5 ms·

i think most toilets here are plumbed without a hot water line nearby, and "tankless heaters" have been expensive. Especially the kinda small bespoke and super

i think most toilets here are plumbed without a hot water line nearby, and "tankless heaters" have been expensive. Especially the kinda small bespoke and super reliable kinda thing this application would demand. there's a popular meme from someone who failed to realize that the wouldn't have hot water during a power outage; and the bidet specifically would be cold. "religious experience"

gertop 3y ago
What you say about plumbing is likely true for public bathrooms but it doesn't explain why home bidets aren't really a thing either. In a home it's unusual to NOT have hot water near a toilet (be it for a sink or shower).
- Jtsummers 3y ago
  Hot water without a nearby tank can come out cold for several seconds. It’s not instant in most US homes unless the plumbing is near the tank. In my house (small footprint) one bathroom would have fast warm/hot water to a bidet. The rest would take 20-30 seconds like the sink and baths (for the full bath bathrooms).
  - freedomben 3y ago
    Indeed, most places I've lived in the US had a 20 to 30 second delay until the water came out hot. I once installed a small under-the-sink electric water heater for a bathroom that took over a minute to heat up (and never really got hot) and I've never talked with anyone else with something similar, so I don't think it's common.
- fallinghawks 3y ago
  A hot water tap, yes, everyone's got one. Actual hot water coming out of it immediately, less likely. My bathroom faucet takes a good 25 seconds to get to maximum hot, mostly from distance (WH is in the garage) and partly from being a low flow faucet. A bidet has a very small flow rate, so for my situation, a self-heated reservoir is the only way to get immediate warm water.
  - tzs 3y ago
    A hot water recirculation system might be a possibility.
    - fallinghawks 3y ago
      There are also mini hot water heaters that fit in an under-sink cabinet.
stevebmark 3y ago
No need for hot water, cold water bidets are fine and common. It's legitimately disgusting that bidets aren't common America. Such unsanity bathroom practices.
eloisant 3y ago
You don't need hot water because the biden will heat the water, however you need a power plug. That's the biggest issue I think. Or you can use a bidet with cold water, but good luck using that in winter when the water comes out at 10C.
sschueller 3y ago
Modern wash toilets only additionaly need electricity. Here is an instalation video for a geberit aquaclean: https://youtu.be/1GU7SBIJc6A https://youtu.be/1GU7SBIJc6A
ToucanLoucan 3y ago
I'm sure a warm bidet would be more pleasant, but as an American with a bolt-on solution that simply pipes water in from the tank-fill line, a cold one is completely fine. Does the job a-okay and maybe I'd feel differently if I grew up in a first-world country with a heated one being the norm, but I dunno. I still miss it like hell when on business trips.
- spondylosaurus 3y ago
  The cold water can be downright pleasant on hot days... or after a workout...
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
  However, my friend in Chicago has said that solution can be significantly more brisk in Winter when the water lines are several degrees cooler than Summer.
  - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
    I mean, I'm in Wisconsin. If your water lines are that cold I think there's something wrong with your house, friend.
srvmshr 3y ago
Japanese bath areas are 99% of the time separate from toilets. And the Toto models don't require a hot water line. Yet its pretty common to have heated jet functions. These models allow these features. Its more to do with economics of widespread availability. The ones I have used in the last few years all have a small instant warmer unit. Japanese homes don't always have access to hot water tank & even the shower space is serviced by a electronically activated gas heater. Source: I live here in JP, and my parent company's main revenue stream is from gas heaters OEM, heating appliances and even bespoke plumbing & installations.
buildsjets 3y ago
Bidet seats do not need a hot water line, but they do need a GFCI protected electrical outlet within 3' or so. They have self contained water heaters, seat heaters, drying air heaters, and ozone based deodorizers. They pre-mist the bowl sides when your first sit down to help keep the bowl clean. It's a pretty magnificent device. It's 25% of the way through the 21'st century, and I may not have a flying car just yet, but at least I have a robot to care for my tushy. Prior to installing bidet seats throughout the house, we had handheld bidets that were attached to the cold water line. It's really never immanentized a "religious experience" so far as I have noted, and while the heated one is certainly more pleasant, a cold water bidet seems to function pretty well for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
- hallway_monitor 3y ago
  Have you met Americans? We are addicted to comfort. You will certainly get cleaner using a bidet but a jet a cold water spraying your rear end seems like it would be quite uncomfortable. Caveat, like most Americans I have not tried it.
  - buildsjets 3y ago
    It's really not that uncomfortable at all. Buy one on Amazon and try it, they're 20 bucks and take 5 minutes to install with no tools. That's less than one package of Costco toilet paper these days. So far as I know, I've been an American for the ~50 decades I've been on this planet, and I'd say ~85% of the people I interact with on a day to day basis were born in America. I've observed that it is a common American trait to form strongly held views about things where one has no experience, and to defend those views fiercely. The Dude said it best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95kNwZw8YY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95kNwZw8YY
- opan 3y ago
  The cheap ($50 or so IIRC) bidet I have gets cold water from the toilet and hot water from the sink. No power hook-up. Has none of that other fancy stuff you mentioned. Not exactly sure what you mean by "bidet seat" vs "handheld bidet" based on context, but mine goes under a regular seat (seat isn't replaced) with controls jutting out the side. I have also used what I'd call a handheld bidet during an extended water outage. It was a squeezy rubbery thing from Amazon, a bit like a cycling water bottle, and I'd fill it up with water from a jug or sink depending on where I was (was not "attached to the cold water line"), then it squirts out water from an angled plastic tip. I found I had to be a lot more efficient with that to get the job done on one fill, but it was certainly better than nothing. Thinking on it more, maybe your handheld was like a pressure washer, totally separate from the toilet, and what I had in mind would be called "portable".
jasondclinton 3y ago
None of the "washlet" toilet attachments need a hot water line. They have built-in heaters and heat the water coming in from the cold water line. Whole-house battery backup is a modern marvel, too. (We have 80KWH of stored battery capacity and it shifts grid load to non-peak hours to save huge amounts of money.)
sp332 3y ago
From the article: "The most popular type of bidet in the US, Lin said, is a non-electric attachment that only sprays cold water".

gertop 3y ago

What you say about plumbing is likely true for public bathrooms but it doesn't explain why home bidets aren't really a thing either. In a home it's unusual to NOT have hot water near a toilet (be it for a sink or shower).

Jtsummers 3y ago
Hot water without a nearby tank can come out cold for several seconds. It’s not instant in most US homes unless the plumbing is near the tank. In my house (small footprint) one bathroom would have fast warm/hot water to a bidet. The rest would take 20-30 seconds like the sink and baths (for the full bath bathrooms).
- freedomben 3y ago
  Indeed, most places I've lived in the US had a 20 to 30 second delay until the water came out hot. I once installed a small under-the-sink electric water heater for a bathroom that took over a minute to heat up (and never really got hot) and I've never talked with anyone else with something similar, so I don't think it's common.
fallinghawks 3y ago
A hot water tap, yes, everyone's got one. Actual hot water coming out of it immediately, less likely. My bathroom faucet takes a good 25 seconds to get to maximum hot, mostly from distance (WH is in the garage) and partly from being a low flow faucet. A bidet has a very small flow rate, so for my situation, a self-heated reservoir is the only way to get immediate warm water.
- tzs 3y ago
  A hot water recirculation system might be a possibility.
  - fallinghawks 3y ago
    There are also mini hot water heaters that fit in an under-sink cabinet.

stevebmark 3y ago

No need for hot water, cold water bidets are fine and common. It's legitimately disgusting that bidets aren't common America. Such unsanity bathroom practices.

eloisant 3y ago

You don't need hot water because the biden will heat the water, however you need a power plug. That's the biggest issue I think. Or you can use a bidet with cold water, but good luck using that in winter when the water comes out at 10C.

sschueller 3y ago

Modern wash toilets only additionaly need electricity. Here is an instalation video for a geberit aquaclean: https://youtu.be/1GU7SBIJc6A https://youtu.be/1GU7SBIJc6A

ToucanLoucan 3y ago

I'm sure a warm bidet would be more pleasant, but as an American with a bolt-on solution that simply pipes water in from the tank-fill line, a cold one is completely fine. Does the job a-okay and maybe I'd feel differently if I grew up in a first-world country with a heated one being the norm, but I dunno. I still miss it like hell when on business trips.

spondylosaurus 3y ago
The cold water can be downright pleasant on hot days... or after a workout...
0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
However, my friend in Chicago has said that solution can be significantly more brisk in Winter when the water lines are several degrees cooler than Summer.
- ToucanLoucan 3y ago
  I mean, I'm in Wisconsin. If your water lines are that cold I think there's something wrong with your house, friend.

srvmshr 3y ago

Japanese bath areas are 99% of the time separate from toilets. And the Toto models don't require a hot water line. Yet its pretty common to have heated jet functions. These models allow these features. Its more to do with economics of widespread availability. The ones I have used in the last few years all have a small instant warmer unit. Japanese homes don't always have access to hot water tank & even the shower space is serviced by a electronically activated gas heater. Source: I live here in JP, and my parent company's main revenue stream is from gas heaters OEM, heating appliances and even bespoke plumbing & installations.

buildsjets 3y ago

Bidet seats do not need a hot water line, but they do need a GFCI protected electrical outlet within 3' or so. They have self contained water heaters, seat heaters, drying air heaters, and ozone based deodorizers. They pre-mist the bowl sides when your first sit down to help keep the bowl clean. It's a pretty magnificent device. It's 25% of the way through the 21'st century, and I may not have a flying car just yet, but at least I have a robot to care for my tushy. Prior to installing bidet seats throughout the house, we had handheld bidets that were attached to the cold water line. It's really never immanentized a "religious experience" so far as I have noted, and while the heated one is certainly more pleasant, a cold water bidet seems to function pretty well for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

hallway_monitor 3y ago
Have you met Americans? We are addicted to comfort. You will certainly get cleaner using a bidet but a jet a cold water spraying your rear end seems like it would be quite uncomfortable. Caveat, like most Americans I have not tried it.
- buildsjets 3y ago
  It's really not that uncomfortable at all. Buy one on Amazon and try it, they're 20 bucks and take 5 minutes to install with no tools. That's less than one package of Costco toilet paper these days. So far as I know, I've been an American for the ~50 decades I've been on this planet, and I'd say ~85% of the people I interact with on a day to day basis were born in America. I've observed that it is a common American trait to form strongly held views about things where one has no experience, and to defend those views fiercely. The Dude said it best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95kNwZw8YY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j95kNwZw8YY
opan 3y ago
The cheap ($50 or so IIRC) bidet I have gets cold water from the toilet and hot water from the sink. No power hook-up. Has none of that other fancy stuff you mentioned. Not exactly sure what you mean by "bidet seat" vs "handheld bidet" based on context, but mine goes under a regular seat (seat isn't replaced) with controls jutting out the side. I have also used what I'd call a handheld bidet during an extended water outage. It was a squeezy rubbery thing from Amazon, a bit like a cycling water bottle, and I'd fill it up with water from a jug or sink depending on where I was (was not "attached to the cold water line"), then it squirts out water from an angled plastic tip. I found I had to be a lot more efficient with that to get the job done on one fill, but it was certainly better than nothing. Thinking on it more, maybe your handheld was like a pressure washer, totally separate from the toilet, and what I had in mind would be called "portable".

jasondclinton 3y ago

None of the "washlet" toilet attachments need a hot water line. They have built-in heaters and heat the water coming in from the cold water line. Whole-house battery backup is a modern marvel, too. (We have 80KWH of stored battery capacity and it shifts grid load to non-peak hours to save huge amounts of money.)

sp332 3y ago

From the article: "The most popular type of bidet in the US, Lin said, is a non-electric attachment that only sprays cold water".