Commercial TP Dispensers -- How do they work?

January 17, 2018 8:44 AM

Rather, how do I work them? Can someone give me instructions in how to pull tp off the commercial dispenser when the first roll is used up and the second roll drops down?

Stupidest question ever, I am well aware of this. But I am getting increasingly frustrated about this. I feel like this is one of those things, like righty tighty lefty loosie, or what side the gas tank is on, that there's a secret that the cognoscenti keep close to the vest.

As far as I can tell, the only way to free up the roll to dispense smoothly is to push it back up to the top and hope that it doesn't fall back down while the tp is unrolling.

Maybe this is a factor of the cheap tp that is used in most commercial bathrooms, but I swear 'fore God that I have never in my 57 years been able to just pull tp off the second roll without anger and tears.

It is reaching terminal velocity for me because I have tendinitis in my left wrist and trying to push the roll back up into the dispenser with my left hand while pulling tp off the roll with my right hand is super painful and this whole setup seems to me to be SO unfriendly to people with any kind of disability. Like, why have proper door handles if you're going to strand ppl on the john without reasonably easy access to paper?

Let's not even mention the fact that this operation requires leaning forward and to the left, and that triggers the auto-flush, which is in itself a form of torture.

Can you help me navigate the hell realm that is the double roll commercial tp dispenser?

posted by janey47 to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I also have this issue and don't have any mobility issues. The design is just awful! The worst is when you pull and you only get one square out before it tears off. Having to pull a million tiny squares to get enough TP is rage inducing.

Whenever possible I just move to a different stall if I see that it's a fresh roll of TP in my current one. This requires you to check before you sit down, of course.
posted by joan_holloway at 9:49 AM on January 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

So what I do is grab a couple centimeters (millimeters? I don't know, just a pinch, I guess) of the new roll, on the side of the roll closest to me. So, I'm not trying to start the roll with the little tab of TP just beneath the glue strip on the roll. I'm grabbing the side of the roll. Then I kind of gently stick my finger in there and separate the pinched paper from the rest of the roll and pull until the roll starts rolling. I usually end up with a bit more paper than I would normally use but I'm okay with that.

I hope that makes sense.
posted by cooker girl at 10:22 AM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

I find that the top roll spins much more easily if I rip the used cardboard core off the bottom spindle. It's weird that such an unpleasant design is so commonplace.
posted by turkeybrain at 11:32 AM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It is honestly designed to accomodate the top roll unwinding from underneath rather than over top, but replenishers do not often know or pay attention to this fact. The inside of the roll holder even has raised plastic instruction diagrams for loading them. Our regular maintainer knows this procedure, but the substitutes do not, so we get a little surprise every once in a while. Is toilet roll OJT even a thing?
posted by halfbuckaroo at 4:28 PM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

When I have time/energy, I wind up shredding and removing the first roll's tube.

It's not you; it's horrifically bad design.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:27 PM on January 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's not you, they really don't work. If this is at work and is a persistent issue, leave a note asking housekeeping to leave extra rolls. There's a reason I have a few tissues in my bag or pocket most of the time.
posted by theora55 at 7:50 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]