Has the bidet's time in North America finally arrived?
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It was a hit, so we bought one for family friends for a birthday - high hilarity as we heard the reports from their kids - and then more for our extended family at Christmas. Shocked reactions around the Christmas tree.
The response has been amazing, people saying things like "How did I do without this my entire life??" and "How was I such a savage before??" On vacation at AirBnBs we are looking forward to going home just so we can have a bidet again.
In most cases, you don't even need the extra features, like fan or warm water. Regular cold water is nowhere near as bad as you'd assume.
No recurring cost of toilet paper.
I'm not trying to dissuade you from holding that opinion, just pointing out that there are many, many people who regularly use cloth diapers for newborns. While many people choose not to use them, I don't think most people consider them a less sanitary option.
I then drop the cloth into a small bathroom trash can with a lid that is marked, "dirty wash cloths only". This small trash can sits down on the floor next to the toilet, and once a week I just wash the cloths along with the other towels. The cloths aren't even really dirty, since your butt is clean by the time you use them. I don't like the idea of re-using them without washing them though.
And just like that, my toilet paper usage has dropped to nearly zero.
The other "big" feature of a plugged in biden is meant to be the blower/dryer, but at least in my one (TOTO branded) it is a waste of time. If the blower actually worked (e.g. Dyson Airblade), it would be a significant benefit, but as it stands I agree you get 80% with a simple spray toilet seat (other 20% is heated water, maybe the moving head a little, although you still have to shift your body for good coverage).
Depends how cold your cold water is. Can be a 10-15C difference between Northern US and Southern US in winter.
Also becomes important if you're sizing a tankless water heater:
https://www.tanklesshotwaterguide.ca/2012/06/ground-water-te...
Finally, warmer water will dissolve whatever it hits better, instead of just suspending.
It's refreshing but you get used to it. My wife hasn't complained either. She rolled her eyes at me when I first ordered the bidets but was an instant convert.
(I just happened to install them in all our bathrooms last fall. Lucky timing. The model I installed was $35 on Amazon but it's now more than double that and not currently available.)
Perhaps not in California. But here in Calgary, Alberta, I assure you it is much worse than you'd assume.
Brisk!
Summer or winter it's always great to use it.
You must be animal to use those classy cold ones.
When we had our baby and she was 1, we started cleaning her by teaching her how to sit on the toilet and washing with a hand held bidet. It was much nicer on her bum, significantly less rashes. We’d wipe off with tissue but it was less friction and sweat would be cleaned off.
Bidets are the right thing to do if you care about your ass and environment. It just feels so freaking good.
Yeah winter could be bad but usually it is tolerable.
Given that it's plumbed in at the toilet tap, and that you'd use it before flushing, I would presume the water would be relatively close to room temperature, as the supply line is indoors just below the seat. That should be plenty for 1-2 seconds.
There is a whole set of pains involved in not washing with water after the fact.
We used the shower for a while, but it's a huge timesink.
We kind of solved with squirt bottles currently.
My problem is that I don't know how to "hang" the handle when it's not in use. The bathroom is all tile from floor to ceiling and we're tenants so we can't drill to hang an attachment. I've also seen systems that hook over the tank's wall, but our toilet has the tank in the wall (it's a German style toilet for those who know what I mean: tank in the wall and toilet seat hanging from the wall rather than the floor)
I'm also not convinced with the little arms that install under the seat which reaches out when water flows, because I'm very concerned about back splashing on it when using the toilet and being unable to thoroughly clean the arm. This would spray soiled water where we don't want it.
I'm hoping someone in a similar situation figured something out: what system do you use?
Disclaimer, never tried those myself.
Totally SFW video on how to use one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBAY1GWjjaQ
You can buy one at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005FDJ8SM/ref=dp_ol...
I had a washlet installed in 2009 when I bought my home and I was on a several month client on site late 2011 when out of sheer desperation I searched for a travel washlet not that I could imagine how one would work.
And for that matter, filling it without contaminating the sink/whatever seems iffy.
The portable device, on the other hand, has to be put somewhere. I guess you could have a "poop shelf" nearby that you always assume is about as clean as the bottom of a toilet seat. Actually traveling with that seems iffy, though.
https://www.amazon.com/Perineal-Lavette-Irrigation-Bottle-Pa...
With TP some people need a couple of sheets and they come away with a clean sheet, others need half a roll.
And as I understand it, laser removal is less painful than getting waxed.
This is the only thing I don't get about bidets. Unless I'm missing something it's like unavoidable to get droplets on your hand/spreayer for the manual types? I personally wouldn't really care, but I just wonder why not more people make a fuzz about this. Again, maybe I'm missing something.
I bought mine off Amazon for like $40 and it does that.
BTW I do clean mine now and then, and there is like, almost nothing to clean. Compared to e.g. my humidifier, that needs almost-daily cleaning.
Does it spray bleach or soap or just plain water? You wouldn't wash your hands with just water.
Though, I guess the issue here is comparing bidet to no-bidet.
The bidet is so much better than TP only, it is not even close. Instead of feeling gross, you feel glorious, is what it is.
Yes, you use your hand along with the water to clean! It sounds disgusting but actually feels super clean and hygienic once you are used to it.
Your hand will not smell afterwards and it is heavenly for the butt, feels so nice and clean. Also IME feces will lose some of their disgustingness, just because everything around it is so much cleaner now. I lived "western style" until 30 y/o and with a "bum gun" since two years, one of the best life improvements for me.
On the flip side, most people who use toilet paper think their butts will get completely clean. That is actually not the case.
But either is not a big deal because the skin in that hind area is quite resilient.
To the surprise of many people, the game-changer in bathroom hygiene is properly washing hands after using the toilet. People in developing countries lack access to clean water and soap. Nobody really misses toilet paper.
I'm not talking about wetness. I'm talking about feces. As in sitting there getting blasted with a sprayer for well over a minute trying to hit all the angles and then seeing brown on the paper being used to dry up. Just spraying water does not work on its own. If you wipe normally first, then a bidet afterward will probably get you cleaner. But if you don't wipe first then there's no guarantee that it will do better on its own than wiping would have.
Personal experience does not agree with you. But I'm glad that it works well for someone.
I have tested the cleanliness with paper, but after 6 years now I never need any paper. Unless your ass is really hairy there won't be as much residual wetness as you'd expect and air drying for a moment is enough.
Method 2: If there's a jet/bidet fixed on the toilet that shoots a stream of water, you still need one had to gently wash the butt. Then wash your hands (twice) with soap and water.
There's only one issue with this -- public toilets/hotels where you don't want to touch the spray gun. Need Toilet Paper there.
That's how we all are taught to do in south-east asia atleast. *I feel unclean if I'm using toilet paper alone! Billions of people do it this way!
1. I can not imagine my life without it 2. In my very humble opinion the only effective use of bidet, as parent states, is seated towards the tap using hands, soap, and mildly warm water. After that, washing hands at the bathroom sink
Do they?
yeah yeah we are all unhygienic savages, but isn't this what the two showers a day are for?
> So, ok, using wet paper can get you much cleaner and is gentler than dry paper
Yes, this is the main idea.
It’s cleans itself and dosnt blast feces as you very eloquently put it.
It does not eliminate toilet paper for us. But most of it goes towards drying off quickly. If you're patient you can use the built-in blow-dryer, but it's much slower than patting down.
Really eliminates 95-99% of wiping, in my experience. The temperature-controlled seat and water are very nice in winter (Seattle, where another commenter noted that tap water is somewhere in the 40°s Fahrenheit).
You would have to wash it with water and rub with your hands to fully clean it, and then wash your hands again.
Compared to using a tissue, a bidet is definitely eco friendly, considering the amount of energy required to make the tissue in the first place.
I came back to the US late January for a meeting in SF. I was staying at my friends house and lamenting the missing gun. My friends were refusing to install one because they were afraid that their two year old would use it to soak the entire bathroom.
I started checking Amazon anyway... once everyone started stockpiling TP, the prices started to rise and I started to see more and more of them marked as 'unavailable'.
Now there is definitely no chance they will get one in the near future...
Actually though, the trick is just shoot a bit into a toilet first to test it... ;-)
edit: AHA! Vacuum as in air filtration...I was imagining an auto spa...
every person who has used the spray bidet has become a convert. there is nothing but praise and apologies all around :)
since toilet paper hording has become a concern for most, lots of my people have been asking me where i got mine and how to hook it up.
who's laughing now ;)
link to bidet: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brondell-CleanSpa-Luxury-Handhel...
installation video: https://youtu.be/18H1LfR0FEg
If you answer "a", then you've just admitted the bidet is superior.
wait, what? please, do yourself a favor and use soap (and your hand) with a bidet
We're planning a new bathroom and I have that on our todo list.
I thought you were going to talk about electric sockets.
I wanted a mixer tap, like the rest of the world has.
They said it wasn't traditional. They installed the traditionally British separate "freezing" and "cold then suddenly scalding" taps.
(At least they removed the carpet.)
At home I just step into the tub and wash my butthole with soap and water. Dry with a towel no different than having taken a shower, then get on with my life all nice and fresh down there. No need for TP or more consumer garbage to maintain and wear out that doesn't even clean as effectively as proper bathing w/soap and hands.
Also: foaming hand soap is a game changer of this technique.
We did cloth diapering with our three kids.
Poop is really not that scary after you get over the initial ick factor.
What do you bathe using?
It doesn't matter when you have running water and soap on the ready. Obviously after your ass is clean you ensure your hands are washed too before shutting off the water.
The water spray knocks off the bulk before hands get involved anyways.
1. How often do you shit? If I'm shitting more than once in a day, I'm sick, so, exceptional.
2. I just remove my pants and underwear. There's a hand-held sprayer in the tub. My shoes are already removed if I'm indoors, and I don't usually wear socks indoors. It's a trivial matter to step out of my lower half and into the tub, spray my bottom without getting my shirt wet.
3. When I'm at home I'm generally just wearing boxer shorts anyways, pants are for work.
I'm surprised this needs further clarification.
#3 however had me laughing, and "at home = pants off" is a strange assumption to me. Do you have guests often? Need to answer the door? Visible to your neighbors from any of your windows?
What's peculiar about 1&2? No shoes is normal for clean homes, and I'm in a warm climate so socks aren't really needed. It's not unusual for a tub+shower to have a handheld sprayer for spot rinsing, it's very useful for washing the facilities too.
> Do you have guests often? Need to answer the door? Visible to your neighbors from any of your windows?
I still wear a t-shirt most of the time unless it's hot. When guests are around I just throw on swim trunks over the boxers out of respect, that doesn't complicate dropping trou in any way; they come down and go back on together as a unit. Same for answering the door, throw on swim trunks beforehand...
I'm on acres of land, the nearest neighbors neither matter nor care about what's going on in my home.
Well, I know that everybody's digestive system is different, but I have read that only one #2 per day is unusual for a lot of people and may be a sign of constipation. I think a lot of people go after most major meals.
No shoes is fine but no socks is a little stranger to me, I grew up in a place with hot summers and I currently live in California but I still wear socks all the time. But again it's not extremely weird, just not what I am used to.
On the other hand removing pants as soon as I get home would be pretty unusual.
My impression is that most people with normal, regular digestion, ideally go #2 once in the morning after their laxative^Wcoffee and before bathing.
In the distant past I had digestive problems which generally required a #2 shortly after any substantial meal. That was not what I'd consider ideal nor healthy. It was a nuisance and often resulted in an urgent need to use toilets away from home in restaurants and such, unhygienic to say the least.
Learning how to eat the right things to keep regular with a #2 per morning, even without stimulants like coffee, for me was a major part of becoming an adult. I don't think this is that unusual based on convos I've had with close enough friends to speak freely on the subject.
But is it really necessary to act like everyone else are the weird ones for not giving their anus a sponge-bath in the bath tub every time they shit?
Who said anything about using a sponge?
My comment wasn't directed at "everyone else", only those using bidets at home.
Elsewhere in this thread there are numerous comments from people debating ways to dry after using the bidet, complexities surrounding dirty towels or useless wet TP which then leaves pulpy clumps on your butthole and hair. I know the problems, I've used bidets, it's kind of awful.
Why on earth would you subject yourself to this at your own home where you're in control?
At the office or in a guest bathroom, ok, I get it. I've used the Japense style bidet seat attachments at the Googleplex, and think that's a neat thing for an employer to do for employees and makes sense as an improvement in that circumstance, but it's an unnecessary compromise at home.
You presumably have proper bathing facilities. Instead of tapping into your toilet water line for some inferior fixed soap-less water splashy splash onto your butthole awkwardly sitting over the toilet, just get a handheld sprayer for your tub/shower and do it well.
It's way better, and you can properly dry off with a bath towel leaving it clean enough for reuse. Nobody should ever have to exit their own damn bathroom with a dirty bottom.
You can use four squares of toilet paper to wipe your butt and then bidet the rest. This is a huge savings on toilet paper.
An under-sink 7 stage reverse osmosis water filtration system cleans water and enriches it with minerals. It is delicious.
With these two systems at home, you've addressed two top hoarding items during a panic.
There must be a huge variation in diet and body shape in this discussion.
Four squares is about the maximum I ever use (even if I'm ill). This is probably why I checked what's left in my cupboard (6 rolls from an 8-pack) and haven't bought any more, yet there are people loading up the trolley with 32, 48 or more rolls.
When the toilet paper shortages started happening, I used them as an excuse to convince my wife that we should buy a bidet. I had floated the idea by her multiple times over the years, but she was always weirded out by it, but I was finally able to convince her.
We also have an entire deep freezer full of food and are both fortunate enough to be able to work from home, so as long as the electricity and water stay on, we can survive in complete isolation for at least a month.
No toilet paper needed! We just have a stack of washcloths and we use one to pat ourselves dry (and then set it aside in a container to be washed weekly).
I also just purchased a whole-house UV water filter because I am concerned about viral contamination of the water supply.
We usually have about 6 boilwater advisories a year.
So, I also purchased a whole-house sediment filter.
Of course, this is all useless, when there is no water supply.
The majority use something like tabo: https://youtu.be/Vzb98tQp53I
My limited experience with them in Japan involved an incident that went like this:
- Did a not-so-solid poop and had poo stuck in my ass hair
- Used warm bidet water jet on max pressure for a good minute or two to clean
- Wiped with toilet paper to dry my ass only to discover that it was still far from clean
- Toilet paper disintegrated while wiping so I now had a hairy, pooey and wet butt crack with bits of toilet paper tangled in the hair and shit all over my fingers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mZs4C-En4Og
And one with a revolving seat cover:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31MjIwM1JQL...
While people are out fighting for TP, I rinse myself and use two or three pieces to dry off and that’s it. Nice and clean!
I feel like I'm going to need a stack of wet-wipes and a disposable towel the first time I actually use a bidet.
> Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret.
Are you expected to use your hand to clean like you would in the shower? Because that's never been made clear to me and what I've read online says to just let the water splash on you then dry it off with a towel, which doesn't seem sanitary at all to me.
Edit: Reading through the thread has been helpful. I've always had bidets pitched to me as a toilet paper replacement, but the comments here indicate it's something to be used after wiping, not in lieu of.
Or I could have just been doing it wrong, there wasn't exactly a training class when visiting countries in which they are common.
Haha exactly, that's the difficulty! You're taught these toilet habits at a young age and it's not something that adults discuss, so if you grew up in a culture without a bidet, it comes across as a baffling fixture.
Agreed, you don't just throw the towel up on the rack and call it a day. Usually you throw it in the wash or wash it out with soap when you are done. But at least your bum is a lot cleaner than smearing poop all around it with TP.
Set the shower to the narrow/high pressure flow, and reduce the water supply so it's less "massage" and more like "watering the garden".
Wait a few seconds to let the dripping stop then use regular Toilet Paper to dab dry. Don't use a re-usable towel like the other commentator suggested, gross.
Now, people may say its disgusting to clean your anal area with your hands. But don't you do it when showering? There is undoubtedly fecal matter residue there anyways (especially if you use toiler paper). So the option is to:
1. Use TP with a 100% chance of fecal residue on your body and walk around with that caked in your crack, or
2. Use your hands and water. You are not doing anything dirtier than what you do when taking a proper shower. Cleaner down there and clean when you wash hands with soap.
I've heard horror stories about bidets causing thousands of dollars worth of damages after the water hoses that supply them leak and spill hundreds of gallons of water on to the floor when their owners are away from home.
Compression fittings in plumbing must NOT have any teflon tape on the threads. This just causes leaks. Teflon tape is for fittings where the threads are the sealing surface. Compression fittings do not seal with the threads; the threads only provide compressive force.
Edit for clarity.
Meanwhile in the field you come across a boogered up fitting line that leaks, you slap some tape on the threads, the nut seals to the ferrule, the ferrule seals to the tube and the tape seals the threads.
It's not "right" but it works well enough often enough that people do it.
It would be a major issue in the US as that water would just leak through the floor.
No more worrying about leaking pipes, overflowing toilet, etc.
FWIW, as an Italian (everybody has a bidet in Italy) I have literally never heard of anyone having encountered this issue, but I suppose it may vary in other countries.
It is a common thing to close the water in the house when you're away for a long time though, but I assumed everybody did that.
If the bidet's line runs outside of the toilet bowl, and fails there, then it leaks onto the floor.
Has that ever happened to you?
In addition, every toilet also has a supply line underneath, running from the wall valve to the bottom of the tank where the fill valve is mounted. Again, these are frequently flexible lines. How is this different than a bidet?
Honestly, I have no idea why Europeans still use their old-fashioned bidets now that washlets have been around for several decades. Why would you want to use two different devices just to do a #2 when you can just sit on one and get it all done at once?
Yes, and it flooded three floors of my house and required months of renovations. Thanks for asking about it. I briefly considered giving up on indoor plumbing altogether.
I can see what the issue with the former may be, thanks.
You could also go full hackernews and have a sensor connected to a wifi valve which shuts off the water supply when no one is in the loo.
Imo,the biggest plus point of the bidet over the above is that it doesn't get the floor wet.
Naturally, I discovered this at the most inconvenient time.
I can't imagine not having one.
I hope that future North American building codes include a GFCI plug placed near toilets for the fancy plugin kind.
"I think it would be a good idea."
From cleanest / most practical to dirtiest:
1. Real bidet with warm water + soap https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Bidet_Ego_Kolo.jpg
2. Shower + soap
3. Bidet sprayer (cold water) + soap
4. Bidet sprayer (cold water)
5. Toiler paper
I have been through Africa and parts of Asia were the "bum gun" is the only resource for cleaning, no paper. Japan had the best of both worlds.
I have always said I would purchase one if I ever purchased my own place. In my current rental, I would need to have a power cord come completely across the sink (no low outlets).
You’ve been warned, dear reader!
How many GIs stopped to visit such a place? Didn't many more visit theatres and restaurants and perhaps associate bidets with those?
Too many dangling questions for credibility on that one.
I've been preaching to people I see complaining about the lack of TP. Get one for every toilet. Pat dry. No struggle to find TP. Easy peasy.
Water collector for the toilet is build into the wall...
In my case, there's a 2m wide, ~70cm deep space behind the bathroom, where the water + heating + sewage + ventilation pipes for the whole building are located. There's a 40cm access panel in my wall to get to it.
Adding a bidet thing would require drilling a hole through the wall.
A previous apartment had a similar toilet, but the tank etc was just hidden behind wooden panelling. That would be much easier to modify.
[1] https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fFAAAOSwnhNdyM2F/s-l1600.jpg
Most these attachments connect to the toilet's water supply, which is fine, except most toilet water supplies only provide cold (i.e. whatever the ambient water temperature happens to be) water which to me, is far from ideal in a bidet (it's fine for normal use though).
Running hot water there is a significant undertaking if done correctly, so most options come with a small reservoir to heat up water from the regular toilet supply.
That heat isn't magical, it needs energy from somewhere meaning you need to run power there someway.
There are dangerous improvised solutions like running a power cable yourself. There's additional consideration electricians put in when installing power in restrooms due to all the water and grounding dangers from metal plumbing. Running cables neglects all that thought and reintroduces an electrocution hazard if not handled very carefully.
That leaves me with battery options which I haven't looked to much into but I find that's likely not ideal to swap batteries around all the time. If it can operate off something like a deep cycle marine battery (which seems appropriate), then it might be viable.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-15-Amp-125-Volt-Combo-Se...
Couldn't find them in Canada though. Had to buy from USA.
Now my toothbrush can charge for more than 5 minutes a day (the lamp had a socket on it, but again, wouldn't want to use that for a bidet!)
I guess you might not have this if you live somewhere like west Texas.
In my old rental, the mixing valve malfunctioned and condensation was causing damage to the floor. In my current house, it mixes in too much hot water. If you flush a few times in a row, you can feel the warmth off the toilet bowl. It needs to be replaced, because it doesn't have an adjustment screw.
Searching for the condensation problem in Britain, plumbers suggest using an insulated cistern (tank).
I've never heard of an insulated toilet tank over here. I wouldn't be surprised if they start showing up, though.
My current house was built in the 80s, when the region was flush with oil money. I get the impression that building anything energy efficient was seen as a political statement, aside from the added cost to the builder.
During the winter its a bit colder but still nothing like the well water back in the midwest. Well water bidet would cause hypothermia to your anus
Well, if you have a reservoir before the bidet, it'll get from ambient water temperature to ambient air temperature if it sits long enough. How many litres does a bidet use at a time? Nowhere to slot a 2L reservoir?
Getting the water to 22C should be far more tolerable than the 5-8C many of us are used to in winter.
The argument I've heard people make multiple times is that "if you have mud on your shoes, do you wash them with water or with paper", but that's the wrong analogy. If I had (human) shit on my shoes, I wouldn't do either, I'd throw them away.
Mechanically, I'm not sure what you are envisioning, but I believe your mental picture is deeply flawed.
The whole thing just seems awful to me. I know, I know: I am the ignorant one. The rest of the world seems very happy with them. But I just can't figure out how to use one in a sanitary fashion.
It's gentle enough that there's not much of a splash. If you're sitting correctly the black water won't run 'down' your body it will fall straight down into the bowl.
There really isn't a learning curve.