You’re at home, scrolling through the feed, watching some videos, when the power suddenly goes out! No big deal, the phone’s still working until the battery runs out. But sooner or later, you’ll wonder… why won’t the toilet flush with the electricity out? It’s not like commodes are plugged into an outlet right there in the bathroom wall. When you push the flush handle, a large flow of water rushes from the tank into the bowl. It works just by the force of gravity if your house has a gravity-fed waste removal system.

While gravity is always at our service (unless your toilet’s in space), there’s one problem with no power: the tank doesn’t get filled! Actually, the way your plumbing works depends on your water source and where you live. For example, the plumbing system in high-rises is so complicated, there are even legends about it. One of them says, if all the toilets were flushed at the same time, it could take down the building! Let's figure out how a toilet works and what kind of toilet myths there are.

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