Problems With Waterless Urinals

Waterless urinals hold environmental and financial benefits, eliminating the excessive water use of regular urinals. Because the units do not require the user to touch them or flush them, they are considered to be more sanitary for users. But there are significant drawbacks worth taking a look at: These urinals can be hard to maintain and, when not properly cared for, can become very odorous.

Odor Complaints

• When the product's deodorizing cartridges get old or the product's oil seal begins to fail, the smells from a waterless urinal can become overwhelming. Odor complaints comprise most of the chief complaints of consumers toward waterless urinals. To solve odor complaints, the liquid sealant and deodorizing cartridges should be changed regularly, before they are fully damaged or depleted.

Difficulties With Deodorizing Cartridges

• The deodorizing cartridge of waterless urinals can be difficult and unpleasant to change, causing some maintenance workers to neglect them, increasing the odor problem. If maintenance staff is not properly trained to care for and change the cartridges, the problem can compound. Also, when the cartridges are changed, the release of sewer gas that had been trapped in the pipes can create a temporary odor issue.

  Furthermore, the plastic cartridges break down faster when liquids other than urine -- like coffee and other chemicals -- are poured into the waterless urinals by clueless bathroom patrons. The potential for misuse is a difficult problem to solve.

Pipe Corrosion

• The undiluted urine that enters into pipes has been shown to corrode the pipes, as was the case with the waterless urinals installed in Chicago's City Hall. The city decided to pull out the waterless urinals after copper pipes became corroded, making the smell of the urine emanate through the building.

  In order to prevent buildup of minerals or other soft sediments that can cause clogging, drains should be regularly flushed with two to five gallons of water when the cartridges are replaced, and maintenance workers should pour a bucket of water down the drains daily.

  Pipe problems are more of a problem when a building's restrooms have been retrofitted, rather than when the waterless urinals are installed in new buildings.

Dangers to Public Safety

• In San Diego, plumbers expressed concern over waterless urinals when the city mulled over changing its plumbing codes to protect waterless urinals in 2006. David Otterstein, a member of the United Association of Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 230, cited articles written by J. Phyllis Fox when saying that waterless urinals could lead to increased risks to public health, "including cholera, dysentery, E. coli, SARS and other diseases."