To understand how Witloo can work with your toilet, you first need to understand how a regular toilet works in the first place. During the designing of the product, the prototyping group spent many hours crammed in a toilet stall, looking through the different parts. The lid was removed to reveal the internal systems of the toilet tank, enabling the group to understand its general mechanisms and the functions of the individual parts.

When the handle is depressed, the lever it's attached to on the inside of the toilet tank is tilted upwards. This lever, in turn, connects to the flapper valve via a chain. As a result, the flapper valve is raised up and water rushes through the tank's drainpipe into the bowl, flushing the toilet.

The flapper valve contains an air bubble that is released slowly as the toilet flushes. As a result, the valve gradually loses its buoyancy and drops back down into place, resealing the drain leading from the tank to the bowl. The tank then refills with water and is ready for the next flush.

So essentially, when the handle is pushed down:

• A plastic rod on the inside of the toilet is tilted upwards.
• This pulls on a chain that attaches to the flapper valve.
• This pulls up the flapper valve, causing the water to rush outwards.
• The flapper valve then closes when the water level has decreased to a point where the water pressure forces then valve back into its 'closed' position.