5+ Tips on Replacement Cartridge For Waterless Urinal

Before we begin, let us cover the basics of what a waterless urinal is.

A waterless Urinal is a solution for a urinal that uses no water when one sees there is a shortage of water. It can even be used as an alternative to save on the cost of water usage.

Usually, these waterless urinals are designed and shaped out of porcelain, similar to regular urinals. Waterless units tend to use a liquid sealant that relies on the density difference of the sealant and the urine. The density differential is basically an indicator of the difference between the sealant and the liquid waste.

The sealant is supposed to be of a lesser density than water or urine, this helps water and waste which would be urine in this case, to pass through the sealer. The sealant creates a barrier between the liquid waste and the urinal bowl.

Usually, the manufacturer’s waterless urinal cartridge works well, but we recommend is the EZ Trap Waterless Urinal Cartridge. It fits perfectly on Sloan, Falcon, and Bobrick waterless urinals, and it last 3 to 4 times longer than regular manufacturer cartridges.

The EZ Trap also cuts maintenance cost dramatically because you can clean your urinal with any cleaner, and it does not need special, and costly sealants for urine odor control. CLICK HERE for information on the EZ Trap Waterless Urinal Cartridge.

Types of Waterless Urinals

Liquid-seal urinals feature two different designs:

Cartridge:

The cartridge design is used to work with various types of disposable cartridges that are to be inserted into the complimentary custom-designed urinal base. The cartridge is usually very simple to slide into but requires a special tool for quick insertion & removal.

The cartridge holds ½ a liter of water and is topped with a liquid sealant that is to ensure the waste liquid does not leak. This cartridge collects sediment and directs the flow of liquid waste to the drain while simultaneously blocking the urinary odors.

Integrated drain trap:

The integrated-trap design does not use a cartridge although would basically execute the same function. Instead, it uses a special liquid sealant responsible for separating the waste from the urinal bowl through a fixed basin. This is, in this case, known as a basin trap fix.

Now that we know the types lets come back to the Cartridge models.

What is a Replacement Cartridge For Waterless Urinal

So far, we have run through a quick course on what waterless urinals are and the types of it. We can now better understand how the mechanism of the equipment works. How they are made, what are they usually made of, the total cost incurred during its lifetime, and of course how to replace the cartridge.

The more common variation of waterless urinals available in the market is usually the liquid-sealant models. These are the oldest competitors in the market and almost every urinal company out there has one variant model of its own.

Now we can discuss in detail how a liquid-sealant type waterless urinal works. The cartridge is an integral part of the basic design that stores the sealant and about half a liter of water below it. This means that the urine by design has to go through the sealant sealing the odor as well as the urine.

This sealant then fills the capacity of the container with urine as it rises above it. Then the trapped liquid at that point would be pushed down towards the siphon inside the cartridge. This siphon siphons out the liquid urine without the odor and drains it into the drain.

waterless urinal cartridge

What sealant is used in the trap?

Commonly the sealants used in such urinals are a good mix of vegetable oils, fatty alcohol and coloring dye that would stay liquid to ensure the urine drains under it rather than stay stagnant over it. The materials it is made out of are completely biodegradable.

What is a Sealant Cartridge made of?

Every waterless urinal uses a cartridge made of recyclable plastic. This is ABS plasti, ABS is an acronym for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. If that sounds Latin to you, you’d be right, it is but to make things easier think of Lego blocks. These tiny urinal cartridges use the same plastic that is used for Lego Blocks.

How long does a cartridge last?

Usually a cartridge lasts almost a whopping 7,000 uses +- 2%, this alone should give you a good idea on how much you’re saving in water. The average American male uses a urinal at an average of almost 3 times a day. In a 100 people office that has 4 urinals, each cartridge is used 75 times a day and will need to be replaced in 90 days.

The sealant, however, expires after 1500–3000 uses and needs to be replaced every 4 to 6 weeks.

How to Change a Waterless Urinal Cartridge

Here are some of the steps below that you can use to change the urinal cartridge in your waterless urinal:

Pre-requisites:

A set of rubber gloves
Tool to replace the cartridge
About 25 liters of hot soapy water
A nylon brush
A disposable bag
Liquid sealant and
The new cartridge

Back to the Liquid Sealant cartridge replacement.

You are ready now. Here are the steps you need to follow:

Put rubber gloves on.
Insert the tool into the holes of the cartridge but don’t pull it out yet.
Pour 4 liters of soapy water into the drain to get the urine out of the cartridge.
Grab the cartridge tool by the handle and turn the tool counter-clockwise until the cartridge unlocks.
Pull the cartridge out from the drain hole pour the liquids out of the cartridge, down the drain.
With no more liquid coming out, drop the cartridge into the garbage bag and close up the bag.
Use the Nylon brush to scrub down into the drain
Remove the brush and pour 20 liters of hot soapy water down the drain
Get a disposable rag / towel and wipe down the metal ring around the drain.
Use the cartridge tool again and stick it in the holes of the new cartridge. Put the cartridge in drain and turn clockwise until it locks.
Fill up the cartridge with clean water. You’ll see no air bubbles when it’s done.
Add the blue-colored liquid sealant into the cartridge. This might take some time. Pour some of it in, wait for it to settle and then pour again.
Using a spray cleaner of your choice (preferably the brand recommended by the manufacturer), spray into urinal and wipe down the pan.

That’s it. You have successfully replaced a liquid sealant cartridge.

How does the cost of a cartridge-based waterless urinal compare with a conventional urinal?

A study at Carnegie Mellon University recorded the cost of implementing waterless urinals usage against the implementation of usage of regular urinals over a 20 year period. This helped them to deduce that the waterless urinals could save the average person a fortune in that duration.

The cartridge-based waterless urinal originally costs 40% less than the conventional urinals installation. It saves costs associated to water usage/ wastage, metal pipes, gaskets and flush mechanisms. Interestingly a waterless urinal without cartridge costs only 20% the cost of a conventional urinal.

And if you cannot maintain a waterless urinal cartridge replacement routine you can always look into a slightly more permanent solution.

Waterless Urinal Replacement Components

The LifeTime Cartridge was designed to provide a slightly more permanent solution to all the problems associated with waterless urinals. This is also specific to those waterless urinals that possess a replaceable cartridge in the design.

If one was like most owners of waterless urinals, one would probably be frustrated by the constant expenses borne under replacing cartridges and realistically it is evident that having spent all that money and wasted all that time replacing cartridges and sealant several times per year could be easily avoided. The answer to your time and money problem is listed as the Lifetime Cartridge basically described as:

Install the LifeTime Cartridge and you never have to buy cartridges or sealant ever again!
Remove the original replaceable cartridge, insert the LifeTime Cartridge and you are done.
The LifeTime Cartridge can easily be removed if needed for maintenance.
Over a few years you will save hundreds of dollars — Think about it!
Fits into Falcon and Sloan Waterless Urinals No need to use sealants!

The cartridge has a special elastomeric check valve attached to it. This check valve manufactured from space age, rubber-like synthetic polymer, used as leg urinals for Astronauts can be used in multiple ways to make multiple devices of this nature.

It is treated and then made to roll up when urine or any kind of liquid is not at the time passing through it. It is flexible and permeable enough to open and permit liquid flow at most of the pressures one could urinate at. When the check valve is closed or liquid is still flowing through the check valve, it will with a high rate of success resist any and all emission is they of sewer gas or any other backup of sewage from the waste line.

And if you’re someone asking that: “What if my urinal drain gets clogged?” Then use the Cartridge Removal Tool and clean the drain then put back the cartridge.

SLOAN REPLACEMENT CARTRIDGE

A cartridge can be considered to be the main operational component of any waterless urinal. It is usually installed at the base of the waterless urinal and contains a biodegradable sealant liquid within the cartridge, as we discussed this has the purpose of odor control as well as keeping the urine in a state where it can drain into the pipe rather than form in a stagnant pool.

A barrier is formed between the drain and the open air by the liquid sealant to prevent odors from escaping into the restroom, this is mainly the sealant and the drain keeping the urine trapped between them that make it possible to have an odorless waterless urinal. The filtering cartridge then collects the uric sediment, from the reaction of the sealant and the urine which turns into sediments.

The remaining non-corrosive liquid flows into the drainage pipe. The result: No wasted water from “flushing” and an odor-free environment. The cartridge is replaced simply with a provided key after roughly 7000 uses.

The average waterless urinal kit is a set of things you would need to get through installation and all other such processes.

The Kit Contents:

Cartridge Kit — Engineered to last for at least 7000 uses
Cartridge is made from recyclable ABS
Sealant Liquid — 100% biodegradable
Cartridge Installation/Removal Tool
Protective Glove
Disposal Bag

Some of the most troubling things about using a regular urinal as compared to a waterless one with a lifetime cartridge is the urinal maintenance.

We can clearly see that it is not an easy task to maintain a regular urinal. But, with the waterless urinal all you have to do is make sure you do not need to report it damaged.

Other than that all you would ever have to do for the urinal’s upkeep can be done with minimum effort simply by removing the cartridge and continue focusing on the problem in the drain rather than the urinal or the cartridge. Unless there is an issue with the Lifetime cartridge which would in this light have a warranty which can be claimed making it easier for us to replace the cartridge by having the company send a replacement cartridge for waterless urinal.

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