PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Officials say there was a bizarre accident at a Pittsburgh government building on Monday as a toilet shattered and injured a city employee.
Photos show all that is left after the tank on the toilet shattered, leaving sharp jagged edges of porcelain.
A while back, there was a recall of “pressure assisted toilets,” toilets with pressurized tanks that were exploding. There is a steel pressure tank inside the porcelain “tank.” The porcelain “tank” is for cosmetic purposes only. The pressure tank has air in it that gets compressed up to the water supply pressure when it fills with water. When you flush, you instantly open the lower valve to the pressure tank and you get a “power flush” when the air expands and forces the water out into the bowl under pressure. Unfortunately, due to defective pressure tanks, some of these toilets were exploding and injuring people.
ReplyDeleteHere is a site that explains it https://www.flushmate.com/blog/what-are-pressure-assisted-toilets-and-why-should-you-install-them
^ This.Sloan Flushmate tanks, used by American Standard and Kohler, possibly others. The pressure vessel can spontaneously fail blowing apart the outer china "tank".I've serviced these toilets before, and have seen the aftermath of this sort of failure. It can be very ugly in terms of injury (of one is in the room when it happen) and property damage. I really don't care for this design.
DeleteThe pressure tank is plastic, not steel. When I was a service plumber I grew to hate flushmate toilets. I've been on quite a few service calls for exploding toilets and seen the aftermath. Most of them didn't hurt anyone; they just made a mess. Some sent people to the hospital.
DeleteThese are guys who know their shit . Sorry I had to go there...
DeleteJD
Well I see another lawsuit coming. If I walked in and saw the condition of that shithole I would have turned my ass around and got out of there.
ReplyDeleteFat tax feeders are hard on infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteSeems I remember during the 1970s there was a spate of incidents in high schools where the little darlings dropping lit M-80s as they flushed. Maybe this "government building" anti-Trump individual's grandfather gave him the idea.
ReplyDeleteOur Boy Scout troop was al.ost kicked out of the catholic church we had meetings in for blowing a toilet or two off the wall. Late 70's early 80's.
DeleteWhistling while walking away, lol
DeleteJD
Weren't me.
DeletePittsburgh, deferred maintenance money went where?
ReplyDeleteCombining refried and black beans in that burrito was a bad idea
ReplyDeleteJD