# Steel Casing and Dog Urine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125 "2004-06-25T02:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ashkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ashkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashkicker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/1 "2004-06-25T02:07:48Z")
We recently had a well drilled. My other half joked to the driller about how he would have to keep our dog from peeing on it because it stuck up out of the ground like a fire hydrant. The driller said not to let our dog pee on it that the urine could eat through the steel casing. I found this very hard to believe considering it is steel. I don’t doubt that dog urine could eat through a lot of things, but steel casing? ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/2 "2004-06-25T02:50:09Z")
Yep. Urine is extremely corrosive. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/3 "2004-06-25T12:29:01Z")
[http://www.gliderforum.com/thread-view.asp?threadid=823&posts=10](http://www.gliderforum.com/thread-view.asp?threadid=823&posts=10) > [@](#): > > Two points should be stressed about pee systems. (1)Urine is extremely corrosive and will convert vital steel glider parts to dangerous junk in short order… [MSDS sheet for urea,](http://www.agrium.com/uploads/Urea_Lawn_Grade_MSDS_14081.pdf) a component of urine. > [@](#): > > corrosive to mild steel…non-corrosive to stainless steel [http://www.steelline.co.uk/stainless-steel.html](http://www.steelline.co.uk/stainless-steel.html) > [@](#): > > Unlike stainless steel, galvanised and painted steel do not possess such qualities. Although initially protected, paint can be damaged and chip off. It also degenerates and becomes porous. The galvanised (zinc) layer then corrodes, leaving the carbon steel exposed, thus leaving the steel susceptible to the accelerants of corrosion. Therefore stainless steel performs where iron and galvanised steel don’t. Such as environments where accelerants of corrosion occur include: > > Road salt and brine in coastal atmospheres. > Alkaline dog urine… Bottom line (heh): Cover it with something plastic, or fence it off, so the dog doesn’t pee on it. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/4 "2004-06-25T18:12:19Z")
My office has brushed steel dividers between the urinals. They’re just 18" wide by 36" tall, made of sheet metal, riveted into hollow panels that are mounted to the wall to provide some privacy from the pisser next to you. When I started here they were already corroded. Apparently, the janitors never clean them. From waist level down, piss splatter from the urinals had pitted and corroded them to the point where they were pretty much a solid sheet of rust. Over 14 years later, they still haven’t been cleaned. And the rust has eaten holes in them. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/5 "2004-06-25T18:15:35Z")
Umm… my office _building_… office building. For the record, I do _not_ have urinals in my office. However, the smell of whatever my coworker just cooked in the microwave sure makes it smell like I do. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/6 "2004-06-25T20:10:57Z")
There are several manufacturers of “Waterless or Flushless Urinals.” Men only for now, maybe “Unisex” models later. \<[http://www.waterless.com/](http://www.waterless.com/)\> \<[http://www.magic-tec.com/magic\_ur.html](http://www.magic-tec.com/magic_ur.html)\> \<[http://www.buildinggreen.com/products/waterless.cfm](http://www.buildinggreen.com/products/waterless.cfm)\> Pays for itself in water savings. ‘They’ claim they are being installed in large public arenas to minimize odors, and health concerns as well as save water costs. Usually urine is sterile but chemically a bad actor none the less. ---
**Author:** ![Ashkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ashkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashkicker)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/7 "2004-06-26T00:39:30Z")
Thanks **DDG** for information. I guess the real question would be is there anything that dog urine can’t destroy? I will take your suggestion and fence that area off. Someone said they make fake looking rocks that you can place over them but I think this one sets to high out of the ground for that. It would have to be a boulder in this case. ---
**Author:** ![sykes007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@sykes007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sykes007)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/8 "2012-10-13T07:50:22Z")
watch out form Chinese stainless steel. My bbq rusted in less than 1 year and it was undercover! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/9 "2012-10-13T07:58:55Z")
> [@sykes007](#): > > watch out form Chinese stainless steel. My bbq rusted in less than 1 year and it was undercover! Welcome **sykes007**! You may not have noticed but this thread is 9 years old. Some of the folks that posted may not even be here anymore. Just an FYI. Some of the best posters we’ve had have just stumbled across us though. I hope you’ll stick around, I think you’ll like it here. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-casing-and-dog-urine/252125/10 "2012-10-13T08:59:40Z")
imagine what zombie piss will do to steel