Bidets

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How about Choice do a a test on all of the bidets out in the market.

I am now in the market for one, and have no idea where to begin, but Choice is always the first place I come to when needed references for anything.

Thank you for your consideration.

Cheers Natalie :wink:

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Great suggestion, thanks @njfking. Will pass it on :+1:

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I wonder how big the market is in Australiaā€¦is it niche or mainstream?

One of our neighbours has a bidet which was in the bathroom when they bought their house. It is still there and now used as a pot plant holder as they donā€™t have the inclination for a spray and wipe.

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Pretty uncommon I think, but I imagine of interest none the less.

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It also likes some types (accessory added to an existing toilet) may be illegal in Australiaā€¦just came across this websiteā€¦

http://www.agedcareplumbing.com.au/residential-plumbing.html

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Should be interesting. Do they have a choice of 8 coloured under-seat lights? What about motion detectors?

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I routinely travelled to Japan for 2 decades and fell in love with the Toto bidet seats common in the hotels.

Some sense when a person is about to sit on them and ā€˜chargesā€™ the water into the heating unit, as if saluting :smiley:

Once you have used one most usually wish they had one, at least after the initial curiosity wears off. For others it takes a while, and others, usually from North America, ANZ, and a few other localities are more put off by them for whatever reason.

I donā€™t have room to install a free standing bidet, and installing a seat would incur electrical costs that have put me off so far. The plumbing connection is straight forward as long as one follows the ā€˜rulesā€™. Bunnings has one for about 1/3 the price of an online speciality company, and it appears Toto is not represented on our shores??? So which to chose?

For the curious

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Some toilet seats also act as bidets eg https://www.bunnings.com.au/d-lucci-smart-bidet-toilet-seat_p0027641. I have seen them in a few houses but we donā€™t have one ourselves.

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Great suggestion. @njfking

We spent some time in Italy staying with family. The stand alone bidet was a well received accessory in their homes.

It does need that bit of extra space.

Japan has been on our holiday routine for more than a decade. Similar positive appreciation of the
all in one Toto or other brands.

Thanks for the memory jog @PhilT.

For @BrendanMays benefit we have often rented appartments and the all in one is universal in our experience.

There appears to be two options for the bidet seats. One version is very basic with a water/wash cycle and remote timer control that is a simple add on. The more complex versions are fully heated seats with a multiple wash options, timers, pressure/ spray control, and wistful melodies to mask human events or encourage relaxation. Actually, we are not really sure what the melodies are intended to achieve?

At a wild guess the notion of a warmed seat in the range of bacteria breeding temperature and electrical devices anywhere near water and plumbing might challenge Australian regulation and approval. Thatā€™s despite it being ok in Japan which has a much greater population of toilet seat testers.

There was a company in Australia advertising online to import and convert Toto seats, however I suspect they were the more basic model. This yearā€™s pricing, I think. Lots of zeros. Y100,000 is approx $1,350 at todayā€™s exchange rate.

While we might not expect Choice to travel to Tokyo to test this one, some informed content on what is and isnā€™t possible in Australia might be useful advice.

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Iā€™ll never forget my first encounter with an integrated bidet toilet in a hotel in Japan.
Went in the bathroom to put some of my things away and the colourful toilet seat caught my eye: there were writings and symbols on one side of it.
I leaned forward and pressed one at random.
Out comes a jet of water from the back of the bowl and, before I could jump back, drenches the front of my t-shirt and splashes onto the floor!
It did take me a little while before I was able to work out what had happened!

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While we lament the seeming impossibility of getting anything nationally standardised, the Japanese seemingly go from strength to strength in that regard. :smiley:

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Thank you for the suggestion Natalie - I will be very interested when/if the test appears: particularly in relation to the Bunnings ā€˜conversion seatā€™. Until your post, with the responses it engendered, I didnā€™t know there was such a thing on the market! I immediately thought of how useful (and dignity enabling) one would have been for an aged parent being cared for at home with only one toilet, and very little room for a carer to moveā€¦
Prospectively, another tool in the arsenal of aged care equipment??

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Wonderfully true, although the traditional writing system sets a high standard in the use of symbols.

The quality of the pictograms in the BBC header photo are nicely coordinated with the quality of the suits of the all male team of industry leaders. Kenny or perhaps his sister if he has one would have added a nice touch? :wink:

The BBC reported,
Different manufacturers all use their own pictograms for each function.

But the Japan Sanitary Equipment Industry Association says this confuses foreign tourists. :thinking:

Perhaps it is not the pictograms that the visitors at first find most confusing. Itā€™s where is the toilet paper? Thereā€™s usually some.

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usually in the vending machine outside the facility if not in a hotel :wink:

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Next to the $1.60 cold coke, or $2.00 BOSS hot coffee. Like the vending machines which just work, are rarely out of stock and always give the right change, the bidet seats just work.

No need for a response. Some might wonder if Japan has itā€™s own version of the ACL or there is simply no need.

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My first encounter with a bidet was when watching Crocodile Dundee. ā€œSome nitwitā€™s put two dunnies in 'ere.ā€

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Ouch! Oh, arsenal; right.

Just out of curiosity, I went looking and found:

[edit]
There are also listings on ebay for ā€œnon electricā€ bidets, mostly priced under $100 and sprays that attach to existing toilet seats, priced under $20.

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Totally unintendedā€¦!!

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I would be very careful in buying online as these product possibly canā€™t be legally installed in Australia. It could be the case that it is legal to buy it but illegal to use it. It could end up being a (expensive) white elephant in the shed unable to be fitted or used.

Any bidet seat or additional/flexible sprays must meet the Australian Building Code WMTS-051, AS1371 and AS3500. These standards include the prevention of the back-flow of water from the bathroom/toilet into the reticulated water system. Many online ones donā€™t provide any information on their compliance nor that they meet the Australian plumbing back-flow requirements.

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A back-flow valve addresses that and seems part of the kit. As for the sprays and so on, most are essentially fancy water spray bottles designed for purpose, no plumbing required thus no more regulation than any other spray bottle?

Further, the brochures from the linked online site include

image

and from another online merchant that offers installed as well as DIY

image

conclusion, it always pays to be aware as well as attentive, but assuming the suppliers are all ā€˜rogues and scoundrels selling dodgy or illegal kitā€™ seems overly pessimistic, does it not?

Are there some that could obviously be illegal? Those sold by off-shore ebay and others could well be, but that goes with almost any electrical/plumbing purchase.

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