Anyone who has survived bowel cancer is going to understand how important a bidet in the bathroom is.
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If you do test bidets could you include a review of accessibility/usability of bidet seats (add-ons to existing toilet) for people with a disability? Bidets provide some well deserved independence that most people never think about needing. Thanks.
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I have recently done extensive research for installing all in one bidet in our new build.
Finally decided on the model marketed by Reece, then luckily read the small print - ānot suitable for use with rainwaterā 
We live on a farm so tankwater is our sole domestic water supplyā¦
The sales team followed this up with the manufacturer, who responded with ārainwater is too pure for the sensorā.
Not quite the answer I was expecting!
So we installed a standard toilet, with electrics installed, ready for when the technology catches up to having deal with real water.
We were expecting the manufacturer to state that extra filters would be required to deal with tank water!
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Great suggestion.
Using a bidet is much better than using the ānot dissolvingā wipes that clog up sewerage pipes and plants. There are quite a few physical conditions for which medical doctors recommend a bidet as an aid.
Consider all three types
- the standalone bidet
- toilet with integrated washing functions
- add-on devices that replace the toilet seat of a normal toilet
Most Australian local government areas have requirements for backflow prevention by - bidet design or BFP device, or both. To prevent back flow or siphoning of āusedā water in the ābowlā volume back into the water supply pipes - which is essential no matter which type of bidet is being considered.
Please, please look at this CHOICE.
(and please place emphasis on the ones that provide warm water by mixing from hot & cold water inlets, or provide warm water via heating unit in the device).
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Toto Washlets are available retail in Australia & presumably meet all local regulations. More than a dozen outlets selling Toto alone in each of Sydney & Melbourne. Often drive by the Toto head office. Recently theyāve started appearing in home/apartment display units. Dropped in at the building display centre last week & more there.
We shopped for a disabled elderly 15 years ago, and ended up bringing in a two Panasonic models.
In Japan you find them even in public toilets seemingly in the middle of no where.
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On trend!
Although not quite so evident north of the āBrisbane Lineā. Not a surprise.
When we wandered the aisles of Bunnings and the local national bathroom suppliers last year we hit a blank with the bidet or washlet style toilets.
There has been at least one outlet on the GC offering them for the past few years. A cut lunch away and gold plated prices to match the Goldie life style. Itās great to note the competition now out there.
Even our not too far away Builders Warehouse chain is now listing a range in their catalogue.
Who would not immediately fall in love with their upmarket choices,
the āThrone Eco Kingā,
the āThrone Eco Queenā,
And
the āThrone Eco Princeā.
No place for any precious Princesses out there though. 
P.s.
Would love to test the self cleaning feature!
And Eco up here usually means self composting long drop. Might have wider appeal in LNP land if they drop the āecoā. 
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Exactly. Never forget (40 years ago) an elderly lady saying to me " i never thought I would need someone to wipe my bottom". She was completely crippled with arthritis.
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Iād like to see the details of the CHOICE testing regime - I imagine the landscape of the intended target varies immensely, both in size and elevation (flat vs crevasse), not to mention the nature and extent of the task at hand, both in terms of the volume and coverage of waste and the relative consistency thereof ā¦ and can/do the requirements vary according to the undercarriage? (Iāve never used a bidet) ā¦
On the subject of āgreenā, Scientific American had a relatively succinct article:
Justin Thomas, editor of the website metaefficient.com, considers bidets to be āa key green technologyā because they eliminate the use of toilet paper. According to his analysis, Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper every year, representing the pulping of some 15 million trees. Says Thomas: āThis also involves 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to produce the paper and 253,000 tons of chlorine for bleaching.ā He adds that manufacturing requires about 17.3 terawatts of electricity annually and that significant amounts of energy and materials are used in packaging and in transportation to retail outlets.
(I havenāt determined the veracity of the research ā¦)
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Let us all contemplate?
One roll per person every three days.
P.s. there is plenty of contemplating going around down here too!
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Hi evanstrish3 I am the full-time Carer for my disabled mother who lives with me (did not want her in a Home), and due to extreme Osteoarthritis, she is now unable to twist and clean herself adequately when using the toilet. Sadly a Bidet in our home is now necessary and essential for her personal hygiene.
I found information very difficult to come by, hence my request to Choice for a Test of products available, as I certainly have no experience with friends or know others who have a bidet installed in their home so can only speak of a one or two time use that they themselves have encountered.
Aged care is so very important as we are all living to greater ages, and a Bidet will one day become the norm in Nursing Homes and other places where disabled and elderly frequent.
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I hope you have been able to follow up on some of the links others have shared on this page: it may be worth a few phone calls to the various stockists to see if there is an option that might suit your requirements (& budget!). I do understand your situation - we had to strip out & redo a 60ās bathroom to facilitate our motherās in home care - I wish we had known about a bidet option thenā¦
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Goodness me draughtrider, I had never ever considered the amount of toilet paper and associated trees that have been put to death to provide for this essential paper needā¦ thank you for drawing our attention to this! not to mention the chlorine, water and energy usedā¦ hmm it really makes one thinkā¦
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There are a number of recycled toilet papers made from office paper (waste) rather than from virgin paper from trees. These recycled toiiet papers provide a second use for the paper waste and reduces pressure on forest resources. Some of the recycled toilet papers are also not bleached as well.
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Recycling waste paper is to be commended but much of these recycled papers came from already bleached stock, so a saving of not bleaching a second time but still a large usage of water to re-manufacture into toilet paper. Saving one resource but increased consumption of another and the increased water usage in our land is something perhaps we also need to account for.
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I understand that the water used within toilet paper processing plants is recycled/treated and reused, so it would be interesting to know how much is lost from the paper manufacturer (namely additional water required to make up what is lost through production)ā¦rather than total volume of water used to make the paper.
Planet ark also has come information on on the paper savings would would correspond directly to virgin materials be savedā¦
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My apologies, I donāt wish to be indelicate, but: after having used a bidet thereās still need to dry off.
Thereās need for towelsā¦and that means using resources for washing and drying them.
Or if using paper towels, that would be roughly the same wastage as toilet paper?
There are same bidets with a drying-off
function, but not very common at present, I think.
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Traditional European bidet yes.
Japanese design or similar washlet, air dry is typical. There are some earlier links in this topic which explain this feature. Certainly in previous travelling around Japan, it has only been the cheaper, older, accommodation far away from foreign travellers where we encountered the water only washlets. Typically as add on seats to old pedestals. Hot water optional! 
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Historically definitely, although recycling treated sewage water would seem to be the way forward. Hence wash water can also be used more than once.
It would make an interesting comparison. 
The greatest benefit may be as others are asking for those with reduced physical abilities. The small amount of extra water use would seem less important.
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I travelled in April/May 2017 with a tour
around Japan.
We stayed at:
Kyoto Tokyo Hotel
Crowne Plaza Kanazawa
Hilton Nagoya
Granvia Hiroshima
Hilton Tokyo (Nishi-Shinjuku)
All with beautiful warming of seat, and hot and cold water functions, in the combo toilet/bidet.
Did I miss the dry-off function?
Only at a traditional hotel in Fuji
the bathroom fixtures were the old
style ones.
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