# Why can't urinals handle solid matter?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 3, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856 "2003-03-03T22:07:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/1 "2003-03-03T22:07:26Z")

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A toilet can flush away some massive stuff but a cigarette butt can swirl around in a urinal for days. Why don’t even the smallest solid objects get flushed down a urinal?

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**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/2 "2003-03-03T22:43:42Z")

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Insufficient volume of water, mostly. If you took a bucket of water and dumped it into the urinal, the cigarette butt would vanish.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/3 "2003-03-03T22:52:57Z")

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The urinals I’m familiar have small drain holes, because they aren’t intended to deal with solids. They’re _designed_ to only pass liquid.

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**Author:** ![jonfromdenver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/4 "2003-03-03T23:05:03Z")

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Urinals generally only use 1 gallon per flush, whereas a toilet in a public restroom will use 3-5 gallons. They are designed for convenience and water-saving, not to flush away trash.

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/5 "2003-03-04T01:36:52Z")

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Note that even in a toilet, a cigarette butt tends to float around after a flush, mainly because of its light weight and expert buoyancy. Sometimes requires the force of a bucket full of water to drown it.

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**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-urinals-handle-solid-matter/158856/6 "2003-03-04T02:30:28Z")

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The waste pipe is also somewhat smaller in diameter.