46
FEATURES
The future
of plumbing
A toilet designed for
comfort: the Kohler Numi.
Technology is developing at an ever-increasing
rate. As industries continue to speed on into
the future, plumbing is certainly not excluded.
By Warren Robertson
With the focus now on hygiene, comfort, and saving
the planet, plumbing will have a huge say in Earth’s
future and humanity’s ability to conserve its most
vital resource: water. These are big focus areas of
many of the technologies that are coming out at
the moment, but there still seems to be space for
comfort, fun, and time- and money savings.
TOUCHLESS TAPS
From faucets that work with the wave of a hand to
fixtures you can control with your voice, the touchless
faucet market has grown in the past few years. Apart
from the obvious hygiene benefits, which have seen
these kinds of taps boom in popularity in public
restrooms, hospitals, and the like, touchless taps also
offer water- and cost savings.
American company Cinaton released perhaps the most
comprehensive touchless tap with a completely touch-
free five-sensor faucet for the bathroom and kitchen,
which allows users to turn water flow on/off as well as
adjust water temperature and flow without touching any
part of the faucet. Three user-defined water flow and
temperature settings provide a great deal of convenience
and save users from manually adjusting to achieve
favourable water conditions.
February 2019 Volume 24 I Number 12
The largest benefit of touchless taps is that they are
economical. Most are equipped with low-flow faucets,
so in addition to being impossible to accidentally leave
running, they also use less water than conventional taps.
SHOWERS’ TRANSFORMATION
Shower technology has seen a huge boost over the past
few years, particularly when it comes to conserving
water. In the US, showerheads are being delivered that
promise to use as little as 5.5 litres of water per minute
without any of the pressure loss often associated with
devices of this nature.
Meanwhile, a company called Moen is using technology to
its advantage with its ‘U’ connected shower. The U allows
you to control water temperature, shower duration, as well
as preheat the water, all from your smartphone. That means
you can turn the shower on before you even get out of bed.
Once installed, the U is operated via its digital controller
or from an app on your smartphone. The user can
store pre-sets with info on water temperature, shower
duration, and even which heads are on and off. There
is a digital timer that will turn the shower off after a set
time — a great tool for limiting the amount of time that
children spend in the shower.
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