Dr. Phil Metzger:
Wanna hear a weird but true story? (I have a few minutes to type, so here goes). I almost lost my hearing from the lid on the tank of a toilet. Noise-Induced Hearing Loss. You wouldn’t think a toilet lid could be so loud, would you? Well, I learned otherwise…
I was fixing the mechanism inside the tank of the toilet. The only thing left to do was to put the ceramic lid back on the tank. Unfortunately it slipped out of my hands and banged on the ceramic of the toilet rim. Again, you wouldn’t think that would be so loud, would you?
Well, the sound stunned me.
This is the most wondrously nerdy thing I’ve read all day. Thanks to Josh for the Twitter thread.
A rubber gasket would help here. Should be on all tank lids really. Interesting and unexpected.
I wonder if I can add one. I’m a clumsy person, and this seems like something I could do.
Just keep ear plugs in and wrap yourself in bubble wrap! : P
Sure sounds like a great Saturday night to me.
Not a bad idea, honestly!
Been there, done that.
A few years ago, I was at a friend’s place for lunch, and the flush on the toilet was temperamental, so me being the only male there at the time volunteered to fix it. So I go in, take the lid off the cistern, fix the problem (getting a wet hand in the process), and pick up the lid, with the wet hand, dropping it on the toilet bowl, I’d only just grabbed it, so it didn’t have far to travel, but my ears didn’t stop ringing for a few minutes. The sound was bell-like, instead of the clink or clunk I might have expected, and louder too.
But wouldn’t that potentially create a crude pressure seal?
Add holes?
Toilets clearly need an IKEA-style caution diagram on the top of the tank.
Is there a reason it has to be so dense and heavy in the first place? Could it not just be plastic?
Okay everyone, that’s it! To the drawing board. Our new plastic toilet lid will be a hit! Patents anyone?