To Flush Or Not To Flush

gooman writes "Tired of arguing the same old issues like Linux vs Windows? Choose up sides in the fight over flushing vs non-flushing urinals. The L.A. Times reports on efforts to place the waterless urinal into the Uniform Plumbing Code. To quote: '...the ordinary-looking urinal is at the center of a national debate that has plumbers and water conservationists taking aim at one another.' Amazingly simple, the no-flush urinal uses gravity to force urine through a filter containing a floating layer of oily liquid which then acts as a sealant to prevent sewer odors from escaping. Each no-flush urinal is claimed to save over 24,000 gallons of water a year, but the opposition is concerned about the spread of disease. Although not mentioned in the article this technology is in use around the world. Does anyone have these fixtures installed at their place of employment? Are there any real drawbacks? Is this really a worthwhile debate or just an excuse for toilet humor?"

So what we have is...

[snevig]

the ultimate pissing contest. :P

Flawed analogy

[Dolda2000]

Tired of arguing the same old issues like Linux vs Windows? Choose up sides in the fight over flushing vs non-flushing urinals.

Yeah, right! If it isn't Linux vs. Windows, how would I possibly know which side to pick?

Pfft... seriously...

Splash

[Anonymous Coward]

I will just be happy when they invent no splash urinals...is it really that difficult??

That's all fine, but...

[The Infidel]

I sure hope they dont use these things in restaurants that serve asparagus.

Well...

[Xaroth]

"Is this really a worthwhile debate or just an excuse for toilet humor?"

Given that this story was submitted to /., I'm gunning for the latter. I offer as evidence any comment that gets modded "Funny", including this one.

Not the only debate

[Daengbo]

This picture [oss-in-efl.info] shows that flush / no-flush is not the only debate over urinals, at least in Korea.

Isn't that called a tree?

[caffiend666]

Isn't a no-flush urinal called a tree? Why not simply avoid the sewer system and start installing shrubberies in all men's rooms :)

Used them at Acadia National Park

[Sugarcrook]

ANP [nps.gov], in Bar Harbor, has these at the summit of Cadillac Mountain. One of the major attractions at ANP, these urinals get a lot of use. No noticeable smell and the rangers seemed happy about the reduced maintenance.

Yes, I went to a national park and asked about the urinals.

Not good for cigarette butt disposal

[Velox_SwiftFox]

It makes them oily and hard to light.

Pee in the Sink

[diakka]

Seeing as how urine is fairly sterile, I just pee in the sink. no splashback, and it all gets washed down when i wash my hands. I learned about this environmentally friendly tip from Adam Carolla.

Re:I have one!

[PygmySurfer]

We have a no-flush urinal in the bathroom where I live

You live in a bathroom?

Re:Get your $#!^ together

[saskboy]

" i don't give a crap about water conservation... "

Mr. Bush, what are you doing posting to Slashdot?

We don't have a good environmental boogey man when it comes to water wasting. Can anyone suggest one that's better than Bush?

Re:We have them at University of North Texas

[FuturePastNow]

The mens, can't speak to the womens, have urinals that are the flushless type

I'm gonna wager that the womens' restrooms do not have flushless urinals.

Ugh...

[NMZNMZNMZ]

has plumbers and water conservationists taking aim at one another

Intentional or not, that's a horrible pun.

Re:Me, too

[Akaihiryuu]

I used to have a roommate that often took showers that lasted in excess of an hour. The apartment we lived in only had one bathroom, and there were no convenient bushes outside either. He always locked the door when he was in there too. On more than one occasion I woke up having to go really bad, and he was in the shower with no indication of how long he would be. I usually ended up peeing in the kitchen sink on those occasions.

Re:Just flush once a month

[jbrader]

I for one am not in the habit of rubbing my genitals on the urinal.

Re:Flawed analogy

[Cervantes]

Yeah, right! If it isn't Linux vs. Windows, how would I possibly know which side to pick?

I would recommend the side that is doing the pissing, and not the side receiving.

The best thing about being a man...

[catdevnull]

The best thing about being a man is that the whole world is your urinal.

Would the debate could be moot if we just followed the German Feminists [amazon.de]?

Re:A side note to this

[Belseth]

I think it was just under 100 years ago that we were using waterless urinals. Why is it that we need to patent them now?

I grew up in Michigan and we called them trees and if some one hasn't patented them they will any day now. I'm quite sure no one has patented trees for the express use as a traget for dogs and the odd hunter or wino.

Re:Get your $#!^ together

[Deadstick]

Still quite a few of those in Paris, and they're still more or less standard in some countries. American servicemen usually refer to that design as the Turkish Bombsight.

rj

Re:Get your $#!^ together

[MillionthMonkey]

I used to work in Redwood City, at a startup located in a converted print shop in the gritty section between Woodside and Fifth.

That place had the most lo-flo toilet from hell I ever saw. Basically, the rule was that if the flush was 100% liquid (no solids or paper) you could safely flush once. Otherwise, you had to carefully look at what you were about to flush, and decide if it might stick to the pipes- and if you thought it might, then you had to flush twice, maybe three times. And you never knew what the toilet was going to do when you flushed it. If people before you hadn't been flushing it enough, it would take revenge on a random flusher by regurgitating several gallons of filth all over the floor. Everybody had a horror story of being caught when that happened, frantically trying to stop it with a plunger and then mopping up the mess. When we had customer visits the toilet became horrible- the customers weren't used to our toilet and would single-flush which quickly made the toilet very angry. We were chronic customers of Roto-Rooter, who was over every so often to fix recurring problems with the toilet and the landlord got so sick of the costs that he secretly installed illicit toilets from Canada.

Now I work at a place in Santa Clara. This place has one evil urinal that flushes forever. God knows how many gallons this thing rips through in one minute. Since even the normal urinal flushes are so remarkably prolonged, the flusher is usually gone before realizing that his flush is never going to end. (This is even granting time for the customary pro forma soapless hand rinse to acknowledge any possible witnesses to his hygeine who are in the restroom with him and who forced him to flush the urinal in the first place.) I see it happen all the time. I come in, this thing is flushing, and I stop it by flushing one of the other urinals (usually the one with yellow water, there's always one of those). The drop in pressure disrupts the eternal flush and it stops. Then someone I don't know will come in, use that urinal, start it flushing, quickly rinse and dry his hands without soap to acknowledge my presence as a potential witness to his hygeine, and leave before realizing he's just started an eternal flush.

Re:Get your $#!^ together

[Mozk]

This article is about urinals. Urinals are used for urination, not defecation. If your urine requires a heavy flush mode then I suggest you see a doctor.

Re:Get your $#!^ together

[DigitalReality]

Get your $#!^ together

Not in the urinals, ok?

Re:Pee in the Sink

[cerberusss]

When I first moved out of my parents house some ten years ago, I got this cramped little room with a sink. For the toilet, you had to get down the hallway which was unheated. In the year I lasted there, I could never get myself to walk down that cold hallway to take a leak.

The downside is that I felt obliged to really, really scrub that sink whenever my gf came around. Not for my friends, though.

Re:Pee in the Sink

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have a garbage disposal you could eliminate
the toilet altogether.

Re:Spreading diseases?

[Dread_ed]

2. even an 'infected' urnial cannot transmit it's infection unless you come into physical contact with it

Hmmm...didn't know that.

Note to self: Stop eating the complimentary pink cakes from the public urinals.

Please pee on me...

[SonicSpike]

A friend of mine took his girlfriend to the Virgin Islands and surrounding area (he worked for the airlines). They were walking down the beach and he went to go sit on a rock and apparently got stuck by a sea urchin in his butt.

He said he was in such pain he couldn't move. He knew that amonia would help relieve the pain so he begged and begged and begged his girlfriend to pee on his butt. She eventually did and he said it was an instant relief.

Kinda kinky, eh? ha ha ha