You might have seen waterless urinals before, but are they really worth the price? The main reason why people get them is of course because they don’t use any water and are therefore eco-friendly and way more cost-effective than regular urinals.
For today’s purposes, we’re going to assume that you are thinking about installing a single waterless urinal. This is just to help keep things simple in terms of the cost, but if you want to calculate how much it would cost to install a few urinals for a place of business, then you are welcome to do a bit of mathematics.
In either case, there are three things you will need to consider: how much the actual urinal and related installation cost, how much waterless urinals cost to operate, and how that compares to regular urinals. So, let’s jump right in.
Waterless Urinal Installation Costs
What you do you need to be aware of here is that waterless urinals can vary greatly in terms of their price, and this is generally based on their size, quality, and brand name.
The Cost of the Urinal
The reality here is that depending on the brand name that you go with, you can expect to spend anywhere between $250 on the lower end and $2,000 on a very high-end waterless urinal. In general, if you go for a decent model, but nothing too fancy, expect to spend between $500 and $750.
Something that we do want to stress here is that a waterless urinal is an investment, something that you will have in your facility or home for years or even decades to come.
Therefore, we recommend going with a decent model, nothing too cheap. That’s simply because you do get what you pay for, and if you invest a bit extra, you will get a high-quality model that should last for a long time with minimal maintenance needs.
The Cost of Installation
Now you do of course need to consider the cost of the urinal itself, but what you need to be aware of here is the fact that the installation of that waterless urinal is probably going to cost you much more than the urinal itself. It is of course hard for us to give you an exact figure here, because how much the installation of the waterless urinal will cost you will also depend on several factors.
For one, the installation cost is going to depend on who you have installing it. Moreover, the installation cost will also depend on how much work needs to be done on your bathroom in order to accommodate the waterless urinal.
Depending on the plumber or contractor in question, as well as how much work needs to be done on your bathroom, it may cost you anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 for a full installation.
A Rough Overall Estimate
So, if we’re looking at both the cost of the waterless urinal, as well as the installation cost, on the low end, you can expect to spend as little as $1,250. On the other end of the spectrum, if you go for a very high quality waterless urinal, and you have big-time installation needs, then you can expect to spend as much as $5,000 for both the waterless urinal and the installation.
Waterless Urinal Operating Costs
The biggest benefit that you get with waterless urinals is of course that they don’t use water and therefore they save a whole lot of money. Yes, the savings that you get with waterless urinals are associated with no water being used.
Water Costs (Or a Lack Thereof)
On the higher end of the spectrum, you can expect a normal urinal to use about 40,000 gallons of water per year.
Assuming that every 1,000 gallons of water cost you around $25, based on a 40,000 gallon per year usage range, this could help you save as much as $1,000 on water per year. Even with considerably less usage, you can potentially save a few hundred dollars per year. This does of course depend on the rate of usage.
Anyways, all that said, in terms of water usage, you don’t spend any money when it comes to a waterless urinal.
Cleaning and Maintenance Costs
In terms of cleaning and maintaining a waterless urinal, both of these activities are very affordable.
To clean a waterless urinal, all you need is an antimicrobial spray and a cloth. On both of those together, you can expect to spend no more than $25. A good bottle of antimicrobial spray should last you up to a full year, so that’s not much of a cost to think about.
The only real maintenance cost associated with waterless urinals is that gel trap which is used to push urine down the drain. Depending on usage, these may need to be replaced up to two or three times per year for a low usage scenario.
Depending on the model of waterless urinal you have, you can expect to spend anywhere from $35 to $75 on these traps. Seeing as they will need to be replaced, a maximum of three times per year, you can expect to spend between $105 and $225 per year on these traps.
How Do Waterless Urinal Costs Compare to Regular Urinals?
While there are some regular urinals that can be quite expensive, generally speaking, you can expect to spend a few hundred dollars less on a normal one as opposed to a waterless model.
Moreover, due to the plumbing requirements of regular urinals there may be a slightly increased installation cost when compared to waterless urinals. The lower cost of the regular urinal combined with increased installation costs actually tend to balance themselves out.
However, there is simply no denying the fact that waterless urinals can save you a whole lot of money per year. Although this is generally not going to be the case, even if you do spend a lot more money on a waterless urinal and its installation than on a regular one, the simple fact is that those savings on the water costs will make up for it in just a couple of years.
Even with a generous $250 per year maintenance cost, based on water savings, this still means that you can save up to $750 per year by using a waterless urinal when compared to a normal one.
Summary
The bottom line is that if you want a urinal, but you don’t want to waste water or money, then a waterless urinal is the best way to go.