Infrared sensors, play-lists, chromotherapy, auto-flow, and auto-temperature…these features and so much more are available to you. And no, I’m not describing your next spa experience; I’m talking about your very own home, your bathrooms, and kitchen. They have joined the march to high-tech, eco-friendly functionality. Let me help you brush up on your 21st century plumbing options. This will be fun.
Bathroom Wizardry
Let’s start with the bathroom. We’ll focus on your sinks, faucets, showers, tubs, and what’s being called “Tush Technology.”
Sinks & Faucets: We’re all familiar with some of the innovations in sink and faucet designs, but let’s review, in case you haven’t been keeping up or need a refresher. There are three components to one’s bathroom sink; the bowl or basin, the faucet(s), and the vanity or furniture upon which the sink rests. The movement in design has been toward the natural—bowls and faucets that echo the experience of a tiny rivulet or waterfall into a small pool. Basins are made of stone, such as marble, granite, and cement. Faucets echo the appearance of bamboo or reeds. And both basin and faucets are placed on slabs or vanities of slate, oak, or bamboo.
The underlying contradiction in this unaffected style is the technology that can be harnessed to this elegant simplicity. Your faucets can be hands-free, with sensors that detect movement allowing water to flow as needed and turn off when you step away. This feature saves water and energy, and helps cut-down on germ transmission. Some faucets offer an ozone-activated, antibacterial feature; the device injects a stream of ozone into the water, killing any bacteria.
Another logical partner for the auto-flow and anti-bacterial features is the preset temperature control. An LED on the fixture reads out the water temperature, and a touch can choose another temperature. Expanding on the eco-friendly water usage, a device can be added to your faucet, which has preset timing for various common tasks—washing hands, filling a cup for drinking, and even brushing your teeth. This is a particular favorite of this writer. You program your faucet so enough water flows to wet your toothbrush, and then shuts off. The timer continues for the appropriate two-minutes, and then the water flows again for rinsing the toothbrush. This timer feature helps everyone keep to the necessary brushing regimen and saves on unnecessary water usage.
Showers & Tubs: Now that we have the sink properly programed, let’s turn to the shower and tub. Here again, technology is your friend and eco-friendly too. Like the sink, shower and tub designs have gone simply natural. Showers are no longer sequestered behind modesty glass or hidden in corners. The shower fixtures are behind clear glass walls and sometimes glass doors.
The “dam” or slight frame around the shower that kept water from puddling on the floor outside is no longer necessary. Instead of a frame or dam, the shower floor slants slightly to the wall side where a long-drain allows the water to flow away. The tub’s drain can be sensor controlled; when the tub is being filled, the drain closes. When the sensor detects someone leaving the tub, it automatically drains. Like your sink’s faucet, the showerhead can perform all sorts of marvelous services. It can be programmed for temperatures and set for hands-free use along with ozone-injected bacteria fighting. Your shower or tub can be programmed with Alexa or Google-Assist, your very own bathroom butler.
And from the practical to the sensual, things are changing in your shower and tub. There are a variety of water pattern and pressure options for the showerhead or tub faucet. And to be environmentally responsible, the water flowing from the faucet or showerhead can be aerated so that what seems like a tumbling rush of water under strong pressure is actually accomplished using less water—guilt free. Your shower experience can be lit in LED color patterns and synchronized with your personalized play list—a blue-green helix of hot water accompanied by Handel’s Water Music might be your fantasy, or Mick Jagger belting out “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” while the hard-pounding water wakes you up in the morning. The possibilities are endless.
Toilets & Bidets: Let us not forget the lowly commode, toilet, or john. That too is being transformed by technology. We’re probably all familiar with the now-common dual-flush toilet that allows you to choose the correct amount of water for the flushing task—solid or liquid. That’s great, but why stop there? Now, your toilet bowl can be set up to auto-flush, recognizing when the toilet has been used and when it’s appropriate to flush. (I know—we’ve all experienced the over-zealous auto-flush at some restaurant or airport, but usually the technology works just fine.) So, moving on, you need no longer chastise son or husband for failing to close the toilet seat. Toilet seats are available with the capacity to sense someone’s approach and lift the seat cover. A wave of the hand then lifts the toilet seat itself. The seat and cover quietly close when the commode is unoccupied. (Ah, now that’s the solution many women have been hoping for, for generations. And did you know that the most common accident in the bathroom is falling into the toilet when the seat has not been in place? Believe it!)
You needn’t worry any longer about dangling your feet on a too-tall toilet or squatting on a toilet that’s too short. There are toilets that allow you to adjust the height to your needs. And while we’re on these modern delights for our commodes, how about this? Your toilet can be fitted with an automatic deodorizer. Yes, no more embarrassing odors lingering when you leave. But wait, that’s not all; you can select white noise or some sounds or music satisfactory to you which will play while you’re using the commode.
Let’s not forget the somewhat mysterious and exotic bidet. We’re more likely to associate them with European hotels, but they’re gaining popularity in the States. They’re available as free-standing or attachments for the toilet. In addition to the traditional spout of refreshing water for cleansing, bidets can allow the user to control water temperature and activate a gentle drying feature. Very civilized and sanitary.
Clever Kitchen
Kitchen plumbing is focused on the sink with its garbage disposal and the refrigerator. We’re all fairly familiar with the refrigerator’s occasionally rogue ice maker and water faucet. (As you’re settling down for a chat with a glass of wine and a charming companion, the frig spits out a few ice cubes or dribbles just enough water to require you stop everything and mop up the mess.) The plumbing for the refrigerator is pretty much controlled by the manufacturer. So, there’s little to fuss over.
The kitchen sink, however, offers loads of opportunities for improvements and special features. So, let’s return to the conversation about the sink’s basin or bowl. In the bathroom, style over function seems to prevail. We want an elegant bathroom sink. In the kitchen, practicality wins, hands down! We want the kitchen sink to be dependable, versatile, and easy to maintain.
Maintenance: Keeping the sink area clean and the garbage disposal sanitary is a constant battle. Choosing the right sink basin may be the single most helpful decision. There are four types of kitchen basins, and they each approach differently the problem of the seal between sink and countertop, the place where bacteria can lurk.
Self-rimming: This is the basin that slips into a hole in the counter-top. It is suspended ty its own rim or lip. A seal is added between the countertop and the rim or lip to avoid water leaking under the sink’s edge and into the cupboard below. Bottom-mounted: This basin is clamped or suspended beneath the countertop. When installed, the counter’s edge must be made to seal down onto the basin’s edge. That’s a bit tricky, and requires a skilled installer to insure a full seal and attractive mounting. Solid-surface: This is a one-piece basin-countertop. It is secured underneath to the cupboard and plumbing. It is seamless and probably easiest to keep sanitary. Stand-alone: The free-standing sink on its own pedestal or leg is uncommon except in some antique-style kitchens. In the 19th and early 20th century, porcelain units—a sink on four legs—were common in kitchen and laundry rooms.
Once you’ve settled on the basin, you’ll have a variety of faucet-styles to choose from. Do you want two handles or one? That choice determines how you’ll regulate hot and cold water as well as the intensity of the flow. Do you want an integral, flexible hose for spraying vegetables, and yourself, occasionally? How about a soap dispenser? If you want to go a bit high-tech, you’ll want to choose a faucet system that allows for those features available in the bathroom faucets—auto-flow, temperature control, volume and intensity control, and ozone-injection for bacteria removal. Garbage disposals, it seems, have not gone hi-tech. They’re pretty much doing the task they’ve been designed to do with more-or-less efficiency. Alexa probably can’t help you there, unfortunately.
Miscellany
Finally, let me review a few interesting technological advances in home plumbing.
Water heaters: You may already be using a solar water heater, linked to your roof-top solar panels. An unfortunate drawback, extended cloudy days mean no hot water for the days’ showers. The on-demand water heater may be married with the solar system. When hot water is required, electricity heats as much water as is required almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, the cost of electricity probably eliminates the savings you were counting on with the solar heating.
Pipes and fittings: Worried about those pin-hole leaks that may have begun in your old, copper pipes? Well, when you replace those pipes you can get a Smart-Pipe System. These “brainy” pipes detect leaks early, sensing a change in pressure and volume. They can be programmed to alert the home owner and/or the plumber as to the problem and the location of the leak, saving time and money as well as the new flooring in your basement playroom.
Greywater Recycling: This allows for the collection and reuse of water from the showers, sinks, dishwasher, and clothes washer. The water can be redirected to water lawns and gardens, or even reused in the clothes washer. (I’m not too sure about that last option.)
Smart Irrigation System: And finally, for all the gardeners out there: Your watering system can be synched with regional weather reports. The system will skip timed watering when rains are expected and extend watering times during droughts. (A good system to link with your greywater recycling so as not to waste fresh water on the garden.) The system can also be programed for your specific soil type, plant varieties, and even the micro-climate of your neighborhood. The system works on a Cloud-based connection and can be adjusted and controlled by you, wherever you happen to be. Smart Irrigation sounds like every gardener’s dream solution!
Essayist and literary critic, Edmund Wilson summed it up nicely in 1956, “I have derived a good deal more benefit of the civilizing as well as of the inspirational kind [of tradition] from the admirable American bathroom than I have from the cathedrals of Europe…I have had a good many more uplifting thoughts, creative and expansive visions—while soaking in comfortable baths or drying myself after bracing showers—in well-equipped American bathrooms than I have ever had in any cathedral.”
