Technology has been advancing at a furious pace and the quality of our lives have been improving dramatically. A lot of those inventions and innovations that are commonplace now didn’t start that way. I’m sure 40 years ago people would’ve gawked at the idea of a hands free restroom thinking it unnecessary and lazy. Little did they know, auto faucets and flush valves provide a number of very real benefits.
Hygiene
Your mother always said to wash your hands after using the restroom and there’s a good reason she told you that. Washing your hands thoroughly and often is usually considered the most important precaution for preventing the transmission of disease. With direct contact through touch a majority of the methods for disease transmission, the less you touch the better. With that in mind, it just makes sense that not having to touch a handle on a toilet or faucet before and after you wash your hands is just more sanitary. Sensor restroom products allow us to do just that by preventing us from having to touch anything in the restroom, especially after we spent the time to wash our hands.
Reliability
This point will really depend on the particular product and brand of hands free restroom products. In general though, hands free products are more prevalent in commercial buildings rather than residential. This means that they are usually in environments that see more traffic and are mostly harsher than what you’d find at home. As such, auto faucets and flush valves are usually made of more durable materials that can stand up to increased use.
Vandal Resistance
Again, this will depend on the particular product and brand. Along the same vein as the point about reliability above, the more durable commercial grade materials used in the construction of auto faucets and flush valves can stand up to more use and abuse than their residential counterpart. Auto faucets and flush valves are also more vandal resistant than their commercial grade manual counterpart. This is because you can’t count of the random restroom frequenter to use the right amount of force when using a handle. I’m sure you’ve come across a manual faucet or flush valve with a broken handle at some point. With auto faucets and flush valves, there are no handles to damage.
Convenience
At this point, you might be thinking “how hard is it to just jiggle a handle?” Actually, it’s not hard at all. But like all things that have made our lives more convenient, once you get used to it, it’s hard to go back. I guarantee that after getting used to using hands free products, you’ll look at that manual faucet or flush valve in a different light. That handle will look like an inconvenient, disease-laden extra step. It’s much like having to type in the address of a search engine before you conduct your internet search. With many browsers now address and search bars together into one, you don’t have to go through the “trouble” of typing in the address of your preferred search engine. It may not be a step that takes that much time or effort, but my goodness is it inconvenient!
Water Efficiency
Water is a precious resource and as the population grows exponentially, so too does our water consumption. To lessen our impact on our natural resources, we need to increase our consumption efficiency. Manufacturers are doing their part by offering lower flow rates for their faucets and flush valves, but even a low flow faucet that constantly runs creates unnecessary waste. Sensor faucets only come on when there’s a hand under the spout eliminating instances where someone doesn’t close the tap all of the way or in the case where they leave the faucet on while not actively using the faucet (i.e. lathering the hands with soap). It may not sound like a lot of water saved, but it really adds up over an uncountable number of faucets and over periods of time.
Lower Operating Costs
The initial costs of hands free products is no doubt much more than their manual counterparts. However, if you were to factor in the savings over time, hands free products would easily pay for themselves after a relatively short period of time. Combining water efficiency, reliability, and increased hygiene, you’re looking at savings in water usage costs, replacement parts, and a reduced number of sick days.
Hands Free Makes You Look Cooler
Ever walk into a building with state of the art technology in design? It would be difficult to find someone that wasn’t at least a little impressed with what feels like walking into the future. That sense of awe is a part of an initial impression that could make or break a business deal. We don’t want to admit it, but we are a superficial species. Who wants to eat at a restaurant that looks very run down and dirty? Giving your clients that visit your building the impression that you’re state of the art and forward looking with hands free restroom products. Just make sure to also keep the restroom clean.
So, there you have it. It may be difficult to justify the need for hands free products in your restroom as it is a seemingly minor convenience for a higher price, but if you can look past that, you’ll see that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Sensor faucets and flush valves are becoming more prevalent in larger commercial restrooms and it is a trend that is only going to continue to grow. Can you afford to be left behind?
