Pissing Match

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Cuz the Mayor's junk hangs that much lower...

Timrrr on February 24, 2011 at 1:56 PM

Ugh... the waterless type. Guaranteed to smell like piss in a restroom that installs those.

cliche on February 24, 2011 at 1:58 PM

What happens if you ever elect a woman?

Sheryl on February 24, 2011 at 1:59 PM

Does anyone know how the waterless urinals work? If there weren't anything but drainage going on they'd be stained and reek even worse than they do.

Tremodian on February 24, 2011 at 2:04 PM

@3 - We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

Also, presumably the mayor has a place to poop, too.

MacCrocodile on February 24, 2011 at 2:04 PM

@3, not everyone on the City Council uses that urinal. There are women on the Council, including one who's an actual elder who managed to get elected in our youth-obsessed world, and another who will certainly be mayor some day if she wants the job.

gloomy gus on February 24, 2011 at 2:08 PM

Glad to know there is potty parity in Seattle, at least in that particular governmental building.

I'm really enjoying the photos of urinals, by the way. I never knew there was such variety. Toilets in women's restrooms are boring in comparison.

Sheryl on February 24, 2011 at 2:16 PM

@2 @4 actually, the waterless ones work better, from personal experience. Less splashing.

Will in Seattle on February 24, 2011 at 2:23 PM

I do not believe that you should follow Dan down this road.

Gendun on February 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM

Bertha Landes, 1926:

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Dis…

The article doesn't mention plumbing fixtures.

pox on February 24, 2011 at 2:26 PM

At least they have their privacy.

very bad homo on February 24, 2011 at 2:29 PM

@3 She'll use the women's restroom?

Jenny from the Block on February 24, 2011 at 2:36 PM

@4 - As I understand it, the waterless urinals are an oil system where the urine penetrates the layer of oil floating in the catch basin area under the cover trap and utimately is siphoned off. As suggested @2, they tend to stink - probably because there isn't a cascade of water to wash the urine down the front of the unit. The design is nice, the execution sucks.

Jaymz on February 24, 2011 at 2:37 PM

@13 Yeah, that's the mechanism. If the filtration membrane (the "oil system" you mention) is replaced at least once a week, and if the bowl is wiped down with a deodorizing cleaner on a daily basis, the odor problem can be minimized. That's the main drawback: additional maintenance cost. We have one in the office, and it costs an extra $80/month in labor costs to maintain, plus the cost of the filtration liquid, which if I recall correctly averages a couple hundred dollars a year. So you're looking at up to around $1200 annually to maintain one fixture in good working order. Plus, they periodically have to snaked due to uric crystal buildup.

Hernandez on February 24, 2011 at 2:48 PM

Hizzoner gets comix?

Also, did you Photoshop out the bottom of the mayor's to hide cigarette butts or sumpin'? It looks like there's no drain.

rob! on February 24, 2011 at 2:52 PM

@14, that's outrageous! We must immediately install indwelling catheters and receiver bags on all government workers, make them pay for same, and board up the restrooms. How else will we be able to afford another round of tax cuts?!

rob! on February 24, 2011 at 2:57 PM

I'm just gonna throw it out there -

I notice the Mayor's has a hand washing reminder, and the council doesn't...so, either someone has a hard time remembering to wash their hands, or someone doesn't at all...all I do know is that my faith in the hygiene of my elected officials just diminished a little bit.

michaelp on February 24, 2011 at 3:00 PM

@14 then how come the ones at the UW cost less to maintain and keep odorfree?

@17 because everyone knows the Council will do the wrong thing anyway, so if they remind them to wash their hands, they won't. See #tunnelofdeath ...

Will in Seattle on February 24, 2011 at 3:16 PM

@18 Care to back that up? I provided the numbers for my case study.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just really curious how it *is* possible. A different approach or type of maintenance regimen might be a little more economical, and if you include water savings in your calculations (I did not) you would see some offset, but I still don't see how it would actually be cheaper than conventional fixtures.

Hernandez on February 24, 2011 at 3:27 PM

In my experience, these things don't get whatever persistent maintenance they require, and the bathroom smells like nasty old piss.

Karlheinz Arschbomber on February 24, 2011 at 3:49 PM

@19 to be fair, you just pulled numbers out of thin air and threw them up on the internets. it's not like you cited sources and provided corporate financials.

sven forkbeard on February 24, 2011 at 4:01 PM

@21 that said, there are economies of scale. Plus the UW doesn't pay city, county, or state sales tax.

Maybe ask one of the MBA teams to check it out.

Will in Seattle on February 24, 2011 at 4:22 PM

@20 We mitigated the smell by installing one of those Pacific Breeze air fresheners. It's only mildly less obnoxious, but I'll take artificial fruit smell over stale piss smell any day.

@21 What I posted are close to the exact numbers of the cost per year to my company for maintaining the one waterless urinal we've had since 2007. I see the invoices every month. I am curious how the UW manages to determine a cost savings from something that has only cost my company extra money since we had it installed.

Hernandez on February 24, 2011 at 4:22 PM

@22 Good points. We're talking one fixture in a 30-person office that doesn't own the building its housed in vs. hundreds of fixtures among thousands of UW employees in UW-owned buildings.

Hernandez on February 24, 2011 at 4:30 PM

http://www.philly.com/philly/home/green/…

A great article on the subject

mattness13 on February 24, 2011 at 4:46 PM

as someone who just got laid off by these jackasses, i'm wondering which one to start digging in to find my old job.

taint on February 24, 2011 at 5:28 PM

@26 i'd try Google. They're expanding here.

Will in Seattle on February 24, 2011 at 5:52 PM

I would've thought those guys were all into the Bear Grylls thing.

Taint are you being critical of their "Golden Shower" program for City Workers?

Zander on February 24, 2011 at 6:23 PM

Pissing Match

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