# Do you flush the toilet at night? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558 "2002-05-17T14:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/21 "2002-05-18T04:27:27Z")
I do now. But I didn’t when my four-year-old was a baby. The downstairs bathroom is directly under her room, and she was an extremely light sleeper. If she heard the toilet, she’d wake up and cry for a few hours. A sleeping baby is much more important than a flushed toilet. Sheri ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/22 "2002-05-18T04:34:43Z")
I don’t flush if I’m the only one in the house at night. What’s the point, I say? And it’s highly unlikely that I’m going to wash my hands in the middle of the night either. I never realized I was so disgusting! ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/23 "2002-05-18T05:51:58Z")
I always flush. Flushing is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/24 "2002-05-18T16:10:21Z")
I use a nightlight, one of those 7 watt things, to see in the bathroom at night. Also, I like the idea of not flushing so there aren’t any toilet plumes to breathe when sleeping 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/25 "2002-05-18T16:34:23Z")
Toilet plumes? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/26 "2002-05-18T17:51:16Z")
If you don’t wanna flush at night, don’t pee at night. Pee comes out sterile but rapidly ferments. (It’s full of things that bacteria are fond of). Fermented pee smells hideous. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/27 "2002-05-18T18:07:33Z")
\*\*What is this “flush” thing you’re talking about? \*\* 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Omnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@Omnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnivore)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/28 "2002-05-18T18:26:42Z")
I flush always because it is more sanitary and the noise is not enough, with the door closed, to wake anyone up. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/29 "2002-05-18T18:59:33Z")
You close the door??? ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/30 "2002-05-18T19:19:42Z")
Yuck, this is more gross than the thread in which I found out most Dopers don’t actually wash their feet. I think flushing the toilet _every time_ is a habit we must all strive to develop. Put the toilet seat down when you do it, too - according to Cecil, flushing with the toilet seat up is the equivalent of a bacterial tsunami devouring your bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/31 "2002-05-18T21:54:14Z")
[Toilet plumes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html). Still one of my all-time favorite Cecil columns. And the question was asked by someone from my own hometown. ---
**Author:** ![Omnivore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47774/32.png) [@Omnivore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnivore)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/32 "2002-05-18T23:31:34Z")
(SEMI-HIJACK) I have a friend who pees in a gallon milk jug during the day and when it gets full, he dumps it in the toilet and flushes it. He claims it saves him 30 or 40 gallons of water a day and lowers his expensive water bill. I find it to be somewhat disgusting in this day and age that he has to do that to keep his water bill lower and to conserve water. We may as well go back to having outhouses that used no water! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/33 "2002-05-19T01:24:56Z")
Omnivore, he should just flush it down the sink, the water goes through the same pipes. Mine does anyway., ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/34 "2002-05-19T02:08:38Z")
I always flush, but I usually wait for the toilet to stop running before I open the door. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/35 "2002-05-19T15:24:44Z")
If it’s yellow… etc. Of course we keep the lid down. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/36 "2002-05-19T17:34:07Z")
Yes ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558/37 "2002-05-20T12:16:51Z")
I don’t flush at night. I also don’t wash my hands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-flush-the-toilet-at-night/109558.md?page=1)