Urinals can smell bad to the presence of urine. Cleaning workers and restaurants are using ice to prevent smell because it is affordable and cheaper than cleaners.
Why Would You Put Ice in a Urinal? You can put ice in the urinal because it reduces the smell, prevents the use of harsh cleaners, is less expensive, flushes the urine, and avoid drain flies and bacteria. However, it causes urine splashes on the clothes and floor.
Hotels, bars, and restaurants keep them clean and odor-free because the restaurants’ unhygienic environment can affect their reputation, and it has become common to put ice in urinals.
Why should you put ice in a urinal?
You can put ice in urinals for many reasons, some of which are explained here.
Reduces the smell
The molecules of urine due to the warm temperature can disperse in the air and cause smell in the surroundings.
In addition, these urine molecules cause calcium build-up and limescale deposits in the bowl when combined with the minerals in the water.
The foul smell can make the atmosphere unhygienic and reduces the fresh air from the surroundings.
Putting ice in this fixture can reduce the smell to a great extent because it freezes the urine crystals and molecules that cause the odor.
It is a common concept that colder things give less smell, such as trash and waste plastic bags.
The same goes with the urine smell when it falls on the ice cubes, which causes bacteria to freeze and minimizes the smell in this area.
Prevent the use of harsh cleaners
They are made of vitreous china and stainless steel, and toilet cleaners with toxic chemicals can damage the finishing and cause cracks in the urinals.
In addition, the drain pipes and metal components in the drainage system can get corrosion and rust due to the harmful chemicals in the cleaners.
Using ice to avoid smell is one of the safest and eco-friendly methods compared to other harsh cleaners.
For example, people often use urinal cakes to deodorize the smell, but research showed that excessive use of cakes causes fumes to mix in the air, which can damage the red blood cells in the body when inhaled.
It does not harm the human body and does not allow urine molecules to contaminate the air, making it an environmentally safe solution for many problems.
Affordable
Frozen water is the cheapest way to prevent nasty odors, as the restaurant workers and bartenders use the extra ice from their ice machines and refrigerators to put it in the bowl.
You do not need to spend money on urinal tablets and other deodorants to make the air fresh and reduce the smell of the restroom.
These products are not readily available as you have to go to the market and select any affordable product because it can cost you more.
After a few days, you have to replace or change the tablets or mats when they start smelling again, which can be expensive. However, it is an economical method to keep the annoying odors at bay and save money.
Flush the urine
The ice in this plumbing fixture keeps the water running through the drain pipes, and you do not need to flush the urine standing in the bowl and get rid of the foul odor.
It is an easy method to flush urine in waterless urinals that do not have any water flushing system or water valves.
The gradual melting of frozen water keeps the water flowing in the drain and gets the urine away with melting ice into the sewage.
This can save the water used for excessive flushing and reduce the water bills in the hostels, which have more than one restroom and many urinals installed there.
The water flowing through the bowl and p-traps avoids the urine collecting in the sewage pipes.
Avoid drain flies and bacteria
The drain flies and bacteria are more attractive to the standing water and germs accumulated in the deep bowl and toilet drains.
Therefore, a severe infestation of drain flies can present in a less-used place because the water and urine are standing there to captivate the drain flies.
You can put frozen water in the urinals daily to keep the water running in the drainage and avoid the infestation and reproduction of drain flies because it becomes difficult for them to lay eggs in the flowing water.
Some bacteria cannot survive in freezing temperatures, and putting frozen water there can kill the bacteria and make the environment safer and hygienic.
What are the disadvantages of putting ice into the urinal?
There are no significant disadvantages of adding ice to the urinal, but some factors can cause problems when you are using ice in this plumbing fixture.
The smell in the fixture is not always due to the urine standing in drains, but the urine particles on its sides and the splashes on the floor can cause a smell in the bathroom.
Putting frozen water in this plumbing fixture does not always solve the problem of foul smell, and you need to consider other factors that can cause this problem if it does not work to deodorize the odor.
It occupies more space in the bowl, which causes splashes on your pant and floor when urine hits the ice cubes with some force.
In addition, it leads to germs and bacteria on the floor and on the urinal sides, which makes this plumbing fixture unhygienic for other persons.
You can maintain a waterless urinal by using half to one gallon of ice.
What are the alternatives to putting ice in a urinal?
You can urinal tablets, mats, and urinal caps instead of ice to help minimize the smell.
These tablets are made of a chemical called para-dichlorobenzene, which acts as a disinfectant to kill bacteria and germs and controls the foul smell in the drain.
You can use floor mats and other mats placed inside the urinal to reduce the urine odor and keep the floor clean. They prevent urine splashes on the floor and keep it clean for a long time.
Depending on your budget, you can select disposable mats or washable mats because they are a little more expensive than tablets or cakes.
The pads inside the bowl contain deodorant chemicals to reduce the smell, and they avoid clogging the drains as they trap the gums and cigarette residues.
Some people use urinal caps for this purpose, as they reduce the residue deposits and smell and save water.
However, you can choose a waterless urinal to solve the problems because they need less maintenance and use advanced technology for the drainage system.
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