12 different types of Toilets

Ever since human beings started organizing their dwelling places by putting a well-planned system in place, the need for toilets must have been more evident than most other things. With the first toilet being invented a long time ago, we humans have since modernized its design and working, every step of the way. Whether it’s the sitting position, or technologically superior seat covers, or the comfort of the kids and the elderly, or some other classification feature — today we have at least 12 major toilet types that we know are being used across the globe.

Here’s an overview of each of these 12 broad types of toilets:

Water Efficient Toilet

Just like the name suggests, this is the kind of toilet that helps save water, every single time you flush. The design of its toilet bowl, as well as the trap way, help in flush down the waste using less water, with newer designs making use of no more than 2 liters of water. By reducing the diameter of the drain, in addition to this being a bent design, helps in creating a vacuum when water flows through it. This is primarily how the design incorporates its unique water saving feature. This is just the kind of futuristic design being offered by many floor standing toilets manufacturers in India, that takes water conservation into account, that makes it a popular choice among people.

WC Health

The WC has a unique design that combines the comfort of the water closet and the health benefits of squatting. As per the standards followed by the floor standing toilets manufacturers in India, it should weigh around 40 kg, standing around 22 to 25 cm tall from the ground up. This height is nearly half of what you see in your average European water closet which happens to stand 50 to 56 cm from the floor. This toilet also comes coated with an antibacterial glaze.

Western or European Water Closet

These are toilets that come with their own seat & cover as part of the overall design, with the cover used every single time you flush. There is a flush tank that comes attached, as per the design of Western-style toilet, for one to flush after every usage. This flush tank can either be plastic-made or be made in ceramic. By the virtue of the water seal present, there is always a small amount of water that gets trapped inside the toilet itself; usually, this water seal height tends to be 50mm. Also, water closets are normally open rim because the flushing tanks are kept high in position for the flushing to be effective. These are quite common everywhere in the world, with many floor-mounted as well as wall-hung toilets manufacturers in India opting for this design; not just comfortable, but these go really well with any other bathroom design element, such as under-counter wash basins, and so on. An average European water closet stands about 500 to 550 mm from the ground up and its weight varies from 12 to 20 kg, as per the design. Every water closet must be able to withstand a minimum of 400 kg without it breaking.

One-piece toilet

These are the type of toilets that do not require a separate flush tank. The flush tank comes attached with the body of water closet itself. The tank as well as the body are both made from ceramic and are finally fused together. This is also why the problem of leakage is minimal in this design. One-piece toilet design usually comes only with a floor-mount type model. Due to the fact that the weight of this kind of toilet is relatively more (roughly between 38 and 50 kg), therefore, one rarely ever sees a single-piece toilet made with a wall-hung model. Nevertheless, this design is made available in both ‘S’ as well as ‘P’ trap models. This type of toilet is only designed as a closed-rim model, due to the requirement of maintaining the right water pressure during flushing.

Two-piece Toilet

Then there are toilets which come in two-piece designs. The normal European water closet is extended in order to fit a ceramic tank in the toilet itself. This name here comes from the design, as the toilet bowl, and the ceramic tank, are both coupled by using bolts, giving it the design its name — a two-piece toilet. A two-piece toilet also goes by the name of the coupled closet, again owing to its design. Also, the weight of a two-piece toilet is supposed to be somewhere between 25 and 45 kg, depending upon the product design. Furthermore, these are designed in a closed-rim method so as to ensure that water pressure is just right when it’s time to flush. These are available in both ‘S’ and ‘P’ trap; floor-mount, as well as wall-hung toilets manufacturers in India, make use of this design.

Squatting Pan

This is your classic type of toilet, which combined with a corner wash basin, must be found in countless Indian homes. Even though it is increasingly being replaced by the water closets with modern design, this type is still considered the healthier option amongst all. The squatting pan is aptly known as the Indian pan, or Orissa pan, or even Asian pan toilet in a lot of countries abroad. These squatting pans are made in several designs, with variations seen from country to country, as you’ll find the Indian, Chinese, as well as Japanese squatting pans vastly different in their designs from each other. These kinds of toilets are also found to be comparatively cheaper than most other water closet-type toilets.

Anglo-Indian type of Toilet

This is the kind that combines a squatting pan (i.e. Indian) as well as the western water closet style toilets. You can either squat or else sit on this toilet, howsoever you feel comfortable. These kinds of toilets also go by the names — combination toilet, and universal toilet.

Rimless Toilet

Rimless Toilet is a new model of a toilet which allows an easy cleaning process as the design completely eliminates the corners one would find in the rim area of the toilet. This model has been introduced in water closets that are wall-hung as well as floor standing toilets, irrespective of whether they come in an oval or a round shape. There’s a small step included just below the rim in order to make the flushing ore effective. In the near future, one may expect to find this model as part of the One-piece toilet design and some other types too.

Elderly Toilet

These are toilets designed in a way that allows older people to easily sit and rise. The pedestal height of this toilet is kept a bit higher than an average water closet, with its overall height being around 70 cm.

Kids Toilet

This one has been specially designed for kids. The size of this kind of toilet is kept smaller so that even kids below the age of 12 can use it without help. Nowadays, there are such seat covers available in the market that make it easy for children to sit even on a regular floor standing toilets.

Smart Toilet

Smart toilets are exactly how they sound — intelligent by nature. In a bathroom space that has a chic console wash basin or a sleek semi-recessed wash basin, this very state-of-the-art specially-designed ceramic toilet attached to an electronic seat cover would look utterly luxurious at the least! Everything intelligent or smart about this toilet is all because of the features offered by the seat cover. With a remote that helps set various functions as well as parameters, a few of the many features that a smart toilet are seat cover opening up automatically as one approaches the toilet, distinguishing between men and women, playing pre-set music lyrics automatically as someone approaches, saving previous user choices, having a dual flush system — an option between eco flush and full flush, allowing one to set the temperature and pressure of the water as well as the position of the water jet.

Tornado Toilet

Another one of the newer model among current water closets, the design of Tornado toilet allows it to both flushes as well as clean, simultaneously. The water is supposed to circle in the water closet to make sure the toilet gets flushed and cleaned easily, making this type of flushing possible only in round-shaped toilets. You must have seen these in many of the newly-made or recently renovated airport or mall toilets, combined with mostly pedestal wash basins, to give an overall clean and sharp look.

Originally published at RedbracketBlog.