# Are urinals harder to flush or something? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569 "2011-01-14T04:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/41 "2011-01-15T17:19:57Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Many guys seem to have an overwhelming urge to aim at a specific target, and the drain or the urinal mint is the obvious choice. The behavior can actually be changed by painting something like a fly on the urinal surface. I always try to write my name on the mint. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/42 "2011-01-15T18:04:57Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > When you look at it before flushing, is it still OK to say, “WOW! That was a good one!” “Hey, any of you guys wanna take a look at this before I flush it?!” ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/43 "2011-01-15T18:18:52Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > 1. People who leave a stall, particularly after clearly doing more than peeing, and bypassing the sinks entirely. It bothers me enough when people fail to wash their hands after urination, but whatever, I won’t get my undies in a wad about it. But wiping your ass simply demands cleansing afterward, I don’t care who the fuck you are. > > 2. People who pull the door open using the towels with which they dried their hands, and leaving the towels there. ARGH. #2 is why people do #3. What I’ll pit is the idiot building management who doesn’t put the trash bin next to the door, or requiring the door to pulled open rather than pushed. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/44 "2011-01-15T18:22:12Z")
since fresh urine is actually pretty clean, I’d imagine it’s highly unsanitary to have urinals acting as basins for standing urine. At the very least, it could serve as a nursery for misquote larvae. Nobody wants that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/45 "2011-01-15T19:48:35Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > ? I’m simply describing that the act of cleaning after a bowel movement place’s ones hand, whether one feels it or not, in a _very_ good position to collect microscopic fecal matter. Right. I was not under any illusion that it’s not a clean business, but your strong emphasis on the word ‘COVERED’ really does make it sound like you were saying that when you wipe, you’re dipping your hand in a spraybooth full of shit. Maybe that’s not what you meant, but I only had the words to rely on. > [@](#): > > (For that matter, you don’t even have to wipe – the flushing process will spray fecal matter all over the stall, if you’re there when it happens.) Have you gone to the bathroom? Your hand. Fecal matter. They are on a team. Not in dispute. Not even mentioned in the post to which I responded. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/46 "2011-01-15T21:38:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Right. I was not under any illusion that it’s not a clean business, but your strong emphasis on the word ‘COVERED’ really does make it sound like you were saying that when you wipe, you’re dipping your hand in a spraybooth full of shit. Maybe that’s not what you meant, but I only had the words to rely on. Aiee. My words described the process of cleaning after a bowel movement, a process which will leave one’s hand covered in fecal matter. You may argue that my writing is unclear (you would not be the first), but I’m honestly not at all sure where you get the idea that I was positing a “spraybooth of shit”. That’s nowhere in my post and isn’t required for the conclusion that the wiping process puts fecal matter on one’s hands. > [@](#): > > Not in dispute. Not even mentioned in the post to which I responded. Not everything I say must be in response to a dispute. My point here is to describe that going to the bathroom, especially in a public restroom, is dirty business, and to the extent you agree we’re copacetic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/47 "2011-01-15T21:41:52Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > since fresh urine is actually pretty clean, I’d imagine it’s highly unsanitary to have urinals acting as basins for standing urine. At the very least, it could serve as a nursery for misquote larvae. Nobody wants that. Although piss skeeters would be a good band name. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/48 "2011-01-15T21:47:08Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > #2 is why people do #3. What I’ll pit is the idiot building management who doesn’t put the trash bin next to the door, or requiring the door to pulled open rather than pushed. Well, I understand, really. But it’s still _terribly_ off-putting to reach for the door and find the handle completely swathed in used, wet paper towel. A trash can usually isn’t far outside the door, and if not, I’d even rather someone drop the towels on the bathroom floor than leave them on the handle (custodial staff probably disagree). If you simply _must_ leave the towels on the door handle … then at least, please, use a towel that wasn’t used to dry your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/49 "2011-01-15T22:09:18Z")
Sorry, I misunderstood. I assumed you meant towels lying around on the floor. On the door handle? Yeech! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/50 "2011-01-15T22:43:58Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Although piss skeeters would be a good band name. I laughed till I peed myself. Well, not really. But I did get a damn good laugh out of it. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/51 "2011-01-16T01:31:05Z")
Is it just me that sees flushable urinals as a curiously American thing? Does anywhere else in the world have them? It always looks so strange in TV and film when someone does their business and then presses down that wee thing beside the pipe ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/52 "2011-01-16T01:32:38Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Psst - I’m a she-type and therefore am in the ladies’ room. Doesn’t mean the people in the stall next to you are. That was the joke I was making. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/53 "2011-01-16T01:45:23Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > Aiee. My words described the process of cleaning after a bowel movement, a process which will leave one’s hand covered in fecal matter. You may argue that my writing is unclear (you would not be the first), but I’m honestly not at all sure where you get the idea that I was positing a “spraybooth of shit”. That’s nowhere in my post and isn’t required for the conclusion that the wiping process puts fecal matter on one’s hands. Well, all I can say is that it was my earnest reading of the graped words in the following quote (and in particular, the bit on which you placed emphasis yourself) : > [@Paranoid Randroid](#): > > Even if you manage not to get excrement on your fingers, in the very act of wiping – presumably reaching down below your genitals, into the bowl of the toilet, and wiping off feces with thin paper – your hands will become COVERED in particulate fecal matter. Sorry, that’s just the way things are. And then there’s handling the toilet paper, which has been sitting beside (and handled by) guys shitting all day, and similarly for the flush handle if there is one … yeah. Perhaps we just have different understandings of the word ‘covered’ - to me (and especially when emphasised) it means: coated entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/54 "2011-01-16T02:06:27Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > Sorry, I misunderstood. I assumed you meant towels lying around on the floor. On the door handle? Yeech! Yesss. It’s not so terribly frequent to cause mental anguish, but I probably encounter it … once every six months, maybe? And it always makes me want to find the sumbitch and make him eat the towels. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/55 "2011-01-16T02:12:40Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Is it just me that sees flushable urinals as a curiously American thing? Does anywhere else in the world have them? I’m not qualified to answer to that question, but what I _can_ say is – as someone who has lived in the US for his entire life, making use of a wide variety of public restrooms – the last time I saw an unflushable urinal was the trough in my high school bathroom. (And I hated that thing.) I guess we love being able to flush. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/56 "2011-01-16T05:34:02Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Is it just me that sees flushable urinals as a curiously American thing? Does anywhere else in the world have them? It always looks so strange in TV and film when someone does their business and then presses down that wee thing beside the pipe There are three types of urinals–hand flushable, automatic flush, and non-flushable. My experience has been that non-flushables are very common in Europe and elsewhere, but very rare in the United States. As an American, and used to flushables, I prefer flushables. They smell better. Non-flushables hold a residue of urine, and they always smell a little bit. I feel an urge to flush them, and I’m frustrated when I can’t. But far worse is the flushable which hasn’t been flushed. The non-flushable is at least designed to drain. The flushable isn’t. So when you don’t flush a flushable, or when an automatic flush (increasingly common, but still not dominant in the US) malfunctions and doesn’t flush, you have a big pool of stagnant urine in the bottom of the urinal, and it _stinks_. So on the stink-o-meter, from best to worst, you have the flushed flushable, the non-flushable, and the unflushed flushable. Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/57 "2011-01-16T20:34:45Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > There are three types of urinals–hand flushable, automatic flush, and non-flushable. My experience has been that non-flushables are very common in Europe and elsewhere, but very rare in the United States. > > As an American, and used to flushables, I prefer flushables. They smell better. Non-flushables hold a residue of urine, and they always smell a little bit. I feel an urge to flush them, and I’m frustrated when I can’t. > > But far worse is the flushable which hasn’t been flushed. The non-flushable is at least designed to drain. The flushable isn’t. So when you don’t flush a flushable, or when an automatic flush (increasingly common, but still not dominant in the US) malfunctions and doesn’t flush, you have a big pool of stagnant urine in the bottom of the urinal, and it _stinks_. > > So on the stink-o-meter, from best to worst, you have the flushed flushable, the non-flushable, and the unflushed flushable. Got it? There were flushless urinals in Korea in the mid nineties while I was stationed there. They seemed great. No smell. No flush. No water usage. I’m not totally sure why they aren’t in use stateside. From what I have heard the urine that sits in the unflushed gooseneck crystalizes pretty easily and can create serious plumbing problems if not properly maintained. That may be why they are not in wide use here. If they were I wouldn’t have to piss into someone elses yellow foam water. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/58 "2011-01-17T18:47:02Z")
> [@cerberus](#): > > If it’s yellow … When I’m in my own home, or hotel room or whatever, I can use my best judgement regarding whether or not to “let it mellow.” In a public restroom, though, everything should get flushed. Don’t leave your waste behind for someone else to deal with. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![BaconAndEggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BaconAndEggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaconAndEggs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/59 "2011-01-17T19:27:50Z")
When I’m using public toilets, I don’t get how someone who takes a mega dump, or piss, or period blood, AND it’s there for me to see when I open the stall door? How do the automatic flushers not flush when they stand up? Does someone put a sticker on the red sensor light? Or their hand? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569/60 "2011-01-17T19:30:30Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > From what I have heard the urine that sits in the unflushed gooseneck crystalizes pretty easily and can create serious plumbing problems if not properly maintained. That may be why they are not in wide use here. Now I’m wondering how flushless urinals work, and what keeps them from smelling all uriney, and how one “properly maintains” them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-urinals-harder-to-flush-or-something/567569.md?page=4)