# What's with the ice in urinals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132 "2003-12-05T11:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/1 "2003-12-05T11:11:24Z")
I have seen this phenomenon recently in a movie, and at a club. Fresh refills too. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/2 "2003-12-05T11:31:15Z")
A quick search found this quate… “Ice lowers the temperature of the urine and retards the growth of the organisms that grow in the unsanitary urinal thus reducing the odor.” Personally I don’t really know as I’m sure streams of hot piss would soon melt the ice wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/3 "2003-12-05T11:46:49Z")
soon melt the ice wouldn’t it? correct, thereby furnishing the additional benefit of automatically “flushing” . Sometimes guys, you know, forget…- ---
**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:** [December 5, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/4 "2003-12-05T12:43:18Z")
“Well, there’s ice in the ol’ urinal!” – John Caldwell, “Modern Cliches” in Mad magazine a few years back ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/5 "2003-12-05T13:08:07Z")
There is also the matter of giving the fellows something to aim at. Some guys, you see, are remarkably indifferent to where the stream of piss actually GOES. Lots of us have horror stories about stepping into a public restroom and finding that the seat’s been peed on, or that some fool apparently didn’t have enough of a pressure head, because the FLOOR in front of the toilet is flooded, or my personal fave, “the Guy Who Couldn’t Be Bothered To Practice Penis Control,” and let the damn thing hose all over the friggin’ stall like a berserk Water Wiggle, drenching everything in immediate range. Guys like this ought to be castrated for misuse of their equipment. Putting ice in a trough urinal, though, activates the “ooh” factor for most guys. They can’t resist trying to melt specific parts of it, rearrange it with the stream, or, ghod help us, trying to write their names in it. Plus, it’s self-flushing, and keeps the odor down. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/6 "2003-12-05T13:08:46Z")
Previous [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221154&highlight=urinal). ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/7 "2003-12-05T13:47:54Z")
It`s the best way of getting rid of last nights stale and half-melted ice. They usually clean out the ice bin in the morning, so the old ice has to go somewhere… Urinals, for the above reasons are the perfect sollution. ---
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/8 "2003-12-05T15:38:39Z")
A local restaurant (fairly classy place) has a sign over the urinals. “We hardly ever use this ice in our mixed drinks” :eek: 😃 I think they’re killing two birds, getting rid of old ice and keeping the odors down. ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/9 "2003-12-05T22:33:18Z")
It’s usually done to save water. It costs way less to make a batch of ice and toss it into the urinal than it does to flush the urinal after each use. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/10 "2003-12-05T22:38:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flash-57 \* > \*\*It’s usually done to save water. It costs way less to make a batch of ice and toss it into the urinal than it does to flush the urinal after each use. \*\* Cite? Seems to me this might work during high-traffic times, maybe, but during low traffic times, the ice would probably melt before being “used.” Besides, what’s to stop guys from flushing even if there’s ice in the urinal? ---
**Author:** ![swansont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@swansont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swansont)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/11 "2003-12-06T18:53:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Garfield226 \* > Besides, what’s to stop guys from flushing even if there’s ice in the urinal? What stops us when there isn’t? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/12 "2003-12-06T19:55:15Z")
The urinals I’ve seen ice in are the long multi-user troughs that you can’t flush - there’s a constant slow trickle of water. Ice stays in those better than the single-person urinals, I would think. Besides, electric eyes flush now for the guys who are too stupid or ‘cool’ to flush. I think it’s the “give the guys something to aim at” or perhaps a belief that it reduces bacterial growth. ---
**Author:** ![Striss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@Striss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Striss)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/13 "2003-12-07T13:46:07Z")
sigh… It’s simply odor control, folks… Nothing more, nothing less… ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-ice-in-urinals/217132/14 "2003-12-08T20:50:29Z")
\> Cite? No cite. Just a a statement from the bartender. This particular bar is just outside the city limits and doesn’t have access to the (cheaper) city water. The cost for rural water is 2-3 times the city price. They say they use less water by turning off the water and using ice.