High Tech Plumbing Offers More Comfort and Utility

Smart Homes Are Here To Stay

A few years back my daughter Destiny gave me an Amazon Alexa for my birthday. I became instantly enamored with it and explored all of its capabilities. I found that Amazon sold “smart” light bulbs that could be controlled by Alexa. I might walk into our house in the evening and say “Alexa, turn on living room lights,” and instantly I had light. I could even have her dim the lights. I excitedly shared this news with my wife. She said, “Do you want Skynet and Terminators? Because that’s how you get them.”

After my wife’s less than enthusiastic response Alexa has been, for the most part, relegated to the position of hightech jukebox. Alexa helps me keep track of my Amazon orders and every once in awhile “she” just randomly says something that has no relevance to what’s going on. However, whether you are pro-Alexa or anti-Alexa one thing is for sure: technology is moving forward, often at an exponential rate.

Here Come the Bidets: Bath Tech

Two areas that may not be associated with technical advances are the bathroom and the kitchen. It seems foreign at first, but if you think about it, these places could greatly benefit from technology. That’s why companies like Kohler, Delta, Brizo, Mr. Steam, Moen, Toto and others have chosen to bring technology to these spaces. They have done it with great successes but many consumers are not aware of these fascinating innovations.

I think one of the greatest tech advances is found in the form of the bidet seat – the Kohler PureWash, the Toto Washlet and the Bemis Discovery. America seems to be lagging behind in embracing this technology, or possibly even resisting it. Bidet seats take the concept of the bidet and turn it into something more advanced and luxurious than the traditional bidet. It doesn’t require extra room, an additional water hookup or the discomfort of using the old-style bidets.

Bidet seats are commonplace in Japan, the homeland of the Toto company, but they still lack traction with American consumers. The seats offer an indulgent level of personal hygiene: heated water and heated seat with adjustable temperature, adjustable cleaning rods, memory settings, automatic seat opening and closing, bowl cleansing, blow dryer and deodorizer. The seats work great in new construction or remodel. The seats work off of the existing toilet water supply and require an electrical outlet.

I worked at a showroom with a working Toto Washlet in their restroom seat for four years. It was two years before I worked up enough courage to try out the bidet seat. My opinion became if you use one once, you’ll want it for the rest of your life. It’s just for some reason here in America talking about these things is unnecessarily awkward. We would invite customers to try out the seat in our restroom. Nobody ever had anything negative to say.

The bidet is one of the most underrated pieces of the high-tech bathroom. A strange thing happened during the COVID pandemic. Across the country we were experiencing a toilet paper shortage. Suddenly I was selling bidet seats as a replacement for the elusive rolls of toilet paper. Then unfortunately the seat started getting backordered because manufacturers were not prepared for the sudden rush and many of them were not working with full crews because of COVID. However, instead of a barbaric handful of toilet paper you could use the handy remote that comes with the seats, set your user preferences and run the preferred seat functions.

iSteam X Comes to Bathrooms

Another great innovation for the high-tech bathroom is a steam system. Mr. Steam offers an extremely appealing unit and interface. Most people are unaware of the benefits of steam showers. WebMD lists the following health benefits of a steam shower: clearing congestion, improving skin health, lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, easing bronchitis symptoms, workout recovery, relaxation and lowering joint stiffness. It’s a list that makes you wonder why you don’t have one of these units in your shower already. Steam systems can be price prohibitive, but I see customers plunging the same or greater amount of money into a freestanding tub and hardware. Steam is a great option and offers health and practical benefits.

To add to its benefits, Mr. Steam’s iSteam X uses a control that will let you listen to your favorite music via Bluetooth, an AUX cable or the radio. You can change the remaining time or temperature with one touch. It is compatible with chromatic lighting and aromatic infusers. You can then enjoy steam therapy, chromotherapy, aromatherapy and musical therapy all in your own personal spa. The program also allows custom settings for multiple users. Specific start up times can be programmed so when you hop out of bed at 6 a.m. you can hop in a steam shower that is already heated up and waiting for you.

Kitchen Tech

The bathroom is not the only place where high tech is making a splash. Delta Faucet Company has brought Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant into the kitchen with their VoiceIQ Technology. The hightech equipment is easy to install and is compatible with any Delta Touch2O kitchen faucet manufactured after January 1, 2018. It can also be retrofitted to an existing Touch2O faucet with the same manufacturing restriction.

How would this technology help? Imagine your hands are full or dirty and you can’t touch your faucet. Just give Alexa a command to turn the faucet on for a quantity of water described in ounces, cups, pints, quarts, gallons, liters and milliliters. For safety’s sake the VoiceIQ faucet will automatically shut off after four minutes, or 7.2 gallons of water. It’s like having a virtual assistant to help you in the kitchen by your sink.

Ultimately the goal of technology in the bathroom and the kitchen is convenience and practicality. As sales people or plumbing professionals, it allows us to sell an upscale product at a good profit margin while making customers happy.

Embrace Technology to Educate Consumers

The products I’ve discussed in this article are only a small survey of the high-tech transformation in our industry. Millennials and Gen Z consumers have grown up in a world filled with emerging technology. They are open to embracing technology in the kitchen and bathroom and more likely to ask questions about it.

We owe it to our customers to be educated on new, technologically advanced plumbing fixtures. The more we know the better chance we have of selling our customers the best in bath and kitchen technology. Convenience and comfort are important benefits to discuss when presenting these products to our customers, no matter what generation they are.

Recently I had a conversation with some customers about Amazon Alexa. They told me about using Alexa to make shopping lists, to-do lists and other practical things. I learned that I could dictate to Alexa and then she would send it to my phone. I had no idea that was an option.

I have not been exploring the technology at my fingertips to bring me a little extra convenience and comfort. Once my customer educated me about Alexa I immediately saw the extra value.

Our mission must be the same in educating customers about the benefits now available in high-tech bath and kitchen fixtures. It’s just one route to help make more satisfied customers and a more profitable business.

Nearly 30 years ago Alan Donahue declared to his wife he would “accept any career as long as it’s not in sales”. That was just prior to his accepting a sales position at Falk Plumbing Supply. Today, Donahue, Falk Plumbing Supply’s showroom manager, loves helping his staff learn to be great sales people by focusing on the customer’s needs instead of the sale.