# So Why Don't They Make Teflon Coated Toilet Bowls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2007, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771 "2007-12-04T12:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/41 "2011-05-03T14:41:40Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Come on who’s going to shoot cooking spray up their ass before they go to the toilet? Great combination of user name and comment. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/42 "2011-05-03T18:00:34Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I wonder how well a diamond film would work? It’s supposed to be slippery, and presumably wouldn’t scratch easily like teflon. > > On the odd chance you check back in the 2 year zombie thread, it was in Niven’s _A World Out of Time_. So you got the author right. I’ve read _A Mote in God’s Eye_, but not _A World Out of Time_, and I also remember the frictionless toilets. Perhaps Niven reused the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/43 "2011-05-03T18:28:34Z")
The song “Slip Slidin’ Away” keeps running through my head. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/44 "2011-05-04T04:14:04Z")
Not mentioned so far, but every teflon coating I have seen has been dark colored – usually brown or black. I think that it would be hard to get consumers to buy a toilet with the bowl a brown or black color. Especially if they had to pay double the price for it. So consumer acceptance would work against a teflon toilet. (Possibly teflon can be made in other colors. I’ve just never seen any.) ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/45 "2011-05-04T04:55:31Z")
There is one manufactured by _Gotti, Inc_. It’s called **The Teflon John**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/46 "2011-05-04T05:10:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > On the odd chance you check back in the 2 year zombie thread, it was in Niven’s _A World Out of Time_. So you got the author right. It is definitely in Mote as well, in the accomodation the Moties built for the humans. I remember the toilets in World Out of Time being a candidate for the Dictator Immortality, but not if they were frictionless. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/47 "2011-05-04T11:55:49Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Not mentioned so far, but every teflon coating I have seen has been dark colored – usually brown or black. I think that it would be hard to get consumers to buy a toilet with the bowl a brown or black color. Especially if they had to pay double the price for it. So consumer acceptance would work against a teflon toilet. > > (Possibly teflon can be made in other colors. I’ve just never seen any.) Teflon in its natural state is pure translucent white. The only way to get it to be brown or black is to put coloring agents in it. I strongly suspect that what you’re thinking is Teflon is actually some other non-stick surface. Some of those, tougher than Teflon (and often slightly “stickier”) are naturally of darker color. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/48 "2011-05-04T13:33:18Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > On the odd chance you check back in the 2 year zombie thread, it was in Niven’s _A World Out of Time_. So you got the author right. > [@GilaB](#): > > I’ve read _A Mote in God’s Eye_, but not _A World Out of Time_, and I also remember the frictionless toilets. Perhaps Niven reused the idea. It’s definitely in _Mote_, when Renner is in the palace: > [@](#): > > The bathroom - the toilet was different. Just as he had sketched it. Wrong: there wasn’t any water in it. And no flush. > > What the hell, there was only one way to test a toilet. > > When he looked, the bowl was sparkling clean. He poured a glass of water into it and watched it run away without leaving a drop. The bowl was a frictionless surface. ---
**Author:** ![relling58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@relling58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relling58)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/49 "2012-12-21T19:33:07Z")
Does anyone have a patent for this? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/50 "2012-12-21T22:15:19Z")
> [@relling58](#): > > Does anyone have a patent for this? Airplane toilet bowls have been teflon coated for years. During the change from regular stainless, we at Boeing switched over from wood to nylon test turds when functional testing the lavatories. Engineering was afraid the wood turds would scratch the teflon. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/51 "2012-12-21T22:19:51Z")
Would zombies shit their brains out if they used one? Sorry, could resist since this is DOUBLE ZOMBIE!! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/52 "2012-12-21T22:27:01Z")
“Wood turds?” “Hairlip!” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/53 "2012-12-22T00:44:35Z")
Forget Teflon - here’s the right treatment: [superhydrophobic coating](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrA5vNryQk). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/54 "2012-12-22T01:18:48Z")
There’s also [this technology](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djwahGRi5iE), which is a coating applied to a ketchup bottle that allows every last drop to slide out easily. Imagine a toilet bowl with the same coating. (I wonder if a shower enclosure with this coating would resist getting covered in soap scum.) ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/55 "2012-12-22T23:07:09Z")
There’s not a lot of innovation in the world of toilets because there’s no money in it. ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/56 "2012-12-22T23:33:22Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > isn’t that why they have the little straw on wd-40? lol XD ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/57 "2012-12-23T00:51:32Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > There’s not a lot of innovation in the world of toilets because there’s no money in it. it’s like flushing your money away. ---
**Author:** ![MetroGnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MetroGnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MetroGnome)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/58 "2012-12-23T03:04:56Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Airplane toilet bowls have been teflon coated for years. During the change from regular stainless, we at Boeing switched over from wood to nylon test turds when functional testing the lavatories. Engineering was afraid the wood turds would scratch the teflon. Not to hijack, but I’m really intrigued: Were these poo dummies given any particular shapes or were they just straight cylindrical plugs? I’d assume the wood ones floated, but what about the nylon ones? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/59 "2012-12-23T05:33:27Z")
There was an entire thread not so long ago on standards for simulating turds in the plumbing industry and in other industries, with cites to quite detailed specs and photos. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771/60 "2012-12-23T15:36:03Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Forget Teflon - here’s the right treatment: [superhydrophobic coating](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrA5vNryQk). Holy lack of crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-they-make-teflon-coated-toilet-bowls/428771.md?page=4)