Should urinals be installed in home bathrooms?

[Kaleva]

Was looking at my monthly water bill and began to wonder how I could reduce water consumption. while thinking about it and doing some other projects around the house, I had to use the bathroom a couple of times to urinate. As I flushed the toilet, I knew 1.6 gals. was being used and wondered if a urinal installed in the bathroom would save money. considering that the toilet is used most of the time to flush liquid waste, I went did some Google searching on flush usage.

The toilet, by law, has a 1.6 gal. tank so close to that number is the amount of water being used per flush. On line, I found that the newer urinals use 1 gal. per flush which would be a 40% reduction in water usage for the elimination of liquid waste. There are urinals on the market that use no water at all and seem to work quite well.

Of course, this would apply only to males and one would have to calculate the potential savings based on the percentage of males in the house. Maybe the best outcome though would be that it would end the battle of the toilet seat being left up. It would also eliminate the complaints from daughters who raise holy hell because their thoughtless brother(s) didn't put the seat up and pissed all over the seat.

[joeybee12]

1. If it's yellow, let it mellow...n/t

[rj5690]

36. haha

[create.peace]

2. if it's yellow let it mellow is the rule here. or pee in a bucket until you need to dump it....nt

[angstlessk]

12. that is our rule too..which includes women...till toilet paper becomes a problem

then flush...I agree, an ounce or two of pee does not require 1.6 gallons of water in order to render it harmless...

[create.peace]

24. if you have spent time in mexico (maybe other countries with less that great plumbing, too)

you know to put your (pee only) TP in the garbage, not the toilet. i love to go to a good authentic mexican restaurant because i know the bathroom will have a garbage can near the commode!!

[NMDemDist2]

29. I installed one of these and quit buying toilet paper

except for the guest bath

http://www.biffy.com/index-2.html

we have 'his and hers' hand towels next to the toilet and voila!

if it's yellow we leave it mellow and with no TP it can stay all day. we probably only flush 3-4 times a day now......

[bear425]

3. I think urinals in homes would be really unattractive...

Go with the "when it's yellow let it mellow; etc..." method instead to save water.

on edit: I see great minds think alike!

[valerief]

4. Men could always pee in a bucket. I guess you could dump out in the back yard

when it gets full. Gross and stinky, but it saves water, too.

[madokie]

8. Myself being raise with no indoor plumbing

You'll have a hard time convincing me to pee in a bucket now at my age. I'm of the type to do 2 or 3 pees to one flush, depending on the smell that is.

[Warpy]

11. Only if you want to burn the grass

People in Asia use what's politely referred to as night soil on their gardens. It's why you never see raw veggie salads there.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. I think so - they're also cleaner since there isn't as much "spray" when the urine hits the water

because the man can usually pee straight into the back of the urinal, versus peeing down a few feet into water.

You can also get by with flushing the urinal far less often.

You can also put bricks and other stuff in the tank of the toilet to reduce the amount of water it stores, so that it uses less water in each flush.

[CrispyQ]

6. There are waterless urinals.

I saw one on HGTV.

http://www.zeroflush.com/

[Kaleva]

18. Calculated that 3500 gals. per year would be saved.

[AllyCat]

7. You have to account for the water and time cleaning piss off the walls

and floor around the urinal. There ain't no such thing as a straight stream.

[Rob Gregory Browne]

9. I'll continue to flush, thank you. nt

[DBoon]

10. Do building codes even allow this?

I'd hate to think of the permits you'd have to get for this.

And the pissed off angry neighbors showing up to protest granting these permits.

[XemaSab]

13. I wish toilets had 2 flush levels:

a little flush for little jobs and a big flush for big jobs.

We "let it mellow" here, but that's only in our house. When I am somewhere else I flush.

[Kaleva]

17. I've thought the same thing

[Betsy Ross]

25. I believe there are such toilets.

One button for liquid, the other for solid waste.

We don't flush for pee until there is a quantity of TP in the bowl. Also have a shut-off valve in the shower to turn off the water while sudsing up.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

27. I've seen those kind of toilets in Israel n/t

[kristopher]

30. That is a standard feature of Japanese toilets.

Push the lever one direction and a small burst of water dilutes the bowl, push it the other direction and it gives a full flush.

Some homes also have urinals.

[wtmusic]

31. That's a standard toilet in France nt

[MercutioATC]

14. Wash dishes by hand instead of using a dishwasher and flush away.

Assuming you pee 6 times a day, you'd use 2.4 gallons more water by peeing into a toilet than a urinal.

Wash your dishes by hand? Save 15 gallons...and you save all of the plumbing expense.


Alternately, just reduce one shower a day by about 70 seconds, and you'll save as much as you would by installing a urinal.

[Cant trust em]

16. Does washing dishes by hand save water?

Sometimes I wonder how much water I use to scrub and rinse each plate. Is it more water efficient? Has there ever been a study on this?

[MercutioATC]

19. I believe the method is to fill the sink with water, wash, drain the sink, and then rinse them all.

Depending on the dishwasher and the setting, figure 7-20 gallons of water.

5 to do them by hand.

[Cant trust em]

22. Hmmm....maybe I'll pick at tub.

Thanks for the tip.

[FormerDittoHead]

15. Two thoughts.

I think they SHOULD be! But try convincing my wife! I think a urinal would get a LOT more use than a bidet.

Another thing, and this is a can of worms, but I honestly don't think we should be flushing our poop with drinkable water. I wish we could have two incoming water lines, one just for toilets. I can't help but think it would take an incredible load off of the water that needs to be processed for drinking, washing, showers, etc.

here come the jokes.

[MercutioATC]

20. Flushing with gray water is a great idea...

...it just requires more plumbing that wouldn't be cost effective with the current price of potable water.

[XemaSab]

21. I've had that thought too

If the sinks and the bathtub went into a cistern, then the cistern was used for the toilet, then you wouldn't have the clean water waste (not to mention the electric waste for pumping and purification.)

[Kaleva]

23. I think gray water systems are available now

[MineralMan]

26. Just force all men to be "sitzpinklers" and the mess problem is

solved. Yeah...that'll work.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. Wasn't there a political party in Scandinavia that called for that?

[wtmusic]

32. Force proud Standspritzers to sitzpinkle? Never. nt

[NickB79]

33. Put a couple of bricks in the toilet tank. NT

[tama]

34. Terrible waste of urea

...the whole water closet system. If we think sustainable, we think recycled flows of energy and matter. Meaning, putting our waste back to agricultural production, to fertilize land!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea#Uses

Check composting toilets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet

[rj5690]

35. Sure. Why not?