Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Bone to the bad.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                         

Flush Override on Automatic Toilets

Toddler toilet training too traumatic
  (+3, -1)
(+3, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

Automatically flushing toilets are increasingly common in public places. The sensors they use are somewhat inexact, often resulting in an unexpected flush while seated. This is a minor annoyance to an adult, but can be quite frightening to a small child, especially if they are in the midst of toilet training.

It would be nice to have a parental override switch next to the manual flush button. When pressed, this would disable the automatic sensor for a short time, perhaps 5 minutes or so. After 5 minutes, or when the manual flush is pressed, automatic operation is resumed. This prevents the sensor from accidentally scaring your child.

Alternate implementation: sensor in the seat that will disable the auto-flush unless about 100 pounds (50 kilos) of mass been on the seat in the last 30 seconds. This implementation also has the advantage of preventing a malfunctioning optical sensor from wasting water.

krelnik, Jan 18 2004


Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.



Annotation:







       Parentally proportioned posterior provides positive proof of poo pushing pressure, perhaps?.
plus
gnomethang, Jan 18 2004
  

       I recently had a trumatic expirence with an automatic urinal. It seemed after I left and it started to flush, it didn't trip the drain valve or something and just keep filling with water and didn't stop. Their was a floor drain. I stopped the overflow problem by activating the manual flush button on top of the sensor box.
dickity, Jan 18 2004
  

       //I recently had a traumatic expirence with an automatic urinal// Now there's a sentence you don't see every day.
oneoffdave, Jan 19 2004
  

       well, I wasn't really truamatised by the expirence, but the floor drain is in the normal toilet stall right next to the urinal and the guy taking a shit in there was wondering what the hell was going on.
dickity, Jan 19 2004
  

       Too bad you didn't have some red dye to drop on the floor, that would have really freaked him out.
krelnik, Jan 19 2004
  

       I guess now wouldn't be the time to post 'Burping Automatic Toilets.'
Baker^-1, Jan 20 2004
  

       Wouldn't scaring the #@!% out of your child accomplish what they were trying to do on the toilet? Duhhhhhhh............
DesertFox, Apr 28 2004
  

       This would be easy to do. the only problem left after that, would be those stupid bathrooms with cheap-*ss fans that are REALLY loud! You could always bring a hammer along for those, though XD
Dickcheney6, May 26 2008
  

       I remember a lot of kids would say, "I have to go to the baffroom," and see it was an auto-flush toilet. "Never mind..." [+] At the Humane Society, there's a little camp. It's a day camp, and kids come and help out for 5 days. Well, all the toilets are auto-flush. So, one girl wouldn't go. Ever. She'd have accidents and struff...so they had to put a sticky note over the little camera thing. It was in the shape of a paw print...so it became known as the "Magic Paw".
BouncyPaw, Sep 30 2009
  

       //Wouldn't scaring the #@!% out of your child accomplish what they were trying to do on the toilet? //   

       No, it makes them never want to use an auto flush toilet ever again (or until they turn 8), because they are freaked out by them. This leads to many accidents and, "I REAALLY have for go to the baffroom!"
BouncyPaw, Sep 30 2009
  

       I think that the ONLY thing in a public bathroom that really makes sense (no pun intended) to put a motion detector on is the faucet- otherwise, you turn off the faucet AFTER washing your hands using the same knob you turned it on with BEFORE.   

       Having a traditional handle on the toilet may actually promote washing your hands after going to the bathroom- i.e. you push the handle, then start to think about who else pushed it, and how much of a pig they may have been-and then go and wash your hands with the auto-faucet!   

       Putting motion sensors on anything else in a bathroom just adds more electrical devices to repair and unnecessary expenses when first installed.
Dickcheney6, Sep 04 2010
  

       //(no pun intended) //
No pun taken!
gnomethang, Sep 04 2010
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle