Waterless urinals contain cartridges for flushing urine instead of water. These contain odorless chemicals that help remove the smell and allow the downward movement of urine.
How to Change a Waterless Urinal Cartridge? You can change the waterless urinal cartridge by wearing the safety kit and loosening it with hair pine or keys. Keep them in their place to drain excess liquid and then add them to the garbage bags. Clean the pipes, install the new ones, and add new sealant.
The cartridge acts as the water pool and replaces the sewer gasses in the draining system. These fixtures are made of recyclable plastic and present directly over the drains of urinals.
How do you change a waterless urinal cartridge?
The replacement method of the waterless urinal cartridge is easy, and you can do it yourself and save labor costs.
It is also good to inspect them to check their functioning and add new ones when they stop working correctly, and you feel an ammonia-like smell from bathrooms.
Wear safety kit
Wearing safety kits before the replacement procedure is necessary to maintain hygienic conditions. The remaining liquid urine comes on your hands and other skin parts when you do not wear them.
Wear the rubber gloves in your hand and prefer the longer ones so they can also cover half of your elbow. Fold the cuffs of your shirts, so splashes do not come on your cloth.
Moreover, you can also put a face mask and glass shield on your face to avoid contaminant splashes on your skin because it can make you dirty.
The germs and these contaminated liquids come into your body and cause allergic reactions. You can also wear old clothes to waste them after completing the procedure.
Loosening of cartridge
These are tightly attached to the drains, and you cannot remove them with your hands. However, avoid touching them with hands without gloves because urine comes on them.
Use the old metal wire to loosen them from the sides. There is little space between them, and only small tools are helpful to loosen them from the sides and allow their removal.
You can also use old keys from your homes to pick them up. I prefer to use the metal hairpin because these are less costly, and you can waste them after changing them.
Keep them in the drains after loosening to remove extra liquid contaminants.
You cannot waste them directly in trash cans because bacterial colonies are present on them. Take the waste disposal bag from the market and put the older ones in them for their proper disposal.
Cleaning of pipes and flushing
The cleaning of draining pipes after their removal is essential because these can also clog without flushing water.
The uric acid and urate crystals also stick to their walls and narrow them. Moreover, these can also clog when calcium from urine combines with them.
The clogging comes due to the corrosion of copper pipes. The concentrated urine contains high chemicals and erodes the copper pipes.
The seeping of liquid sealant into the draining system also causes clogging issues. The urine stays in the bowl when the pipes are clogged.
Clean the pipes with warm water to remove limescale and uric acid buildup. It is also better to clean the bowls with water and cleaners.
Use enzyme-based cleaners because they can remove the dried urine stains from the bowls.
Insertion of new cartridge and sealants
It is necessary to select new equipment of the same style and designs to fit better over the drains.
Add the new cartridge over the draining system and turn it clockwise to lock the fixture. Add the water to ensure their proper installation.
You can see bubbles forming in water when these are not installed correctly. Add the sealant in them and them at their approximate level.
Spray the disinfectant solution on the side of the urinals and bowls. Spraying it on the cartridges is also suitable for preventing bacterial colonies.
Wipe this surface with a dry cloth after spraying disinfecting solution.
Why would you change a waterless urinal cartridge?
You have to replace the cartridges of waterless urinals when these become old. It is necessary to change them when they complete their average life span.
It contains the sealant, which has a high density from the urine, to keep the sewer gasses and waste down. These sealants and high-density liquid also seep into the plumbing system along with the urine.
You need to add new urinal cartridge when sealant levels decrease from the specific ranges. Moreover, urine contains minerals, proteins, urates, and uric acids that form crystals on their sides and clog them.
You can see urine in the bowl, and these cannot pass through them because of clogging. The dried crystals are hard to remove without water.
Sometimes the clogging is severe, and you cannot remove it with boiling water. You can also feel the urine smells from the restrooms when these are blocked.
The urine remains in the bowl and makes the conditions worse.
How often to replace a waterless urinal cartridge?
The average life span of these urinal cartridges is about 4 months to 7 months. The increase or decrease in this time depends on the level of maintenance.
The high quality and maintenance increase their longevity and these last longer. Moreover, the average life span decreases when pouring water directly on them.
The water mixes with oily liquid sealants and disturbs their quality. In addition, these can also fail when you unknowingly use alkaline cleaners on them.
You have to change them early if you pour water or use the wrong cleaners on them. However, the number of people using it and their location also decides their average life span.
You have to add the new ones and remove the older ones after using them 6000 to 8000 times.
Cost and time required to replace waterless urinal cartridge
The average time for urinal cartridge replacement ranges from 15 to 20 minutes. It also depends on the person’s skills if you do it yourself.
Moreover, the experience of the plumbing expert also matters in this, and they use special tricks to take out the old ones with smart tools quickly.
It is often hard to take them out when they get stuck and are clogged. You need more time to remove the old one, and the total time increases from 5 to 10 minutes.
However, the cost for their change includes $50 to $1000. The cost depends on the type of their brand, labor cost, and quality of the material of these waterless urinals.
It is better to select the good quality ones because they are costly but have fewer issues.
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