About those hotdog-eating dual flush toilets
Last week the New York City council lifted a (somewhat mysterious) local ban on dual flush toilets that conserve water by offering a short-flush option for, um, lighter loads. Great news, we thought...until we saw this video from American Standard on Gothamist. It shows a dual-flush commode devouring, among other things, 20 golf balls, 56 chicken nuggets and two pounds of cat litter.
Isn't a hot-dog, golfball, and kitty-litter eating toilet bad news for the sensitive plumbing of most apartment buildings, most of which can't stomach even the finely pulverized waste from a garbage disposal?
We checked in with, Harris Clark, the vice president of Sanitary Plumbing in Manhattan, which serves about 400 co-ops, condos and townhouses. He hadn't heard about the new law yet, but he was not unduly alarmed. It seems that the dual-flush toilet is not necessarily more powerful than your average commode. In fact, most New York City toilets are apparently already capable of flushing 56 chicken nuggets or two pounds of orange peels no problem. And, what's more, our waste pipes can handle it too!
So why don't more buildings allow garbage disposals? Clark declined to speculate, while property managers have told us it's about accumulated sludge choking off pipes like plaque. Chicken nuggets, anyone?
See also:
Dual flush toilets among conservation proposals OK'd by Council (silive.com)
Dual-flush toilets due (NY Post)
City Council OKs 1 & 2 at the toilet after lifting ban on dual-flush potties (NY Daily News)
