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The 30-plus buildings on the three campuses of the University of South Maine contain about 2 million square feet. In the view of many maintenance and engineering managers, such buildings also contain a large number of cost-saving opportunities - urinals. Increasingly, these building components represent a chance for managers to maximize investments in facility investments while paying attention to the bottom line.
But managers and their organizations must specify products and equipment that also deliver both efficiency and long performance life.
"We're trying to build 100-year buildings, but we only have so much money," says John Rasmussen, building construction engineer with the university's facilities management department. Over the last four years, the university has specified, installed and maintained a growing number of waterless urinals in its facilities in an effort to address evolving issues related to costs and environmental friendliness.
Faced with similar challenges, institutional and commercial organizations nationwide have explored the benefits and drawbacks of waterless urinals. The university's experiences offer insights into the decision process, as well as assessing the post-installation performance.
Challenges and a Solution
The driving forces behind the university's investigation of waterless urinals mirror those that have prompted interest among other facilities - primarily, concerns over the rising costs of water and sewer utilities, and second, the awareness of all facilities' impact on the environment.
Once restricted largely to the Western United States, concerns over heavier demand on clean water sources now have reached all parts of the country. Manufacturers of plumbing systems have responded by introducing new product options that use less or no water.
Before 1993, the standard flush rate was 3 gallons per flush (gpf). After that date, however, any urinal manufactured for use in the United States must use 1 gallon per flush or less.
Because of this change, any urinals more than 10 years old offer managers the opportunity to generate substantial savings in water, sewer, installation and maintenance costs by replacing them with waterless units.
These units require no water to flush and no flush valves or other control hardware to operate. Instead, they use replaceable cartridges that contain a liquid sealant. The difference in specific gravity between the trap solution and urine create a liquid seal. The lighter specific gravity of the seal enables liquid to float to the top of the urine while sealing the discharge line and preventing sewer odors from backing up into the restroom. read more
Once restricted largely to the Western United States, concerns over heavier demand on clean water sources now have reached all parts of the country. Manufacturers of plumbing systems have responded by introducing new product options that use less or no water.
Before 1993, the standard flush rate was 3 gallons per flush (gpf). After that date, however, any urinal manufactured for use in the United States must use 1 gallon per flush or less.
Because of this change, any urinals more than 10 years old offer managers the opportunity to generate substantial savings in water, sewer, installation and maintenance costs by replacing them with waterless units.
These units require no water to flush and no flush valves or other control hardware to operate. Instead, they use replaceable cartridges that contain a liquid sealant. The difference in specific gravity between the trap solution and urine create a liquid seal. The lighter specific gravity of the seal enables liquid to float to the top of the urine while sealing the discharge line and preventing sewer odors from backing up into the restroom. read more
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