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If it’s brown flush it down….. but if it's yellow it stains! Please help!!

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  • Lugh_Chronain
    Lugh_Chronain Posts: 6,867 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    And for arguments sake davetrousers, what about the environment?
    Garetha wrote: »
    and after flushing a few times realise that you may not have saved any water after all!!

    I think flushing would be OK if you're only doing it appropriately.
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    OK, here is my experience with not flushing every time.

    I have lived in North Dorset of about 11 years and the limescale here is a big problem. Before I started not flushing every time (Mid November last year) the toilet bowl below the water line used to get coated in limescale, which eventually turned brown.

    Flushing did not prevent, or remove the limescale, in fact I think it made it worse. There's only so much limescale in a bowl of water, but that water was getting replaced with fresh water with each flush. So increasing the amount of limescale.

    Since I stopped flushing every time I have found that I now only get a thin line, less than 0.5cm wide, of limescale at the water surface. I assume this is because my pee is heavier/denser than water and it sinks so the water is at the top, and the more I pee into the bowl the less fresh water is floating at the top causing limescale.

    So for me less flushing means less limescale and less effort to clean the loo.

    It does smell a bit, but I have one of those things you hang on the side of the toilet which hides the smell. When mine was empty I was able to pull it apart and fill it with bleach, which is just as good.

    A "Bloo-loo" in the cistern helps if you don't fancy looking at a bowl full of pee when you go into the toilet. But, obviously, the more you pee the more you dilute the colour.
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    OK,
    I have lived in North Dorset of about 11 years and the limescale here is a big problem.

    Could I suggest a water softener - you will save a fortune on cleaners, soap, soap powder, bath cleaner, fabric softener, etc, etc, etc and you won't get limescale in the loo !
  • sjc_2
    sjc_2 Posts: 685 Forumite
    Simple solution, drink more water then your pee isn't as strong. Obviously too dehydrated.

    BTW anyone else have them daft pee charts on the walls of the Office loo's to tell you how dehydrated you are.
    Cheers
    Steve
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    sjc wrote: »
    Simple solution, drink more water

    But surely the idea was to save water ?
  • Ben84
    Ben84 Posts: 3,069 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm not convinced that flushing the toilet every time makes a great difference to the environment. Of course it has some environmental impact, but I expect it's minimal when considered against all the other water we use. The vast majority of water we consume is used to produce food, with meat being the biggest consumer. One Kg of beef uses about 15 cubic meters of water.

    Industry and farming use far more water than domestic consumers.

    I expect the toilet issue is symbolic of how we waste water, rather than a leading consumer of water. We can do many other things that are more effective at reducing water use. Cutting back on food waste seems likely to have the most effect.

    It also seems likely from comments here that a reduction in flushing the loo means an increase in chemicals to clean the toilet, which I expect to be more harmful to the environment than the water we'd use.

    We don't have a meter, and I doubt that domestic use is the major water consumer in the UK, but we do some things to save water at home. I collect rain water for the house plants and garden, only use the washing machine when it's full and take showers more than baths. I did try water savers in the toilet tank, but they didn't flush well with them and often needed to be flushed again, which used more water, so I took them out.
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I've just been wandering round the net and, apparently, the worst thing you can put down the loo is urine. The other stuff, poo, condoms, tampons, false teeth etc. are easy to deal with. They are either filtered out or sink to the bottom of the tanks, but what is then left is water contaminated with urine and that is much more expensive to clean up.

    If there wasn't urine going down the toilet then it would be much cheaper and easier to clean the water. So I reckon if we want to "save the planet" we should all start peeing in the garden.

    For those who are shy you can get those red and white tents that workmen use over man holes very cheap.

    Edit: Don't you just hate it when you hit the submit button then something comes into your mind!

    What has just come into my mind is what about all that Harpic Power Plus that goes down the loo? It probably costs more to clean that up than it does to clean the urine.

    Oh well, guess I should rapidly jump off the peeing in the garden band wagon then!
  • moonrakerz
    moonrakerz Posts: 8,650 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker

    What has just come into my mind is what about all that Harpic Power Plus that goes down the loo? It probably costs more to clean that up than it does to clean the urine.

    I think that was mentioned about two hundred posts ago ! :confused:
  • geordie_joe
    geordie_joe Posts: 9,112 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    moonrakerz wrote: »
    I think that was mentioned about two hundred posts ago ! :confused:

    But I've had 7 cans of lager since them :j

    I did think of deleting the post, but decided not to as it shows I was guilty of reading something then thinking "that's a good idea" without looking at the wider picture.

    I think it shows that people can read something then go off on a crusade which is either wrong or not as important as they think it is.

    I personally think this is the biggest problem with green issues, people not thinking things through properly. They read one thing is bad and change to something which is worse.

    It's only by openly talking about things that you get people who look at things from every angle, and get a better understanding of what you are doing and the effect it may have.
  • Lugh_Chronain
    Lugh_Chronain Posts: 6,867 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    Thanks everyone for contributing. This will probably be a contentious subject for some time to come until we all educate/re-educate ourselves on what we thought was the correct thing to do regarding water and the environment.

    I will read through this thread again and perhaps even reconsider my stance on this (to flush or not to flush that is). Who knows!

    It is amazing how much we’ve taken water for granted. Even I like most of you am surprised how little I/we know about the subject.

    If you’d like to read more about this subject may I suggest reading Water: Every drop counts a topic covered by The New Internationalist some time ago.

    Thanks again, very thought provoking!
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