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Licensed GreenPlumber

There has been quite a debate over Waterless Urinals the past few years.  Sanitary concerns, maintenance issues, and potential drain blockage are a few of the most popular questions that have been raised about their widespread use.

I taught a class to about 60 Plumbers a while ago and when I mentioned Waterless Urinals the room was immediately divided.  Half of the room said they were horrible and the other half said they were great.  Before I lost control of my class I said, “let’s talk about this for a minute.”  I then asked what are the negatives.  “They stink, they cause drain blockage, and they are a maintenance nightmare!”  I then asked what are the positives? ” They don’t use any water, there is not a flush valve to deal with that may leak, and with regular maintenance they are easy to service.”  Two totally different viewpoints.  We talked through a couple of the successful and not so successful installations some of the Plumbers in the room had and what I found was in most cases the unsuccessful installations were mainly due to the fact that the end user or maintenance staff were not properly trained or were unwilling to take care of them.  We continued the discussion on the proper maintenance and at the end of it I asked the class if the end user understood how to properly maintain the urinals if they felt they could be installed successfully.  Most agreed they could.

Industrial Economics, Inc.  compiled a report in June 2008 that is very detailed so I won’t go too in depth here but I will say that I was in the University of South Carolina’s Green dormitory a few months ago and they had Waterless Urinals installed that were absolutely squeaky clean and the Administrator there said they had not one problem with them because they knew what they had to do to maintain them.

There are a few companies that make them like Sloan, Falcon, and Kohler.  They vary a little in maintenance but they all save water.  They estimate about 40,000 gallons annually in a smaller commercial application. 

For whatever reason there may be some places that they just won’t work out.  The maintenance staff won’t deal with them, etc.  In this case there is a 1 pint per flush urinal made by American Standard that will produce quite a savings over a traditional 1 gallon or higher per flush urinal.  It isn’t going to save as much as the Waterless but it offers a very water efficient alternative.  Waterless or Less Water?  You make the choice!

Bob Rizi Plumbing………Saving Water, One Drop at a time!

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