Optimal Toilet Flush Rate

[ku]

Each member of our household flushes the toilet after defecation because the sight of a toilet bowl filled with feces is disgusting. However, because of the drought here my parents have suggested to me that I should not flush the toilet after I urinate because that would waste too much water. They suggest letting the toilet water get more and more concentrated with urine before flushing it. This saves money as well as the environment.

 

But what I wonder is whether an unflushed toilet is a health hazard. How concentrated should the toilet water be before we flush it to avoid any health problems or is it better to just flush after each urination? I would like to convince my parents to flush the toilet all the time because I hate walking into a toilet that smells like urine.

[YT2095]

usualy when trying to convince anyone to stop doing something, it`s nice to offer them an alternative, why don`t you tell them to put a house brick in the toilet cistern, thus reducing the amount of water used per flush by the same volume as a brick, it soon mounts up! (no pun intended).

[ecoli]

PLacing a brick or anything that displaces water in the tank of the toilet bowl also saves water per flush.

 

Leaving urine in the bowl for short amounts of time shouldn't do anything dreadful. Urine should be sterile to begin with, and I don't think there are too many organisms that could happily live in it. (although I may be wrong here). If it's a question of saving water, then you're better off flushing every "other person" or something like that.

 

Of course, if the drought becomes too bad, then you can always resort to drinking your urine, which kills two birds with one stone.

 

And now that you mention it, I remember hearing some interesting health benefits of drinking your own urine that I think I may start a new thread about.

[Phi for All]

IIRC, urine and feces themselves are not unsanitary, it's the bacteria that feed off them that cause them health risks and foul odors. However, letting uirne remain in a toilet bowl all day is not going to cause any health risks unless you're using the bowl for something else (not recommended in any case).

 

"If it's yellow it's mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." Environmentalists everywhere proclaim this to be true whether in drought conditions or not. During the last drought Colorado had, I even kept a 5 gallon bucket in my shower to catch drain water. I would use this "gray water" to flush down all the urine I'd been saving in the toilet.

 

As long as you clean your toilet regularly, leaving urine unflushed is not a bad thing.

[Nashyboyo]

Urine is merely a constituent of piss. The concentration of the contribution varies with each person and each piss. The volume of the S-bend will remain constant due to the design of a toilet, thus taking a piss effectively replaces a bladders worth from the s-bend with the new contribution. The concentration of each constituent of piss will thus alter constantly. The colour and the sent will change by each day due to each person probably having a different diet or maybe a disease.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but i'm sure 'local' bacteria (i.e. not bacteria from the salt lakes of canada or some random underwater volcano) would survive in piss, which is why it's sterile in the first place. Therefore a solution of piss in your toilet bowl can remain there but is unsightly waste and smells.

 

This is just an educated guess.

[rakuenso]

does nobody worry about the shrapnel effect? (if you don't know don't ask, it should be self evident unless you have a really deep toilet)

[ecoli]

Urine is merely a constituent of piss.

 

I think you're confusing Urea and Urine. Urine is, as you so elegantly put it, "piss." Urea is the nitrogen-based waste product in urine.

 

does nobody worry about the shrapnel effect? (if you don't know don't ask, it should be self evident unless you have a really deep toilet)

 

shrapnel effect?

[rakuenso]

do you really really want me to explain it? if possible I'd like someone else to explain it...

[Lance]

 

 

shrapnel effect?

 

Sounds like he's thinking of urine ricochet.

[ffsjoe]

Don't you have the option of a half-flush on your toilet?

 

Sounds like he's thinking of urine ricochet.

 

lol the first time I read that I thought it said "sounds like he's thinking of a urine rocket" then I had the image of one of those exploding and the shrapnel.

[Sisyphus]

Bacteria would have a much harder time living in urine than in fresh water, I'd imagine.

[ku]

Sounds like he's thinking of urine ricochet.

 

do you really really want me to explain it? if possible I'd like someone else to explain it...

I think what he means (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that unloading poo into toilet water that is highly concentrated with urine would cause urine to splash onto your buttocks. If the urine is sterile as some suggest then I suppose that's not a problem, but if it's not then contaminants may enter the bloodstream via the anus. Of course to prevent this you flush before you go.

[Phi for All]

does nobody worry about the shrapnel effect? (if you don't know don't ask, it should be self evident unless you have a really deep toilet)

I think what he means (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that unloading poo into toilet water that is highly concentrated with urine would cause urine to splash onto your buttocks.

Since we're all agreed that this is a urine-only topic, He's probably talking about the drops of water and urine that splatter as the liquid surface is... bombarded. A higher urine concentration means more getting on the floor, your shoes, your pant leg....

 

It's a good point. Continue to conserve water, but sit when you pee.

[NPK]

What about when females pee and leave toilet paper in the bowl? Do you flush that or leave it to conserve water?

[clarisse]

The solution would evidently be not to leave the toilet paper in the bowl but throw it away in the garbage...

[alt_f13]

I had a nightmare just like this a couple days ago...