# Etiquette- peeing at night, to flush or nnot? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430 "2008-11-19T07:55:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/1 "2008-11-19T07:55:36Z")
I’m still at the point in my life where I spend time in pretty close quarters with people. It’s not that unusual for me and five of my closest friends to end up in a single hotel room together, and I spend a lot of time on couches, often in studio apartments. I usually end up having to pee at night, which puts me in a quandary. If I flush, it will probably wake several people up, and will probably leave them tossing and turning while the tank refills. But not flushing is gross. But then again, it’s just pee. Most people don’t flush after a quick pee, do they? I’m talking a tiny bit of well hydrated clear pee here, not leaving the bowl full and golden. Is that really worth wasting gallons of water and waking up a houseful of people for? I usually flush because it seems worse to be gross than rude. But it still doesn’t seem like the right thing to do. So, should I flush or not? ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/2 "2008-11-19T08:03:40Z")
Sharing a hotel room with friends? I’d flush. At home? No flush. But then we don’t flush unless it’s necessary (solids, smell or just a too-sunny looking toilet bowl). Our cistern is old, has no half-flush and uses a LOT of water, so it’s easier (and cheaper) to just not. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/3 "2008-11-19T08:42:10Z")
Pee. Think of the next guy. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/4 "2008-11-19T09:00:05Z")
Advice from my youth… \*If it’s yellow, let it mellow If its brown, \*your kidneys are probably bleeding, hie thee to A&E (ER) I go with the no-flush. It’s pee, it won’t harm anyone if it sits around till morning. Unless people have been eating asparagus, cause that stuff makes urine **stink**. Si ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/5 "2008-11-19T09:56:58Z")
I infer from your OP that you’re hanging with the party crew. It’s been my experiance that it’s pretty hard to wake somebody up from an alcohol induced slumber. So I say “flush away!” And if you wake anybody up well…“Whaaah” that’s too bad. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/6 "2008-11-19T10:13:41Z")
I vote for avoiding the issue by peeing out the window:p ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/7 "2008-11-19T10:26:59Z")
Ick. My outlook is always flush no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/8 "2008-11-19T11:53:04Z")
In 99% of cases, I flush. Mind you, if I needed to go so much that I woke up, it’s not “a little.” But if I’ve had to use the small bathroom at Mom’s I don’t. That thing is so noisy it can wake up the neighbors in other flats. ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/9 "2008-11-19T12:56:26Z")
I’m with **Spectralist**. I flush every time. If someone around me is such a wuss that s/he gets all bent out of shape by a little noise, s/he should be woken up by toilets as often as possible. My mother is of the “letting it mellow” persuasion, so I avoid going to the bathroom at her house if I can. (This is difficult since she lives an hour away, but I manage.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/10 "2008-11-19T14:50:01Z")
I also depends on if you have one of those pressure tank toilets. Those are LOUD. I don’t flush pee everytime at home. Especially in the middle of the night. It’s just a waste of water. [QUOTE=Purgatory Creek] My mother is of the “letting it mellow” persuasion, so I avoid going to the bathroom at her house if I can. (This is difficult since she lives an hour away, but I manage.) [/QUOTE] I’m curious, why do you care? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/11 "2008-11-19T15:52:45Z")
There’s two ways to pee, either to shoot it right into the middle of the tank where it makes a GgguuurrrggleeGGGuuurrggglleeGGGuurrggglleeGGGuuurrggllleee roar or to aim for the porcelain shoreline where you produce only a kinder, gentler Wwwwhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzz. I would certainly hope whichever type you practice has some bearing on whether you then show additional noise consideration with a non flush. Otherwise it’s like you added two integers but carried their sum to eight decimal places. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/12 "2008-11-19T16:06:12Z")
My husband and I don’t flush (pee) at night. It’s a courtesy to each other, because we’re both fairly light sleepers. YMMV, depending on how heavily people sleep and how noisy the toilet flush is. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/13 "2008-11-19T16:40:03Z")
Depends. ---
**Author:** ![Myrrajh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/14 "2008-11-19T16:49:49Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > Depends. Well, there’s the answer right there. Slip those babies on and don’t bother to get out of bed at all! ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/15 "2008-11-19T17:14:15Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I also depends on if you have one of those pressure tank toilets. Those are LOUD. > > I don’t flush pee everytime at home. Especially in the middle of the night. It’s just a waste of water. > > I’m curious, why do you care? Because I don’t like using a piss-filled toilet, especially when it’s filled with someone else’s urine, even (or especially) my mother’s. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/16 "2008-11-19T17:21:23Z")
> [@Purgatory\_Creek](#): > > Because I don’t like using a piss-filled toilet, especially when it’s filled with someone else’s urine, even (or especially) my mother’s. So flush it, then finish your business. The guy is choosing not to flush, because it might wake people up, not to annoy them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/17 "2008-11-19T17:25:08Z")
“In this land of sun & fun, we don’t flush for #1”. It’s a waste of water and energy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/18 "2008-11-19T18:28:17Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > asparagus…that stuff makes urine **stink**. So does certain medications, particuarly antibiotics. For me, any liquids that smell like coffee while going in also smell like coffee when coming out. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/19 "2008-11-19T18:29:50Z")
I can’t believe everyone’s overlooked the obvious solution: Pee in the sink. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430/20 "2008-11-19T19:18:10Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > I can’t believe everyone’s overlooked the obvious solution: > > Pee in the sink. That can plug up the plumbing. Yes, I know it’s a liquid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiquette-peeing-at-night-to-flush-or-nnot/473430.md?page=2)