Royal Flush

[AE_Collector]

I even got to play a game of Pong (an early Atari video game) with him. 

I'm obviously older than you think! (54). But I know, others will eventually read this and wonder what Pong is.

Terry

[Dave F]

I even got to play a game of Pong (an early Atari video game) with him.

I'm obviously older than you think! (54). But I know, others will eventually read this and wonder what Pong is.

Terry

At that time (~1974) we were building clones of Atari's coin-operated Pong, and it was actually one of my machines that I played with Johnny.

[AE_Collector]

But you didn't manage to get a guest spot on the show, too bad. Johnny was the King of late night. I grew up watching him when I should have been sleeping for school the next day. Now with PVR's and time shifting (watching eastern feeds here on the west coast to get shows 3 hours earlier) the 11:30 PM start of the Tonight Show wouldn't have been a problem. And it was a 1 1/2 hour show then as well.

Terry

[Dave F]

But you didn't manage to get a guest spot on the show, too bad.

Terry

No, but I did get a weekend comped at Caesar's Palace, front-row-center seats to his sold-out Las Vegas dinner show, and a personal meeting backstage.  That wasn't too shabby!  More on that story at a later time...

DF

[AE_Collector]

Definitely a memorable experience!

Terry

[TelePlay]

See this Wellworth mini-me?

http://tinyurl.com/cdrpew5

[Dave F]

See this Wellworth mini-me?

http://tinyurl.com/cdrpew5

He also has them in pink, for the discriminating interior decorator.  Yummy.

[GG]

What to do with those:  Put them on an extension behind your PBX, whereby your main menu says e.g. "This is the Smith residence.  For John press 1.  For Betty press 2.  For our daughter Susan press 3.  If you are a bill collector press 4.  If you are confused, remain on the line and our dog Shep will speak with you shortly."

And of course the bill collectors ring on the tele-potty.  Which you don't have to answer.  Too bad it doesn't answer itself with a flushing sound. 

[Dave F]

For John press 1. ....

For The John, press 2.

[Bill]

The thread seems to have wandered away from "low flow toilets". Maybe it was never intended to be there. But I'll toss in my 2 cents worth.

The original low-flow toilets WERE pretty winpy. But more recently, I think they have all become what I call "two speed toilets". If you press-and-release the flush lever, you get a small flush, using about half of the contents of the tank. But if you press and hold the flush lever, you get the full tank of water surging through. I first ran across them at our daughter's newly-built house in Longmont, CO, and they may, in fact, be required by code now in many areas. I love the idea of a low-flow flush when it is appropriate, but a full-flow flush when you need it. And I've never seen a flush fail.

A new dual flush toilet is expensive. But you can buy a dual-flush conversion kit for an exsisting toilet at Lowe's for $30. NO excuses! Just do it!

Bill

[GG]

One of the keys to how this works: 

It takes about 1/2 gallon of water, if dumped into the bowl very quickly, to cause the siphon action that creates an actual flush.  If the water is introduced into the bowl more slowly, it takes a larger quantity to create the siphon action rather than merely overflow from the trap to the waste pipe first.

A good high-efficiency toilet will transfer water from its tank to its bowl as quickly as possible, to create the siphon action with less water.

Some of the early "not very good" high-efficiency toilets probably consisted of a new type flush tank mounted on an older bowl.   On the older bowls, the water inflow from tank to bowl is slower to avoid the risk of backing up and overflowing.  This is correct when using 5 gallons per flush, but when you're using a gallon or less it's too slow to create proper siphon action quickly enough, and thus the often-heard complaints about poor performance.

Yes these are getting much better over time, as with automobiles, appliances, and other items that are affected by efficiency considerations.   

[old_stuff_hound]

A good high-efficiency toilet will transfer water from its tank to its bowl as quickly as possible, to create the siphon action with less water.

The Kohlers I installed have 3" flap valves -- the water comes out in a big hurry. They flush great!

[DavePEI]

The Kohlers I installed have 3" flap valves -- the water comes out in a big hurry. They flush great!

As they say, Waste not, want not 

[old_stuff_hound]

The Kohlers I installed have 3" flap valves -- the water comes out in a big hurry. They flush great!

As they say, Waste not, want not 

Yup -- 1.4 gal through a three inch hole moves stuff along. ;-)

[GG]

Though, the reverse is true in the sewer line.  There, a larger diameter pipe works best for older toilets, and a smaller-diameter pipe works best for high-efficiency toilets.  The key to the latter is, the smaller-diameter pipe concentrates the flow of water, thereby ensuring enough force behind the water to move solid material (particularly paper) all the way down the line to the sewer mains in the streets.

For which reason, if you have a new toilet on an old sewer line, you may find the line gets clogged more often than it did before.  The preventive solution to this is to flush twice when any solid material is involved. 

In general the efficiency of "systems" depends on all of the components being "tuned" to each other.  For example all automobiles are more efficient on smooth roads than on rough roads.  A fridge is more efficient when it is not in direct sunlight.  And 302s on long lines require heavier-gauge copper to provide the same current through the transmitter as they get on shorter lines with narrower-gauge copper.