bowl when the valve or “flapper” is open. It’s simple but it gets the job done.

Pressure assist toilets, on the other hand, uses compressed air to flush out the waste in the toilet. For this reason, it has greater flushing power. This makes it great for commercial settings.

How It Works

Inside the pressure assist tank, you’ll find a black air bladder instead of the conventional pump you expect to see in a toilet. As its name indicates, it contains air, but it also fills with water. When it fills with water, this compresses the air inside.

When you flush the toilet, the pressure created expels the water with force. This results in the greater flushing power we talked about earlier.

In the end, a fill valve like that of a standard gravity-flush toilet opens. This allows water in to refill the pressure tank, which then repeats the cycle. It has a pretty simple mechanism if you think about it, but what makes it do the job better?

Why You Need a Pressure Assist Toilet in Your Home

Pressure-assisted toilets are more common in buildings and establishments. But they’re becoming popular in residential homes, too.

Do you need one in your home? Yes, and here’s why.

1. It’s Better at Flushing Solid Waste

A pressure assist toilet is better at flushing down solid waste because of the pressure. Using higher force than conventional toilets, it’s able to push the waste farther. This ensures it doesn’t come back again like with other models of gravity systems.

Furthermore, there’s a disparity between different models of traditional toilets. If you were to stick with the low-cost ones, you might get stuck with a non-efficient flushing system.

That said, there are gravity-flush toilets that can do their jobs well, too. But with a pressure flush assist, you can ensure you won’t get this problem with any model you pick.

2. It Clogs Less

Because of the forceful flushing, you won’t have to worry about clogging, either. It pushes any solid waste farther into the plumbing system, way past the sticking points in the sewage line.

With dilapidated pipes, this is a common problem. Even if you remove the clog, it will only come back again because of the nature of the pipes.

However, this isn’t a problem at all with pressure-assisted toilets. Even with old pipes, it still reduces the risks of clogging by a significant amount.

3. It Saves Water

You’d think that more efficient flushing leads to higher usage of water, right? With pressure assist, however, it’s the opposite.

Because it gets the force it needs from the pressure created by the compressed air, it doesn’t need as much water. On average, it uses 1.1 to 1.2 gallon of water per flush. That’s less than the typical 1.6 gallons of water a conventional toilet uses per flush.

If your home still has that old toilet pre-1994, replacing it with a pressure assist toilet can save you up to 4,000 gallons per year.

4. It Saves Money

As a result, you can get huge savings on money, too. It might be the more expensive alternative, but it pays itself off in the long run.

You may save even more if your local utility company offers rebates for installing high-efficiency models to replace your old toilet, which includes pressure-assist toilets.

It has fewer moving parts, too, which makes it less likely to break. You might save on maintenance because you don’t need to maintain it as often.

If it does break, however, you’ll have to hire someone qualified. It’s going to be hard to obtain its parts so you can’t DIY it to save money.

5. It Doesn’t Cause Sweating

In hot and humid climates, gravity-flush toilets are prone to condensation or sweating. This is because the water is inside the air bladder and not pooling inside the tank itself. This prevents the forming of condensation inside the tank, which also leads to increased humidity in the bathroom.

It’s best to avoid this because it can cause harm over time. It can drip onto your bathroom floor.

The wetness keeps the floor damp, which may cause it to rot. Given enough time, the water drops can damage the floor and subfloor.

6. It’s Cleaner

The pressure assist system also keeps the toilet bowls clean. The strong flow of water wipes off any dirt and smudges on the walls of the bowl. The toilet bowl itself also keeps a higher water level, which also means cleaner walls.

You save water in the sense that you don’t need to flush again and again to get rid of smudges on the sides. You also have to clean less often, so you’ll use less cleaning solutions, too.

You’ll save a few dollars every month this way, but it’s more important impact is not on your pocket but the environment. Using less cleaning chemicals allows you to reduce the amount of chemicals that enter the environment when you flush it.

Replace Your Toilet Now

Although pressure-assisted toilets are notorious for the loud noise it makes when flushing, their benefits make the noise only a minor setback. If you do decide to get one, only trust a plumbing expert to install it.

To ensure a proper disassembly of your current toilet and installation of a pressure assist toilet, call us; let the professionals handle it.