You may have heard about non-flushing urinals and wonder how they compare with the traditional method of flushing urine, with water. In the past, you may have used the non-flushing variety without knowing as most urinals flush with water after you have left the location, unless you have been prompted to complete the task physically, which is extremely rare.
How Do These Methods Compare?
There are several financial gains to be made by installing non-flushing urinals. As there is no need to install flush controllers, the original setup costs for a new build restroom are vastly reduced. The property owner will also save dollars with no longer requiring the necessity to build a piping system to send water to each urinal.
For the environment, there is a great saving by reducing the amount of water used in restrooms, which also leads to a saving of the amount of liquids that need to be managed at the water treatment plant. As there is no water involved with non-flushing urinals, there is a 100% saving in water costs.
Because there are no pipes to bring in water, there is no lime scale buildup and need for comparable maintenance, to reduce the problems associated to a reduction in water flow.
There are no floods from overflowing urinals, because the urine floats past the eco-trap to seal nasty odors and because the area cannot be blocked in the same manner, flooding water will not overflow.
For your maintenance crew, you do not need regular maintenance of cisterns and flush pipes as it is far easier to maintain non-flushing urinals.
You will need to increase the responsibilities of maintenance for checking the eco-trap to ensure that whatever method you use, to provide a specific liquid or oil, that sits above the urine and update training where necessary.
The cleaning of each unit, traditional or modern is very similar, it is the savings in both water use and the cost of the water as well as the original piping and flush controllers, that benefits everyone concerned.