What is the point of flushing BEFORE I use it?



  • We've just had a new system installed onto the urinals to save water. Previously the urinals were flused on a timed basis during business hours. 

    This I can understand. Only flush when someone uses them. Makes sense. 

    However, the system operates immediately when you stand in front of the urinal. Once you have finished and walk away nothing happens (until the next person arrives). 

    The system forces a FULL flush every time you work upto them, of all urinals connected to that system. 

    WTF?!


  • Garbage Person

     Sounds like the sensors are wired in reverse polarity. Plumber fail.



  • Wow, two incredible WTFs in one post - first, that urinals were flushed on a "timed basis" (presumably without user control) periodically during business hours, and second, that multiple urinals flush when someone walks up to one. Good stuff, dude.



  • @Power Troll said:

    multiple urinals flush when someone walks up to one
     

    TRWTF are urinals that flush at all! I've seen these everywhere lately.



  • When I first saw the title of this post, I thought, "Hmm. Someone is thinking about memory cache flushing.".  I like this one better; it really is an awesome WTF.



  • @Mole said:

    The system forces a FULL flush every time you work upto them, of all urinals connected to that system. 
     

    The urinals at our office went one better and performed a sensor flush both before and after use for all (two) urinals.  The flushes were pretty long and this was during hefty water restrictions.

    This happened for a few months but we have since gone to a waterless system.



  • @Weng said:

    Sounds like the sensors are wired in reverse polarity. Plumber fail.

    Re-route the EPS conduits to the deflector dish to bounce an inverse temporal tachyon pulse off the anomaly, that should fix it.



  • A couple of years ago at work they installed sensors that flush the urinal after you leave.   TRWTF is having to install these sensors because people don't flush a urinal after using it.

     


  • Garbage Person

    @El_Heffe said:

    A couple of years ago at work they installed sensors that flush the urinal after you leave.   TRWTF is having to install these sensors because people don't flush a urinal after using it.

     

    Dude, what if someone peed on that handle!


  • @Weng said:

    Dude, what if someone peed on that handle!

    Maybe you could... wash your hands? Like, maybe they should put some kind of hand washing apparatus in the room...


  • Garbage Person

    @blakeyrat said:

    @Weng said:
    Dude, what if someone peed on that handle!

    Maybe you could... wash your hands? Like, maybe they should put some kind of hand washing apparatus in the room...

    I KNOW people pee on those.



  • @Weng said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    @Weng said:
    Dude, what if someone peed on that handle!

    Maybe you could... wash your hands? Like, maybe they should put some kind of hand washing apparatus in the room...

    I KNOW people pee on those.
     

    Needs foot-operated tap.



  • @MarkJ said:

    When I first saw the title of this post, I thought, "Hmm. Someone is thinking about memory cache flushing.".  I like this one better; it really is an awesome WTF.

     

    When I saw the title, I thought "Hmm, this can't be about toilets, can it...? Nah, it's probably about cache flushing or something..".

    I think urinals are a WTF in itself. Toilets ftw. And sensors to flush are just annoying.... they always flush at the wrong times. I know some places where the toilet should automatically flush when you leave, instead it flushes when you arive, and another time when you stand up (if you were sitting like a gentleman, that is), and once again when you leave. Whereas if it just had a manual flush with one of those saving buttons, I would've gladly helped them preserving water (though I understand most people in this world are careless retards and would either not flush, or let it finish a complete fluh cycle, ignoring the water saving button entirely).

     

    Also... what the hell are waterless urinals? Do they use some kind of chemical which is 10 times worse for the environment than using a little bit of water? And if they use chemicals, are those not water based anyway?



  • @pbean said:

    Also... what the hell are waterless urinals? Do they use some kind of chemical which is 10 times worse for the environment than using a little bit of water? And if they use chemicals, are those not water based anyway?
     

    I think it's a chemical that is lighter than water/urine (passing it through) but viscous enough so it won't be washed past the S-bend. They actually work better than I expected, but then I don't deal with them more than the usual visit.




  •  You don't understand the design plan. You are supposed to stand accross the room and pee long-distance. When you are finished you walk up to the urinal to flush it. Simple design; no problem.



  •  At least, yours are flushing. Here at work, they installed those automatic flushes because some people were too dump to use manual flush.  Now you can't operate it manually, and it nearly never trigger the automatic flush. I could say we found a way to spare water...



  • I saw the title and thought this was going to be about Java network socket programming...

    On-topic it sounds like the system was installed incorrectly.



  • @Weng said:

    I *KNOW* people pee on those.
    Because you're one of them?

    @Zemm said:

    Needs foot-operated tap.
    Because if it's on the floor it's easier to pee on?

    @pbean said:

    Whereas if it just had a manual flush with one of those saving buttons, I would've gladly helped them preserving water (though I understand most people in this world are careless retards and would either not flush, or let it finish a complete fluh cycle, ignoring the water saving button entirely).
    (people who underflush and people who overflush should cancel out, I guess?) What really annoys me are those taps with a spring valve, where you have to push down a button to have access to water for a predetermined time. Most of the time it wastes water either because it closes later then it should or because people press it again and again for more water.

    IR sensors FTW. Or foot pedals, yes.

     



  • In the UK, urinals are invariably auto-flushed: you CANNOT flush them manually because there are no handles on 'em. As the common cistern which feeds that set of urinals fills, the rising ballcock reaches and trips the 'flush' valve; then it empties and the process starts over again. This is why Brits abroad are puzzled by urinals with flush handles on them. I once took a photo of one while on holiday in the Netherlands because it was such a novelty; and to prove to disbelieving friends that this was indeed the usual case in that country. Nowadays if I recall, the urinals in Schiphol airport use IR sensors which do flush the urinal when you LEAVE it (i.e. walk away).



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    In the UK, urinals are invariably auto-flushed: you CANNOT flush them manually because there are no handles on 'em. As the common cistern which feeds that set of urinals fills, the rising ballcock reaches and trips the 'flush' valve; then it empties and the process starts over again. This is why Brits abroad are puzzled by urinals with flush handles on them. I once took a photo of one while on holiday in the Netherlands because it was such a novelty; and to prove to disbelieving friends that this was indeed the usual case in that country. Nowadays if I recall, the urinals in Schiphol airport use IR sensors which do flush the urinal when you LEAVE it (i.e. walk away).
    You and your friends aren't very well traveled I'm guessing?  Personally, when I travel I take pictures of the architecture, the scenerey, the people, but usually *not* the crappers (unless I took an epic dump [i.e. the monsters finger], but that's another story).

    Over here, I've seen all except the waterless urinal, and what you see really depends on the age and upkeep of the building.  Newer buildings have the IR sensors, older, usually public places, tend to have the flush handle or the cistern you mentioned.



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    the rising ballcock
     

    lol

    @Cad Delworth said:

    I once took a photo of one while on holiday in the Netherlands because it was such a novelty; and to prove to disbelieving friends that this was indeed the usual case in that country.

    Things are different in other countries! My God! What revelation! I sigh a heavy sigh at your friends. :\

     



  • @Zecc said:

    What really annoys me are those taps with a spring valve, where you have to push down a button to have access to water for a predetermined time. Most of the time it wastes water either because it closes later then it should or because people press it again and again for more water.

    IR sensors FTW. Or foot pedals, yes.


    My new favorite: when both the tap and the soap dispenser use proximity sensors, but the sensor paths cross. There's a remodeled restroom where I work, and it's impossible to rinse your wrists under the low-pressure faucets without triggering a squirt of soap back onto your hands. It was difficult to maintain bathroom etiquette and prevent myself from laughing over that repeating faux pas.



  • @Xyro said:

    There's a remodeled restroom where I work, and it's impossible to rinse your wrists under the low-pressure faucets without triggering a squirt of soap back onto your hands.
     

    This has comedy potential.

    e.g. The soap dispenser is fixed upside-down and accidentally contains a high-pressure cannister, and has been cross-wired with the auto-flusher.

    Take a pee => SPLOOFFFFRFRFROFRFLRFRFRRF



  • In Canada we have a lot of automatic toilets and sinks. The toilets never work properly - either they won't flush at all or they flush at the slightest twitch which inevitably means flushing 4 or 5 times while you're sitting on them. Fortunately there are simple workarounds for both: most have a manual flush button, and covering the sensor with some paper disables overzealous autoflush.



    The sinks on the other hand usually work well, but do tend to spray for longer than needed.



  •  @Cad Delworth said:

    As the common cistern which feeds that set of urinals fills, the rising ballcock reaches and trips the 'flush' valve; then it empties and the process starts over again.
    Our previous system had the cistern, but rather than a dripping tap (the method used before) it used a water valve. Every 20 minutes the valve would open for 60 seconds - enough to fill the cistern and flush it. It even had an LCD display which displayed the amount of minutes left until the next flush :o



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Re-route the EPS conduits to the deflector dish to bounce an inverse temporal tachyon pulse off the anomaly, that should fix it.
    This.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    A couple of years ago at work they installed sensors that flush the urinal after you leave.   TRWTF is having to install these sensors because people don't flush a urinal after using it.

     


    At my work, it's a half-assed deal; the urinal's using the "flush when you leave" IR sensor that gets it right about 95% of the time, but sometimes flushes when you're standing there, spraying water at your boots.

    We also have IR activated faucets. But the soap dispenser is spring-loaded and requiring a press, and the door are on a strong auto-close mechanism and have to be pulled.

    So, if the idea was to minimize touching stuff with dirty hands... Houston, we have a fail.



  • @Zecc said:

    What really annoys me are those taps with a spring valve, where you have to push down a button to have access to water for a predetermined time. Most of the time it wastes water either because it closes later then it should or because people press it again and again for more water.
    I was about to say that usually those are done for sanitary reasons, not to save water, but then I realized that the kind you described are kind of a failed attempt at both.



  • @hoodaticus said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    Re-route the EPS conduits to the deflector dish to bounce an inverse temporal tachyon pulse off the anomaly reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, that should fix it.
    This.

    Yes, but let's get it right though!



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