A local council passing a law that building should be
1.5 to 2 6m away from the boundary line is good but
this law really should not apply to developers in
cosmopolitan areas. I mean, the engineer has ways of
protecting even when buildings are exactly on the
boundary line. So this law is a result of those who
draft it who are not aware of the engineer's capability
and for not having consulted the engineer, they thus
try to assume the position of being the engineer.
Which is very terrible to the society. You who are of
another profession or layman should not tamper with
life that way or arrest development with skimpy laws.
Nathan Ddumba
Friday, August 27, 2010
FOUNDATIONS OF BUILDINGS.
FOUNDATIONS OF BUILDINGS.
-------------------------
what do we do when soil investigations are done at the site?
What are we looking for?
And who demands these values?
It is the engineer to make sure your building is safe.
What is needed is
- the shear strength parameters of the soil
and
- the unit weight or density of the soil
These will be needed should an engineer want to determine
the safe bearing capacity of the soils underneath the
foundation to be of the building.
Then again, should the engineer want to know how
far deep you will have to excavate, the following
site investigations would be needed:
- depth of the excavation
- shear strength parameters
- the water table position.
With these, the engineer will tell you how deepest
down you can indeed excavate.
Chucks of soil normally fail but not necessarily the
whole shoil mass failing, so stand warned, such result
from cracks within the soils which are so so hard to determine
But know for sure, when there is a road or a building nearby,
expect unknown such failures and the engineer will not
ever have the slightest idea of where they will begin from
but can estimate, say 70% of the possibility.
Soil is the most unpredictable element around because
of repeated forces impacted upon it by man's activities,
Nathan, dec2009
-------------------------
what do we do when soil investigations are done at the site?
What are we looking for?
And who demands these values?
It is the engineer to make sure your building is safe.
What is needed is
- the shear strength parameters of the soil
and
- the unit weight or density of the soil
These will be needed should an engineer want to determine
the safe bearing capacity of the soils underneath the
foundation to be of the building.
Then again, should the engineer want to know how
far deep you will have to excavate, the following
site investigations would be needed:
- depth of the excavation
- shear strength parameters
- the water table position.
With these, the engineer will tell you how deepest
down you can indeed excavate.
Chucks of soil normally fail but not necessarily the
whole shoil mass failing, so stand warned, such result
from cracks within the soils which are so so hard to determine
But know for sure, when there is a road or a building nearby,
expect unknown such failures and the engineer will not
ever have the slightest idea of where they will begin from
but can estimate, say 70% of the possibility.
Soil is the most unpredictable element around because
of repeated forces impacted upon it by man's activities,
Nathan, dec2009
KAMPALA'S BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE.
In light of the recent catastrophes since the begining of the new millenium, it's on a sad note to have had life lost due to the laxity in the building procedures. During the end of the last millenium, such catastrophes were so minimal and did not cause public alarm. Before, buildings were simply done and barely was anyone involved in putting up a big structure. All businesses seem to have existed in buildings built in the 1970s and before.
Best practices are always, or should be, set for all buildings and their are normally presented in form of technical specifications. In most cases they are standard. All major projects in Kampala should include along them technical documents. The selected contractor is also supposed to produce a construction procedure document indicating how they are to go about the project. Because there are laws existing hence they can work but failure to revise them over certain periods hence the problem. One major problem is when a law to include provision for parking set forth.
QUOTE:
[
The building professionals in Uganda have failed to impress upon us a set of best practices that are ideal for the soils, drainage in Uganda. It is an open secret that even the most elegant structures in the city have cracks: some major, others minor revealing compromised foundations.
]
Best practices are always, or should be, set for all buildings and their are normally presented in form of technical specifications. In most cases they are standard. All major projects in Kampala should include along them technical documents. The selected contractor is also supposed to produce a construction procedure document indicating how they are to go about the project. Because there are laws existing hence they can work but failure to revise them over certain periods hence the problem. One major problem is when a law to include provision for parking set forth.
QUOTE:
[
The building professionals in Uganda have failed to impress upon us a set of best practices that are ideal for the soils, drainage in Uganda. It is an open secret that even the most elegant structures in the city have cracks: some major, others minor revealing compromised foundations.
]
THE DEVELOPER'S DRAMA THROUGHOUT HOME CONSTRUCTION.
The developer, also called the-boss/client/owner, is ordinarily faced with two major monsters on a building project, namely, the foundation and the suspended slabs.
1. The foundation.
"Say, how in heavens, can over 75bags of cement get buried in the ground?"
Such has always been the developers's rants when building foundations for their residential houses. And when the ground floor is cast, after taking on another, say, 75bags, the developer is dried up after drying up the cement-store. Rests a bit for say a month or so until the developer garners enough power to continue with the...er...superstructure(construction above the ground floor).
2. The suspended slab
The word 'suspended slab' is an engineering term.
Ideally all those floors not supported directly by the ground are suspended, hence suspended slabs...such as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd floor e.t.c
And before their quotations are complete, you, the developer, are already yelling..."You're kidding, you expect me to give you 150bags of cement in just two days for this little first floor slab".
And not for long, you, the developer, are already looking for a less expensive builder(70% fake) who will conform to your desires, saying that, "hey boss, 70bags can also work, dont worry, I've done it before here and there for 5years "
...and the fracas is already on even before the quotation for the reinforcement bars has been done.
So we have to accept that these slabs are monster-eaters in that the whole lot is best done at once and not in stages. Meaning that you've got to splash the 15m-Ushs(8600USD) all at once for a slab, of say, 150m2 area in less than a week. That's when you feel for the owner...I mean it takes an ordinary middle-class citizen a year or so to earn this money..only for it to be spent in just two days as if...oh gosh!
Then in a bid to save on it, the owner starts getting stupid, thereby resorting to quack builders who are "quote" cheap. Thats why you'll rarely see an engineer or even an architect on a residential building.
The roofing.
Okay by the time the developer survives this far than anything is possible. Ideally the roof shouldnt be a big issue, that's if, you, the developer, wont be alarmed by the quantity of roofing timbers.
Finishes.
And the most annoying item on the building is the finishes. Finishing details are so many that sometimes the beauty is only seen when all these fine-details have been completed...ask the decoration expert. That's when you, the developer, keep on complaining, injecting more money but seeing nothing. Patience you need. You see, finishes on a development is like fine-tuning a musical instrument for the best sound. It might never end. Musicians can attest to this.
--> Nathan.(Apr2009 writing collection)
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
1. The foundation.
"Say, how in heavens, can over 75bags of cement get buried in the ground?"
Such has always been the developers's rants when building foundations for their residential houses. And when the ground floor is cast, after taking on another, say, 75bags, the developer is dried up after drying up the cement-store. Rests a bit for say a month or so until the developer garners enough power to continue with the...er...superstructure(construction above the ground floor).
2. The suspended slab
The word 'suspended slab' is an engineering term.
Ideally all those floors not supported directly by the ground are suspended, hence suspended slabs...such as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd floor e.t.c
And before their quotations are complete, you, the developer, are already yelling..."You're kidding, you expect me to give you 150bags of cement in just two days for this little first floor slab".
And not for long, you, the developer, are already looking for a less expensive builder(70% fake) who will conform to your desires, saying that, "hey boss, 70bags can also work, dont worry, I've done it before here and there for 5years "
...and the fracas is already on even before the quotation for the reinforcement bars has been done.
So we have to accept that these slabs are monster-eaters in that the whole lot is best done at once and not in stages. Meaning that you've got to splash the 15m-Ushs(8600USD) all at once for a slab, of say, 150m2 area in less than a week. That's when you feel for the owner...I mean it takes an ordinary middle-class citizen a year or so to earn this money..only for it to be spent in just two days as if...oh gosh!
Then in a bid to save on it, the owner starts getting stupid, thereby resorting to quack builders who are "quote" cheap. Thats why you'll rarely see an engineer or even an architect on a residential building.
The roofing.
Okay by the time the developer survives this far than anything is possible. Ideally the roof shouldnt be a big issue, that's if, you, the developer, wont be alarmed by the quantity of roofing timbers.
Finishes.
And the most annoying item on the building is the finishes. Finishing details are so many that sometimes the beauty is only seen when all these fine-details have been completed...ask the decoration expert. That's when you, the developer, keep on complaining, injecting more money but seeing nothing. Patience you need. You see, finishes on a development is like fine-tuning a musical instrument for the best sound. It might never end. Musicians can attest to this.
--> Nathan.(Apr2009 writing collection)
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
THE WELDING MACHINE FROM A PLACE CALLED 'KATWE'.
THE WELDING MACHINE FROM A PLACE CALLED 'KATWE'.
And I visited this place called Katwe, and I was to buy a welding machine,locally made as it was cheap running between 400,000ushs to 500,000Ushs.
Prior to that we had bought one from big shop called 'Game' running at around 350,000Ushs. It turns out that the welding machine could not work on mass production of steel products like windows, doors and staircases. The 'Game'people were good,
as they allowed us to take back their product. And so, that's how we turned the
eye to Katwe.
Yeee!!!, support for the locally made stuff.
Now about that welding machine from Katwe!
It was a complete shame on me to see the barely uneducated having made something that works and me, with all the technical knowledge about the machine only knowing it in theory. This, I termed, the fine gap between theory and practice. It had nothing to do with the fact that I couldnt make the machine but the issue was 'why should I make it?' This question if looked at in more details would be the sole basis of why students should go higher institutions of learning..the university.
I was so eager to give this uneducated inventor/copycat more knowledge of what they are producing but it was so hard to change all those electrical engineering terms into the local language.
For example, how do you say 'electromagnetism' in the local language. Or rather when I said the word 'current', everyone got confused with 'current'events...nooo! I had meant electric Current'.
Now after recovering from the fact that a person with no prior knowledge, than
did I take a more detailed 'look' into the machine...oops! it turned out that
the machine was just about, say, just over 50% efficient.
Turns out everything about the machine was not as good as portrayed by the
aper. The aper had done some very good marketing of the product.
In layman's language, a 50% efficient machine simply wastes the remaining 50% of
your electricity consumption just like that. And the friendlier power guys will say, "your bill please!"
Ahh!...guess what comes next...
checkmate once again!!!
like the water-guys,
suffereth we do.
And what would your next move be...
...before you trick the electricity company...
...bypassing the meter...
...in a bit to save on the electricity...
...and specifically that extra 50% waste...?
It would be wise to get advise. For example, observations on this
Katwe-made welding machine showed that;
"1- the way the windings had been done was so exactly poor
2- the laminated plates had been poorly packed, air-gaps reduced efficiency
and likewise leading to more power losses through heat, sound, hysteresis and eddy currents plus all that other jargon. In otherwords, improving the mutual inductance between the two windings was key to a highly functioning welding machine.
And for this reason much power had been lost during the transfer from the primary to the secondary windings thus reducing the effectiveness of the device. This meant that it was not optimised to work as an electricity saving device.
Forsooth making high quality welding machines from Uganda is so possible and just as easy as it was with the vehicle made by the Makerere engineering guys. Later on that vehicular machine.
Now prior to that,
...these guys ignorantly informed me of how their local stuff works better than
imported items...which was partly true. Likewise they had told me of how better they are than the engineering graduates from Makerere...which was so out of context...oops I sorried them ignorant ones.
To clear the air, the engineers from the university can not be compared to those faulty inventions from the un-educated people. There is no comparison point, everyone has their downsides which are exactly 'orthogonal', the meeting point being 'non-productivity to the society'.
For long the Katwe people have been given accolades by investors and government
for being productive, while sharp, but correct, criticisms have been directed to universities.
In actual sense, almost all these products from the barely educated people function at less than that acceptable efficiency, while on the other side, universities have produced educated people who have not been productive but
good grade-getters.
so,
Who tried?
Who didnt try?
who benefited?
You see...
according to the PRESENT SITUATION...
it's better to have a less-efficient product than a degree-person walking with latent knowledge that can not be output
into a real product. In fact I was able to use the low-efficient welding machine to fabricate all the 40windows and 5big doors. The electricity bill was huge though.
Nonetheless,this proves the fact that....
"knowlegde not shared-is-indeed not knowledge".
--> Nathan (Apr2009 writing collection)
The goal of every engineer is to retire
without getting blamed for a major catastrophe!
...Dilbert
DONE
--> Nathaniel.D.M
on Variety engineering.
Civil/Structural engineer!
CG- 3DsMax2009 Animation Professional!
Amateur Astrophysicist/Astronomist!
And I visited this place called Katwe, and I was to buy a welding machine,locally made as it was cheap running between 400,000ushs to 500,000Ushs.
Prior to that we had bought one from big shop called 'Game' running at around 350,000Ushs. It turns out that the welding machine could not work on mass production of steel products like windows, doors and staircases. The 'Game'people were good,
as they allowed us to take back their product. And so, that's how we turned the
eye to Katwe.
Yeee!!!, support for the locally made stuff.
Now about that welding machine from Katwe!
It was a complete shame on me to see the barely uneducated having made something that works and me, with all the technical knowledge about the machine only knowing it in theory. This, I termed, the fine gap between theory and practice. It had nothing to do with the fact that I couldnt make the machine but the issue was 'why should I make it?' This question if looked at in more details would be the sole basis of why students should go higher institutions of learning..the university.
I was so eager to give this uneducated inventor/copycat more knowledge of what they are producing but it was so hard to change all those electrical engineering terms into the local language.
For example, how do you say 'electromagnetism' in the local language. Or rather when I said the word 'current', everyone got confused with 'current'events...nooo! I had meant electric Current'.
Now after recovering from the fact that a person with no prior knowledge, than
did I take a more detailed 'look' into the machine...oops! it turned out that
the machine was just about, say, just over 50% efficient.
Turns out everything about the machine was not as good as portrayed by the
aper. The aper had done some very good marketing of the product.
In layman's language, a 50% efficient machine simply wastes the remaining 50% of
your electricity consumption just like that. And the friendlier power guys will say, "your bill please!"
Ahh!...guess what comes next...
checkmate once again!!!
like the water-guys,
suffereth we do.
And what would your next move be...
...before you trick the electricity company...
...bypassing the meter...
...in a bit to save on the electricity...
...and specifically that extra 50% waste...?
It would be wise to get advise. For example, observations on this
Katwe-made welding machine showed that;
"1- the way the windings had been done was so exactly poor
2- the laminated plates had been poorly packed, air-gaps reduced efficiency
and likewise leading to more power losses through heat, sound, hysteresis and eddy currents plus all that other jargon. In otherwords, improving the mutual inductance between the two windings was key to a highly functioning welding machine.
And for this reason much power had been lost during the transfer from the primary to the secondary windings thus reducing the effectiveness of the device. This meant that it was not optimised to work as an electricity saving device.
Forsooth making high quality welding machines from Uganda is so possible and just as easy as it was with the vehicle made by the Makerere engineering guys. Later on that vehicular machine.
Now prior to that,
...these guys ignorantly informed me of how their local stuff works better than
imported items...which was partly true. Likewise they had told me of how better they are than the engineering graduates from Makerere...which was so out of context...oops I sorried them ignorant ones.
To clear the air, the engineers from the university can not be compared to those faulty inventions from the un-educated people. There is no comparison point, everyone has their downsides which are exactly 'orthogonal', the meeting point being 'non-productivity to the society'.
For long the Katwe people have been given accolades by investors and government
for being productive, while sharp, but correct, criticisms have been directed to universities.
In actual sense, almost all these products from the barely educated people function at less than that acceptable efficiency, while on the other side, universities have produced educated people who have not been productive but
good grade-getters.
so,
Who tried?
Who didnt try?
who benefited?
You see...
according to the PRESENT SITUATION...
it's better to have a less-efficient product than a degree-person walking with latent knowledge that can not be output
into a real product. In fact I was able to use the low-efficient welding machine to fabricate all the 40windows and 5big doors. The electricity bill was huge though.
Nonetheless,this proves the fact that....
"knowlegde not shared-is-indeed not knowledge".
--> Nathan (Apr2009 writing collection)
The goal of every engineer is to retire
without getting blamed for a major catastrophe!
...Dilbert
DONE
--> Nathaniel.D.M
on Variety engineering.
Civil/Structural engineer!
CG- 3DsMax2009 Animation Professional!
Amateur Astrophysicist/Astronomist!
INVENTIONS FROM BARELY UNEDUCATED PEOPLE
INVENTIONS FROM BARELY UNEDUCATED PEOPLE
The only thing that unites the educated and uneductated is innovation.
Great debate is whether innovative abilities are studied or just natural.
In the most simplified and dignified manner, these abilities develop
naturally through proper ways of livings. Meaning that everyone has
the ability to be innovative. And this ability grows depending on your
greater need to serve and to love. Call it what you'd but it is
normally called Christ-love.
Great innovations come from an inventor with a greater purpose.
Many inventors are not really inventors but mere copycats who
only selfishly seek to earn a living.
In Uganda, the major talking point are our people at a place called Katwe,
where many little things have been made by barely uneducated
ones in the field.
And these things have been called innovations. In actual sense they
are not innovations, it's merely being a copycat...just as the Asians
have copied all the western technology.
In the Asian's case, however, their copying sometimes surpasses the original.
And in most cases they get a direct helping hand from the educated through governmental support programmes where the overall result is affordability
to all whereas the Katwe people have been mainly for their stomachs hence
no advancement.
While in the case of Europe and America, inventions from the uneducated
take a slightly different twist. Most of these are not just copycats but new or
modifications to the established. And the western law has protected their
inventions through patenting. Great inventors like Faraday who
never passed through formal education were protected by such
intellectural property laws.
This gives a pretty good idea of how great-governments arise.
Great governments do not arise by merely making strong money policies but
by also providing various conduits for technology distribution/transfer to all.
Sometime in the future, patenting will also be strong enough in your country.
--> Nathan's collections of Apr.2009
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
The only thing that unites the educated and uneductated is innovation.
Great debate is whether innovative abilities are studied or just natural.
In the most simplified and dignified manner, these abilities develop
naturally through proper ways of livings. Meaning that everyone has
the ability to be innovative. And this ability grows depending on your
greater need to serve and to love. Call it what you'd but it is
normally called Christ-love.
Great innovations come from an inventor with a greater purpose.
Many inventors are not really inventors but mere copycats who
only selfishly seek to earn a living.
In Uganda, the major talking point are our people at a place called Katwe,
where many little things have been made by barely uneducated
ones in the field.
And these things have been called innovations. In actual sense they
are not innovations, it's merely being a copycat...just as the Asians
have copied all the western technology.
In the Asian's case, however, their copying sometimes surpasses the original.
And in most cases they get a direct helping hand from the educated through governmental support programmes where the overall result is affordability
to all whereas the Katwe people have been mainly for their stomachs hence
no advancement.
While in the case of Europe and America, inventions from the uneducated
take a slightly different twist. Most of these are not just copycats but new or
modifications to the established. And the western law has protected their
inventions through patenting. Great inventors like Faraday who
never passed through formal education were protected by such
intellectural property laws.
This gives a pretty good idea of how great-governments arise.
Great governments do not arise by merely making strong money policies but
by also providing various conduits for technology distribution/transfer to all.
Sometime in the future, patenting will also be strong enough in your country.
--> Nathan's collections of Apr.2009
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
FLUSHING TOILETS
FLUSHING TOILETS.
Based on (Research + professional touch):
Flush toilets, also called water closets (or WC's)...have two
major items; the bowl and the water reservior,
both ceramic-made representing the engineer's touch of genius,
all for your comfort.
Two types I've encountered so far, one is the squat-type
and the other, the seat-type as comfortable as a sofa.
And it would be so strange for someone to sit on a squat-toilet,
I mean, with the bums directly in contact,
just as it's exactly sickening to find someone having squatted on
your toilet seat, with the feet on the edges of the bowl...not for
anything but a mere taboo or norm
found in some traditions throughout the world. Sometimes you
wonder how cultures worlds apart share the same taboo...!!!
Now look!, after doing the important work, lo and behold!,
the toilet flushing system fails to flush the contents out of
the bowl, yes just imagine! you needing to frustratingly flush twice
everytime you visit.
And, well, in some strenuos occassions, you may want to get water in the
bucket, raise it high enough and pour it into the bowl with enough pressure
to finally...wheeew!!!..flushout the contents from the toilet bowl.
And how much water have you used?
And yet you MUST, have to, visit the toilet again, tomorrow, everyday,
many times, every month of the year!! Boy or girl, dont you love visiting
the toilet more than your loved ones!?! or are you made to visit under
duress by your own body system
or is it that you have taken on the responsibility of being the health-
implementor of your own body system.
Whichever way, you'd be just about the best customer for the water-bill guys
full of smiles of "hey-buddy, your existance is our topmost priority" ...your bill please!!!.
huhh!!!! that's called a checkmate my friend!
suffer ye to be victim of imperfect designs or wrong choices
What would your next move be?
To blame the mechanical engineer?
the maker of the flushing toilet?
or to go to the market to buy a brand new all-expensive flush-toilet?
Wouldnt that be a little extra torture resulting
from ignorance of the things that are?
And why go through all this torture?
Simply because you had that famous heavy meal
producing heavier stool?
Say, did you eat the African food?, I mean, have you noted that stool from
the African tends to be much heavier than that from the Asian or Western!?!
"Have you noted", adds on the engineer, "that even the flushing system
technology is much more reliant upon the heaviness of the stool passed
out by the user...er...food-eater, you! ?"
What we are trying to say is....
One system spirals water in the bowl whereas the other
pressure-powers the water down, i.e., it pushes it down.
Within these two are the many sub-categories depending on the
manufacturer.
It's highly likely that the one in your house is of the spiral type.
Ideally you'd also like your toilet to save on the water while
operating at maximum performance, typical of the push-down type.
And shhh.... it shouldnt make
so much noise that late at night and more-over every-night!...typical of
the spiral type.
Latest technology in toilets are now incorporating pressure
assisted flushing of water such that you'll only hear that
quick 'whoosh!' while the contents are swooped out nicely.
Kohler toilet manufacturers call this Pressure-lite
Toilets sold at...ouh!!!...ooops forgot the pricing-issues!
--> Nathan.
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
Based on (Research + professional touch):
Flush toilets, also called water closets (or WC's)...have two
major items; the bowl and the water reservior,
both ceramic-made representing the engineer's touch of genius,
all for your comfort.
Two types I've encountered so far, one is the squat-type
and the other, the seat-type as comfortable as a sofa.
And it would be so strange for someone to sit on a squat-toilet,
I mean, with the bums directly in contact,
just as it's exactly sickening to find someone having squatted on
your toilet seat, with the feet on the edges of the bowl...not for
anything but a mere taboo or norm
found in some traditions throughout the world. Sometimes you
wonder how cultures worlds apart share the same taboo...!!!
Now look!, after doing the important work, lo and behold!,
the toilet flushing system fails to flush the contents out of
the bowl, yes just imagine! you needing to frustratingly flush twice
everytime you visit.
And, well, in some strenuos occassions, you may want to get water in the
bucket, raise it high enough and pour it into the bowl with enough pressure
to finally...wheeew!!!..flushout the contents from the toilet bowl.
And how much water have you used?
And yet you MUST, have to, visit the toilet again, tomorrow, everyday,
many times, every month of the year!! Boy or girl, dont you love visiting
the toilet more than your loved ones!?! or are you made to visit under
duress by your own body system
or is it that you have taken on the responsibility of being the health-
implementor of your own body system.
Whichever way, you'd be just about the best customer for the water-bill guys
full of smiles of "hey-buddy, your existance is our topmost priority" ...your bill please!!!.
huhh!!!! that's called a checkmate my friend!
suffer ye to be victim of imperfect designs or wrong choices
What would your next move be?
To blame the mechanical engineer?
the maker of the flushing toilet?
or to go to the market to buy a brand new all-expensive flush-toilet?
Wouldnt that be a little extra torture resulting
from ignorance of the things that are?
And why go through all this torture?
Simply because you had that famous heavy meal
producing heavier stool?
Say, did you eat the African food?, I mean, have you noted that stool from
the African tends to be much heavier than that from the Asian or Western!?!
"Have you noted", adds on the engineer, "that even the flushing system
technology is much more reliant upon the heaviness of the stool passed
out by the user...er...food-eater, you! ?"
What we are trying to say is....
One system spirals water in the bowl whereas the other
pressure-powers the water down, i.e., it pushes it down.
Within these two are the many sub-categories depending on the
manufacturer.
It's highly likely that the one in your house is of the spiral type.
Ideally you'd also like your toilet to save on the water while
operating at maximum performance, typical of the push-down type.
And shhh.... it shouldnt make
so much noise that late at night and more-over every-night!...typical of
the spiral type.
Latest technology in toilets are now incorporating pressure
assisted flushing of water such that you'll only hear that
quick 'whoosh!' while the contents are swooped out nicely.
Kohler toilet manufacturers call this Pressure-lite
Toilets sold at...ouh!!!...ooops forgot the pricing-issues!
--> Nathan.
MSc.Structural Engineering(Tongji Univ. Shanghai, China)
BSc.Civil Engineering (Makerere Univ, Kampala, Uganda)
Member IABSE, UIPE, SEAINT
d-nathan@engineer.com
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