eli5,Why aren’t all urinals no flush/ no water?
In: Technology
Frankly because they they stink and need a lot of maintenance to prevent that.
The way most of the waterless urinal designs work is the urine drains out and is kept ‘sealed’ in the drain piping by an immiscible (non-mixing) liquid, usually coloured blue, that will float on top. The liquid is usually either injected directly in the drain after a cleaning, or it’s contained in a replaceable cartridge at the base of the urinal. This is supposed to prevent the stench of urine and other sewer gases from passing back up the drain piping and into the room.
In reality this liquid doesn’t work as effectively as claimed, and has to be replenished far more often than a traditional janitorial schedule includes for.
They also need to be flushed out periodically (most manufacturers I’ve seen say at least every two weeks) with a few gallons of water to wash away residual urine and prevent sediment build-up in the drain piping itself, which the salespeople who sell waterless urinals tend not to be upfront about either.
Neither the blue liquid/cartridge replacement procedure nor the flush-out procedure are required for a traditional water-flush urinal, and many facilities operators won’t carry the budget to do it, so bathrooms with waterless urinals in them end up reeking of piss.
Source: I’m a licenced professional engineer who designs HVAC and plumbing systems in buildings.
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