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A bidet is standard equipment in Argentinian homes, even the poorest houses have it. Once you get used to it, it’s incomprehensible that in other countries peop
by dep_b 1y ago
A bidet is standard equipment in Argentinian homes, even the poorest houses have it. Once you get used to it, it’s incomprehensible that in other countries people just wipe and…hope for the best.
But often it’s hard to install one in bathrooms that are not designed for it. So a Japanese toilet is a somewhat over the top solution in our house.
- dfxm12 1y agoIf it's standard equipment, why wouldn't bathrooms be designed for it? New expectations? Something else?
- mixmastamyk 1y agoMost need power at the toilet. Not allowed to be exposed near water in US bathrooms without circuit breaker and so are not installed.
- simfree 1y agoYou should already have a circuit breaker at the panel. A GFCI outlet is needed if your breaker is not GFCI already, but this receptacle is something that isn't terribly expensive.
- mixmastamyk 1y agoYes, that’s what I’m talking about. These are common near a sink but approximately never behind the toilet in home in the US.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoMany bathrooms have a light switch close to the toilet. Hopefully it's 3 wire so it's easy to install an outlet a couple feet below the switch.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- m463 1y agoAren't light switches and outlets supposed to be on different circuits by code?
- bryanlarsen 1y agoNo, not in North America.
- mminer237 1y agoIt's typical nowadays for the whole bathroom to be on a breaker-level GFCI.
- dep_b 1y agoStandard equipment in Argentina, not in Northern Europe or the US, where you would have to be in the opportunity to completely redo your bathroom to accommodate it. Otherwise you need to rearrange, or go for a Japanese toilet.
- Tadpole9181 1y agoCompletely redo a bathroom? The barrier to entry is replacing the seat with one that connects to the existing waterline. I've got one and it took 10 minutes to install - and 5 of those were just cleaning first.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoFor the spray nozzle sure. It would only work in particularly hot climates though, so maybe Arizona and Florida in the summer. There is a reason northern Asia goes without or with heated Japanese toilets instead (they also warm the water so you don’t hate yourself).
- op00to 1y agoBidet (no hand sprayer, just a toilet seat based jet) works fine in this US household. I don’t notice the cold in the winter. Maybe I have an exceptionally robust asshole, but our water gets very cold in the winter.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoDo you have decent central heating? Japanese households didn’t (and still don’t, it’s not required by law even in Tokyo), so heated toilet seats and heated water is considered essential. There is a reason kotatsus never caught in the states I guess. You won’t encounter nozzles in southern China either because the winters are too cold and they have even less heating than northern China (which is why everyone is wearing winter jackets indoors). Even in the US, I can’t imagine installing a nozzle here in Seattle, but we also don’t have central heat (just a heat pump with remote units in a couple of rooms).
- ghaff 1y agoIdeally you need nearby electrical and ability to get water to the washlet seat. Which is fairly easy/cheap in a bathroom remodel (which is what I did) but not necessarily easy/cheap otherwise. (There are simpler ways you can get part-way there as noted in this thread.)
- NooneAtAll3 1y ago...why would you need electricity for a seat with water?
- ghaff 1y agohttps://www.totousa.com/tips/toto-washlet-electric-bidets https://www.totousa.com/tips/toto-washlet-electric-bidets I'm not sure electricity is required for basic operation but at least most models are designed to be plugged in.
- johnwalkr 1y agoExcept for the no-power versions, electricity is required for bidet functions on Toto bidets. They work like normal industrial hydraulics. They have a small low-power electric pilot valve, which lets hydraulic pressure into the right place to move the boom in and out, and release water.
- lmz 1y agoThe washlet needs power for the seat warmer (and other functions). Toto (and others) also have unpowered add-on toilet seat type that just sprays and is manually controlled with a knob. https://in.toto.com/product-category/ecowasher/ https://in.toto.com/product-category/ecowasher/ (Not sure if this is available in the US)
- kelnos 1y agoThere are models that don't require electricity, but the higher end ones (that do) will heat the water before hit hits your butt, and also might have a heated seat as well as other features.
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- dataviz1000 1y agoEvery bathroom in Thailand and Argentina is built with a drain in the floor. It's forward thinking construction. Otherwise, without the drain, either the bum gun or the bidet can and will easily damage the floor and anything below it.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoThese are called wet rooms, and usually they just have a shower that hits directly on the floor (at least in lower end ones outside of luxury hotels).
- op00to 1y agoMy bathroom in the USA does not have a floor drain. I have a bidet. The tile floor is 60 years old, no damage.
- zzzoom 1y agoYou can use a mop if your aim is that bad.
- XorNot 1y agoIt seems wild to me you'd have a bathroom without a general floor drain? Like it's a room where we put water taps...a floor drain just makes sense (and you already need to put plumbing in for floor drains to have like, a shower work).
- saagarjha 1y agoMost bathrooms in the US do not have a floor drain. In fact many are not even tile and might be wood or (heaven forbid) carpet.
- bgnn 1y agoHow can a wet room floor like toilet or barhroom be damaged? They have to be specific type of concrete + tiles on top, don't they? At least that's what I'm used to.
- csa 1y ago> why wouldn't bathrooms be designed for it? No outlet near the toilet. Non-conforming/non-standard shape of seat and/or tank.
- MichaelRo 1y ago>> it’s incomprehensible that in other countries people just wipe and…hope for the best. Well ... I don't have a bidet but doesn't mean I don't wash my buttocks after doing business. Unfortunately it's a bit of a taboo subject so it's not discussed, not taught in school / hygiene classes, just let it be. Best example I heard from someone is this: imagine you dip your hands in Nutella. Then try to clean them just wiping with toilet paper, for more authenticity, without looking. Then look at the result, that's your ass, good thing you got underpants! Compare that with washing with soap and water! So how do I do it? - First step it to use wet toilet paper. I can't stand raw toilet paper, it scratches my hemorrhoids, so I pre-soak it in water from the tap if available or just water I keep in my mouth if in a public place / at work. I hate public places for this matter. This way it's much gentler for the tushy, it also pre-washes the area and third advantage, it's much less likely to clog the toilet when I flush, being already soaked. - So after the first step I'm closer to washing Nutella than wiping it. If in a public place, that's the best I got. If at home, next step is wash my butt with soap and water in a plastic bucket. There, that's your bidet! For 2 bucks, you too can get one! :) Sure, you have to squat and not wear any pants, but you're in your own freaking bathroom. Dry with paper towels which you throw in a bucket. Plus, comes the third step anyway and you won't be wearing any clothes for that. - Third step is taking a quick shower. At this point you won't be leaving a trail of poo into the shower drain or bath tub (I shower in the bath tub) but still get to clean your general areas that were in contact with the toilet, hence e-coli and sh*t (no pun intended), plus shower feels good. So there's that: my overly complicated toilet routine that takes some 3 minutes extra after finishing with the toilet proper, which leaves me perfectly adequate for entering a pool. Unfortunately I also know that 99.98% of the population entering said pool has their Nutella butt washed for the first time in said pool, so no pools for me if I can avoid it.
- hellisothers 1y agoYou could also eat more fiber or change your diet so your poop doesn’t have the consistency of peanut butter.
- justsomehnguy 1y ago> just water I keep in my mouth if in a public place / at work Sorry for intruding, but the water from some public place is the last thing I want in my or anyone else's mouth. May I suggest a water bottle or even a flask? Or if you already tried that, can you explain why it didn't work for you? Just an idle curiosity. Thanks in advance.
- mousethatroared 1y agoWhy don't you hop into the shower after doing number two?
- NooneAtAll3 1y agowhy take the whole shower, when you can sit on a bath side?
- mousethatroared 1y agoIf you don't have a bidet. Thats how I solved the problem 35 years ago.
- layer8 1y ago> it’s incomprehensible that in other countries people just wipe and…hope for the best. Nowadays many people use wet wipes. Probably less environmentally friendly, but they solve the same problem.
- neves 1y agoThis is really terrible. Expensive and anti ecological. Also used water sprays all my life Maybe someday Americans will notice that they are the different ones.
- seanmcdirmid 1y agoI don’t think Americans are using wet wipes on their toilet business, at least in any meaningful numbers, maybe parent was talking about some other region of the world? There are plenty of regions of the world where TP is the norm, eg in China you aren’t going to find sprayers or Japanese style toilet seats, and many toilets are still squats.
- chgs 1y agoAmerican exceptionalism will never allow that. Either America is the best of everywhere or are the same as America.
- PNewling 1y agoLess environmentally friendly and greatly more damaging to the infrastructure. Spain is even looking to introduce legislation to reduce/remove their use[0]. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/28/spain-to-ban-flushing-of-wet-wipes-with-manufacturers-paying-clean-up-costs https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/28/spain-to...
- layer8 1y agoThat link talks about plastic items, but the wet wipes I’m familiar with are 100% plant-based and biodegradable, and dissolve in water. Edit, to clarify: The wipes in question have been certified according to the EDANA Flushability Guidelines, which have been adopted into law in some countries, and there is also a related Spanish standard UNE 149002:2019 (“Acceptance criteria for disposable products via toilet”). The producer (Essity) claims that they dissolve similarly quickly to regular toiled paper. It might very well be that the wipes still cause problems, but it’s not like these are plastic items that are flushed down the toilet in an unregulated way.
- riffraff 1y agoWhat kind of bidet? I assume it's Italian/French style bidet (a separate item from the WC) and not the Japanese/SEA thing where it's a WC addition. The fact we use the same term for three different kind of things is deeply confusing.