On the topic of toilets, is there an explanation for the continued lack of dual flush toilets in the US? It's been common in Europe for as long as I can remember and now Latin America seems to have lapped us.
Separately, but still related, I've been thrilled by the rapid adoption of bidets and rarely see a friend's bathroom that doesn't have one. What are the chances we start to get bidets in hotels and restaurants? What the hold up?
I live in a big city. But I've seen them at friend's houses in lots of places in the US. You can order one on Amazon for like $40 and install it in about 30 minutes.
This doesn't change the fact that bidets in the US are only in a vanishingly small percentage of homes. As an example, while not at all scientific, open up Zillow or Redfin and look at any random property and see if there's a bidet.
1. they are increasingly seen in the US, i see them all the time
2. if where you live does not have a "water cycle shortage", it's really not necessary. North America is huge and nowhere near as densely populated as Europe or Japan.
when I visited Hong Kong a loooong time ago, we were told that the water system for the toilets used salt/ocean water. Hong Kong is a small island, that was driven by their need. if you don't need it, you don't need it.
rapid adoption of bidets might increase public health/comfort by some measures, but it actually also increases water use. I feel you are influenced as much by familiarity/fashion as by a coherent water usage strategy
Bidets can actually reduce water usage overall, depending on how much less toilet paper is used. Then of course there's the benefit of needing fewer materials to produce toilet paper.
It reduces by not needing you take a whole shower to have a less gross asscrack. Although most of the solutions proposed below make me wish I never see a bidet again, at least I should remember to avoid them when traveling to said country.
But you have to take a whole shower to get all the toilet (bidet) water off...
Having just been to India, and the Middle East, they have sprayers next to every toilet. When you go into one of these public stalls, there is often water everywhere. All over the seat, all over the floor. It takes a minute of cleanup just to get to the point where you can sit.
I don't know how people aren't walking out of these with wet clothes. I imagine you take your pants off and hang them and put your sandals in the corner... but I don't think that's for me.
i always assumed you wiped first, then cleaned up with with the bidet. you're telling me you're spraying and rubbing with your fingers... i don't want to talk about it any more
hate to break it to you, but if you are spraying poop off, you are aerosolizing poop. full stop (except for the poop, which you have not stopped, you have sprayed). No shit? no, shit.
(and it would no longer be aerosol, it would be pooposol)
I have 4 dual flushes that get fully flushed each use. The low flow option doesn’t even move enough water to clear the bowl of a single bladder full of urine. That is to say, it doesn’t flush. So we don’t like them. I also heard women tend to really dislike them, something about the flush mechanism is gross. Pushing a button I suppose.
I don’t know if they refuse flushing but they don’t want them in their house is what I’ve found out. I put them in our house without consulting my wife and apparently everyone we’ve discussed it with is of the opinion of “eww gross, why would you do that”. It’s usually a funny story to tell if we get asked about our house and building process, almost without fail a man will see it as no big deal “efficiency good” and women don’t like it “buttons gross”
I imagine they may use a piece of paper to avoid pushing the buttons directly.
Wait wait, you mean they despise flushing in general? Is every US house fitted with flush triggers? Or how else can you flush, if no button? You mean maybe those women are simply fine with the smell? You only managed to confuse me more :)
This must be part of the problem. People complain about them here (in the US) all the time. I'm wondering if we're not producing crappy dual flush toilets in this country compared to overseas where they've presumably be manufacturing them for a generation or so.
This was the same problem low-flow had in the 90s or early 2000s (so common it even made a full episode of King of the Hill), they didn't redesign the bowls very well to handle it.
I've seen some dual flush toilets in the US, though rare. My dad has one, and I don't think he went out of his way.
My assumption is that the lack of awareness would be part of the reason for public toilets to not use them. It's often not clear which button to use, so people just push one at random. We have a hard enough time getting people to flush at all, so adding decisions into the mix doesn't great.
In men's bathrooms, the assumption is probably that a urinal will be used for #1, so it's a safe bet that the stalls are mostly used for #2 (at least by design of the overall bathroom). With this in mind, having a dual flush seems like an unnecessary extra cost.
> My assumption is that the lack of awareness would be part of the reason for public toilets to not use them. It's often not clear which button to use
Instead of having two buttons, there are designs that do the smaller flush by lifting the handle instead of pushing it down. That way people who don't know about it always get a full flush and the people that do can use the smaller one.
Separately, but still related, I've been thrilled by the rapid adoption of bidets and rarely see a friend's bathroom that doesn't have one. What are the chances we start to get bidets in hotels and restaurants? What the hold up?