Why do auto-flush public toilets even exist?
Why do auto-flush public toilets even exist?
I'm sure they can't be there to 'save water', as they auto flush as soon as you stand up, knowing good and well you still gotta wipe your ass and flush again anyways...
You stand up to wipe your ass?
Some people sit, some people stand. Most of the time, neither side is aware of the other side’s existence, and also cannot comprehend how they manage to do it that way.
Last time the great Sit Vs Stand Debate reared its head (on the site we left behind), iirc standers were in the minority, but not by much. I don't understand the mechanics of standing to wipe.
Surely standing smooshes the buttcheeks together? Like trying to clean a window with the blinds down
Gotta make sure the poo is smooth and even on each cheek before wiping.
I'm not sure if you're trying to be silly or not, but how would a person wipe their ass while sitting? Especially on a public auto-flush toilet, where even so much as reaching for the toilet paper causes the toilet to flush and get my junk wet with toilet water...
Because there are a ton of jerks that don’t flush.
This was what I remember about the US restrooms before the auto-flush mechanisms came. 30-50% of the stalls in a ladies room would be unflushed and people would occasionally take their chances flushing it with their foot to get an unflushed one back in use if there was a line. Nice places had someone walk through the bathroom and flush everything, refill the paper towels and wipe down the sinks occasionally. Really nice places had people stationed in the bathroom full-time but they often expected $1-5 in tip for handing you a paper towel. Fuck, I'm only 40 but I'm old.
Common curtesy goes a long way,
Common curtesy cannot be found today,
Auto flush will take the mess away.
lean forward, it's the poor man's bidet.
LOL, cute response! 👍
I do hope you've read over at least some of the other comments though.
they auto flush as soon as you stand up, knowing good and well you still gotta wipe your ass
Wait, you stand up to wipe? Why?
Because I don't want my hand wet with toilet water, duh. Please read the other comments, you can't even reach for the toilet paper before it starts flushing, while you're still on the toilet...
Convenience and some people forget.
True that. But they could like put them on a delay timer to give me a minute to wipe and pull my pants up or something...
You can tell this isn't Reddit because the bidet squad hasn't shown up.
LMFAO!
Auto flushing is also not consistent -- it really depends on the toilet. I've seen some that are very good, doesn't flush until you get up, and others that are so bad they flush while you're sitting on it.
I feel like they should tie the auto flush sensor to the door hinge, since any movement there indicates no ones actively sitting on the toilet. Unless you're one of those people who refuse to the lock the door...
Thank you! Fully agreed, door sensor FTW!
More sanitary not touching others poopy surfaces, and otherwise some people wouldn't flush.
How is it any more sanitary when the damn thing triggers the auto-flush just by reaching for the toilet paper? Done got my balls wet with toilet water now...
I'd much rather just have manual flush, or at least give me a minute delay so I can wipe my ass first without getting my junk wet.
Having cleaned toilets before, it's because a startling amount of people don't flush. In a high school, I'd say about half the kids from the 1980s didn't, so I can't imagine they started as adults. In companies I have worked for with auto-flushes, I have rarely seen a mess left in the bowl, but companies that don't about half the time as well.
True that, and I totally respect the idea of auto-flush, but I also feel it's ignorantly designed and poorly implemented.
Why are many of them so sensitive? Around my area, most of them will flush while you're still sitting down because you reached a few inches for the toilet paper.
Why are they so quick to flush? Why not put them on a one minute delay timer to give people a moment to wipe? Plus that would often save an unnecessary extra flush for the used toilet paper.
Or just set the auto-flush on a sensor on the door lock instead, that way it flushes when you leave the stall, not the moment a stupid sensor thinks you stood up.
You might be interested to skim over the rest of the comment thread, I think it made for an interesting conversation haha! 🚽
We have the opposite problem where I live. The auto-flush barely ever works, and more often than not nowadays the manual flush is a tiny button you have to actively search for to find.
Back when I was a student, the auto-flush sensors on the toilets at my university were so sensitive that I could trigger an accidental flush just by leaning forward about 10°. Just the subtle variations in my normal sitting posture could sometimes trigger as many as five flushes before I even started wiping. It was so bad I started carrying a pad of post-it notes in my pocket so I could cover the sensor before sitting down.
Didn’t always work. My previous employer had them on a timer. If they thought you were taking too long, it would start flushing, then again, then more frequently. So yeah, time to stand up for a couple minutes before resuming pooping.
Actually, yet another reason for using the handicapped stall. Sorry guys, but there’s room to standup and even turn around, there’s a hook to keep anything off the floor, and it doesn’t have the timer. At some point the regular stalls became unusable
I'll be honest, if my employer did that kind of shit to the toilet, I'd start using the trash can instead. I wouldn't even care if they fired me, I wouldn't want to work there anyways.
Now on that same note, if it's taking an employee over 10 minutes to drop a load, they're very possibly just goofing off on the phone or something, and that ain't cool.
Gotcha 👍
Electrical tape it is...
I put a small piece of toilet paper over the sensor. Problem solved, and now I can flush at my leisure.
Sounds good on paper (a little pun intended LOL), but the sensors are on the wall here, nothing to lay the paper over.
I guess a piece of tape would work, but like who TF carries tape in their pockets when they gotta drop a load?
Bring back foot pedals!
You mean gas and brake pedals? Or are we going for a clutch pedal as well?...
Someone will smear shit over the flush handle. Either because they're an asshole or because things went horribly, horribly wrong.
As someone who saves water at home, I feel wasting a little bit in the name of me-not-having-to-deal-with-someone-else's-shit is a perfectly reasonable use.
I definitely respect the intent of the things, but can't they like put them on a one minute delay or something? Like, give me a moment to grab some TP, wipe and pull my pants up first?
As long as I don't have to deal with someone else's shit, it's fine by me.
Some kids absolutely hate them too.
Took a looooong time to get my oldest over it, and he was comparatively very easy to potty train. I think he was 6 when he finally stopped asking me to cover the sensors.
Indeed, they are pretty damn loud too aren't they?
I was one of these kids. I peed my pants at the airport in like 1992 because I was too scared to use the heavy-duty auto-flush toilet.
Honestly I have trouble too with timing sometimes but if I can't make the 3rd seashell you are pretty clean by the second one.
Another reason might be for people with disabilities. I've only seen them in toilets for such people.
That indeed is understandable as well. In my area, almost all public toilets have the auto-flush feature though.
The problem isn't that it's a thing, it's more like it's ignorantly engineered. It'll auto-flush just as soon as you get up, or even so much as reach for toilet paper, even though everyone knows people need a moment to wipe...
So like, why not have a minute delay or so on the auto-flush feature?...
It's that way, with no lid, to make sure everyone in there can breath each other's butt COVID. And the air hand dryers are there to help make sure it happens. /s
I'm trying to figure out how you trigger auto flushing just by leaning over. Meanwhile, auto flush on most public toilets I've used has a 50-50 shot of just not working at all, so I have to find the manual button.
At least for me, I know that I have a small butt and don't sit all the way back against the seat (there's quite a lot of space), so often these sensors don't catch me in the first place. Do you lean so far you move away from the sensor or something?
Regardless, both of us have relatively unique problems, I think. These sensors have been tuned to the average ass.
Well I'm not sure what sort of sensors they tend to use in your area, but the sensors here aren't looking for your ass or weight on the toilet. Here they use a wall mounted sensor that apparently tries to detect your back and I guess the distance of your back to the wall.
If you're not sitting almost perfectly upright (as in leaning forward to get some toilet paper), the stupid thing thinks you done got up and triggers the auto-flush.
Not like I expect anyone in the comments to be any sort of plumbing/sensor expert, but the systems and sensors around here are usually made by AquaVantage/Zurn, if that makes any bit of difference.
Oh, and no I don't even have to lean very far forward to reach the TP, just leaning forward roughly 6 inches seems to be enough to trigger the stupid thing.