The Science of Urinals

The science of urinals

The high urinals

Have you noticed how high urinals have become? Walk into a men’s restroom and look at the urinal. You will find that it is perched high on the wall, challenging your ability to deliver your stream accurately into it.

I have seen it in offices, restaurants, cinema theatres, bus stands, railway stations and umpteen public places. In the old days even our airports had these high mounted urinals. Now with better standards the new airports and multiplex toilets are built to international standards and they have the urinals at the right height.

I have been wondering why the urinals are built so high so I interviewed some urinal attendants, plumbers and contractors. Here is what I found

Their logic goes like this... 

1. The urinal must be high because if you delivered a stream into a low urinal it would somehow splash out of it on to your trousers and chappals. Instead if you delivered it high, it would only wet your shirt
2. To prevent splashing, your delivery “nozzle” must be placed on the edge of the urinal, much like a cigar is placed on an ashtray, and the stream is to be gently delivered into the urinal. This way your hands are free to attend to your mobile phone
3. An average Indian’s urine delivery point, when standing upright, is at around 70 cm from floor level. The urinal is kept at a height of 80 cm to challenge the user adequately. By delivering to a higher level your hydraulic system and prostrate will be in fine fettle.

But … but …but…

1. Urinal manufactures design the urinal to prevent splashing
2. If your instrument touches the urinal you will get very ill
3. An average Indians delivery point must be measured with the legs apart – in which case it will come to around 65 cm, consequently the urinal must be lower at 60 cm

World and Indian Standards

The world standards for urinal height are 60 cm. The Dutch are among the tallest people in the world, but even in Holland the urinals are at 60 cm height. Though the Indian sanitary ware manufacturers suggest 65 cm, the Indian practice, going by actual measurement of urinal heights in public places, appears to be around 80 cm!  

Research indicates that this is a result of inflated national ego, a Freudian desire for better delivery equipment, a longing to attain a higher spiritual plane and a quest for ever higher GDP growth figures.

As we get rid of our complexes as a nation, the height of urinals will automatically come down to a level that can be delivered into, cleanly.

Urinal cheat sheet

But till then, if you are confronted by these high wall urinals, the options are as following:

1. Use the WC if it’s not occupied
2. Look around and if no one is watching, proceed to do it on the floor, under the urinal. Pretend that you missed, or
3. Take a step back and send the stream in a parabolic arc into the receptacle. Towards the end of the act as the hydraulic pressure drops, step forward without splashing. If the hydraulic pressure drops abruptly you will be wetting your feet.
4. Borrow a stool from the attendant; this will give you a height advantage

I hope that these tips are useful to you

GVMC Urinal at Ramakrishna Beach

There is a GVMC urinal at Ramakrishna Beach in Vizag. The board outside reads: “Toilets and Toilets Pvt. Ltd.” Under the name, it proudly says “An ISO 9001-2000 company”.  They have a grand total of 2 urinals for around 10,000 visitors to the area every day. No wonder the Bay of Bengal is becoming more saline!

I am delighted that we have an ISO compliant toilet in Vizag so I went to take a look inside. In a scientific spirit, I carried a measurement tape and my camera to record their high standards.

The height from the floor to the lip of the urinal turned out to be 80 cm, a whopping 20 cm more than international standard! The attendant informed me that everyone lets it go on the floor any way. I guess the urinals are decorative fixtures. They must have followed ISO standards for decorative wall fittings.

We are like that only…