In the United States alone , there are about 8 million urinals mesh everywhere , from small situation buildings and hugeskyscrapersto giant sport arena [ source : Waterless ] . About 100 million people use those urinals , and they consume somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 billion gal ( 605 billion liters ) of water every year [ source : Waterless ] . The less traditional waterless urinals , however , can really deliver a huge amount of water . Just imagine if those 160 billion gallons of water supply were bring down in half , or even reduced to zero .
Today , waterless urinals still have n’t quite broken through to the mainstream . It ’s not grueling to understand why . hear the idiomatic expression " waterless urinal " can lead to a draw of questions . " Do n’t theystink ? " " Are n’t they insanitary ? " " Where is all that urine going if you do n’t flush it ? " Read on to retrieve out the answers to these and other questions about these waterless wonders .
10: How Waterless Urinals Work
It might seem like a urinal that does n’t use any water would be complicated , fill with moving region and pumps and complex valves . But actually , waterless urinal are comparatively simple . Most use solemnity and a peculiarly designed maw chamber filled with a fluid calledsealant , to transmit thriftlessness cleanly down thedrain[source : Waterless ] . Depending on the manufacturing business , the sealant can be formulated other than . But all sealants are light than water , do n’t disappear and are usually made at least part from oils ( like veggie oil ) [ source : Waterless ] .
If you wait at a waterless urinal , you will see a circular dome surrounded by diminutive channel for water to move through . This dome is the lying in wait , a removable cartridge that make up waterless enfeeble possible . In the most common invention , the waste hang into the gob through the serial publication of circular slits along the top of the cartridge . As it come in the pickup , the piss sink in through the sealant , which continue on top because it is light than water [ source : Reichardt ] . The urine then flows down into a cardinal artificial lake . In the eye of that reservoir is an open pipe that drains out into the lavatory ’s wastefulness strain , the same permissive waste argumentation that stock urinals use . The urine easy fills up the reservoir , and when the horizontal surface of liquid gets higher than the rim of the pipe , the excess drains out [ source : Reichardt ] . So , at all times , there is a low amount of urine inside the artificial lake . As more and more men come up and use the urinal , the old waste flows out and the unexampled waste flows in .
9: Waterless Urinals Don’t Smell
Just the phrase " waterless urinal " go like some form of smelly malfunction , not something you would actually want to apply or live with . Controlling unpleasantsmellswas really one of the main problem in the development process for waterless urinals [ reference : Davis].Sewersare full of all kinds of odors , and even flatulence that can be health risk if they head for the hills . One of the main purposes of the sealer that floats on top of the water in waterless urinal ambush cartridges is to keep any foul olfactory property from escaping through the pipes [ source : Waterless ] . The sealant stays float on top of the weewee in the trap at all times . The seal that it create also keeps the smell of urine that is sitting in the trap for long periods of time from escaping . Also , since no flush is demand to empty out the urinal , there is no hazard that water will pool in the bowl . Waterless urinal have ultra - smooth sports stadium designed with a steep enough slope that all liquid will course directly down into the man-made lake without pool up [ source : Waterless ] .
8: Waterless Urinals Have Less Bacteria
At the point that it leave the consistency , urine is mostly sterile . In a normal toilet , it is actually the mix of urine and weewee , not the urine alone , that encouragesbacteriato develop and spread [ source : Reichardt ] . Once the particulate matter and minerals in pee react with the minerals and chemical in water , bacterium begin to thrive . Since there is no water introduced in a waterless urinal , there is less bacteria growth . The sealant in a urinal also keeps it from being exposed to air , where bacteria travels and spreads . Flushing urinal can also send small water droplet into the air , which can scatter bacteria throughout the bathroom and even onto yourhandsor clothes [ source : Waterless ] . Waterless urinal do n’t create that problem .
Still , like any bathroom fixedness , you need to clean arid urinals on a regular basis to ensure they stay clean and bacteria does n’t line up a place to latch on and grow . clean them is relatively wide-eyed : you may habituate a household cleansing solution and a sponge or cloth to pass over down the exterior surface [ generator : Zero Flush ] .
7: How much water do old urinals use?
Waterless urinals are truly waterless . They do n’t use some H2O , or a lilliputian water . They use no piss . So the amount of water you’re able to conserve by installing one is essentially equal to the amount of water used by the urinal it exchange . Most urinals in use today use somewhere between 1 and 3 gallons ( 3.7 to 11.3 liter ) of piss for each moneyed [ source : Reichardt ] . That discrepancy is so large because older urinals use a deal more water , and newer ones tend to utilize less ( because of an increase focal point on conservation ) . Urinals acquire during the nineties and ' 00s use close to 1 or 1.25 congius per flush [ source : Stumpf ] . Some passing low - flow habitue apply even less . Older urinal can use closer to 3 or 3.5 gallons ( 11.3 to 13.2 liters ) of water for each moneyed [ source : Stumpf ] . Other variables admit the amount of use the urinal gets . A urinal in a meddling place where 100 - plus men work will use more pee than one located in a small eating house orgas station . hold all of the variables into account , a single urinal in a workplace with a few XII employee can redeem about 45,000 congius ( about 170,000 liters ) of water per twelvemonth [ source : Stumpf ] .
6: They Can Easily Replace Traditional Urinals
The vast legal age of waterless urinal manufacturers design their habitue to conform to with conventional plumbing systems [ source : Stumpf ] . Many expectant fastness producer , like Kohler and Sloan , even have their own waterless toilet lines . Of course , it hold occupation sentiency to keep them adaptable since waterless urinals can be a sturdy enough sell as it is , for some . Specifically , arid urinal commonly fit standard 2 - inchdrainage lines , or can be adapted to fit out 1.5 - column inch lines [ germ : Waterless ] . Since they do n’t need any pee for flush , they do n’t ask to be hooked up to a second line for potable water supplying .
If you ’ve ever learn a waterless urinal , you might have noticed a pipe protruding from the paries above it , with apparently no determination . That pipe is the idle water supply line of business , which needs to be capped when waterless urinals are set up to interchange traditional urinals . Since waste water wo n’t be flushed out with a fast moving stream of water system , the pipes lead from the urinal to your waste line call for to be slop enough that dissipation can drain out easily . Those pipage demand to have a gradient of at least a tail of an in per foot [ germ : Stumpf ] . If the lines are n’t spill enough , they will have to be modified , which involves replacing the few substructure or less of organ pipe leading from the bottom of the urinal to the principal waste line [ root : Falcon ] .
5: They Need to Be Maintained
Compared to flush urinal , arid urinals need less maintenance . Manufacturers often point out in their promotional materials that their urinals very rarely leak , and do n’t have valves or handles that need to be replaced [ source : Waterless ] . All of that is true , but they do demand special regular sustainment to keep them solve right . The sealant liquid state involve to be exchange every 1,500 use ( two to four times a year ) [ source : Reichardt ] . Small amounts of it seep down the drainpipe with the pee , depleting the sealer over sentence . Some arid urinals also have removable trap cartridges . Depending on the blade of urinal , those cartridge need to be either removed and cleaned , or cast out of and replaced . ( Many manufacturer will reprocess the cartridges for you . ) Sediments from weewee build up over clock time and overload the trap cartridges . urinal that do n’t have removable cartridges will need to clean with a plumbery snake when sediment from the urine builds up and forms obstructions [ origin : Stumpf ] .
4: They Used to be Illegal
Waterless urinals were first invented back in 1991 . But the invention has only started to be adopted more widely since around 2006 . That year , urinal were accepted as an alternative specification in both the Uniform Plumbing Code and the International Plumbing Code [ source : Davis ] . Those two codes serve as the footing for most state and municipal plumbing system codes in the United States . After this landmark , arid urinals were made sound in most part of the country . Before that , only a modest number of local government had reenact their own law making waterless urinals legal . The bathymetry professing argue that waterless urinals were unsafe , prone to allowing toxicsewergas to escape from drain pipes . Once the bathymetry diligence was convinced that waterless urinals could be install safely , thanks for the most part to improvements to the engineering science , land began to rewrite their plumbing codes to take into account them [ generator : Davis ] .
3: The Cost of Waterless Urinals
Over the course of the 2000s , waterless urinals begin to become more widespread , emerge as an choice for businesses and public organizations looking to conserve water [ source : Davis ] . Today , many manufacturers produce them , so they are n’t as much of a niche boutique item as they once were . Just like any other type of repair or contraption , waterless urinal fare in all dissimilar shapes , sizes , styles and colors . The cheapest urinals start at around $ 250 each [ author : Reichardt ] . Those cheaper urinals are usually plain white , and resemble the marvelous bowlful contour of many traditional urinals . Fancier urinals in designer colors , with more sleek design , can tend closer to $ 1,000 [ generator : WaterWise applied science ] . In other words , waterless urinals are no more or less expensive than traditional toilet . Also , some municipal water systems will give you a rebate for installing them as an motivator to decrease demands on the local water provision . Those rebate range from $ 60 in Los Angeles , to as much as $ 400 per urinal in San Diego county , just to name a few [ source : WaterWise Technologies ] .
2: Waterless Urinals At Home
Waterless urinals are an option for dwelling installation . you could take reward of all of the benefit that big companies and enceinte facilities can , like spare money on utility visor and conserving body of water . you’re able to save 1 to 3 gallons of water system for every flush , and they are relatively inexpensive to purchase and install . Assuming you have two men in the family , a urinal can save about 3,250 gallon ( about 12,302 cubic decimeter ) of water per year [ generator : Wilson ] . Of course , there is a major restriction to keep in judgment if you want to instal a waterless urinal for home plate function . Obviously , only the men in the mansion can use it , so the potential for preservation is limited . Even if you do n’t have any women in your menage , you will need to keep your old toilet bowl for your other bathroom involve and distaff guests . So , if you decide to install a urinal , it should be a second toilet . With that in thinker , make certain you have room for both fixtures in your john .
1: Who uses them?
Because of their cost effectuality and water efficiency , arid urinals have become popular with politics agencies . For model , theU.S. Armyhas mandated that , as of 2010 , all new military facilities be fit out only with waterless urinal [ generator : Davis ] . schooltime districts and municipal government construction have moved toward waterless urinal , too . For deterrent example , San Diego ’s public schools have been using them since 1997 [ reference : San Diego Unified School District ] . Since arid urinal count towardLEED certificationpoints , business and soul have also installed them to help green their buildings . Large attractions and public facilities , include the L.A. Coliseum , theGeorgia Aquariumand even the Taj Mahal in India , have begin switching to arid urinals , too [ sources : Georgia Aquarium , Cutraro ] .
