Can I Install a Commercial Toilet in My Home?

Operational differences

There's a big reason why you don't see commercial toilets in homes: The toilet you see in a typical business operates differently than a traditional model. A retail store or other commercial building’s plumbing system is usually built specifically to provide for the capabilities of a commercial grade toilet, while residential water supply lines and drains do not. Traditional residential grade toilets use a siphon to suck water and waste from the bowl and into the drain. However, water must come in fast enough to fill the siphon tube in order to create a successful flush. Residential water supply lines simply don't have the necessary water volume to allow a commercial toilet to flush with power. A residential toilet utilizes a water storage tank at the back to provide enough water to create a strong flush that will rid the bowl of waste. Water from the tank flows down into the bowl with enough force to activate the siphon and pull waste into the and down to the sewer.

A commercial toilet, on the other hand, doesn't rely on a tank of water. Instead, it receives water from a larger diameter commercial grade water supply line that delivers water at a high enough pressure to carry waste right through the drainage system. While these models often use the same amount of water as a residential toilet, commercial grade toilets must use water very suddenly and violently. And as we noted earlier, residential water supply lines aren't equipped to deliver that much volume all at once.