5 Plumbing Innovations That Could Change Your Life
2018 has been a year of modern innovations, the home is becoming a place that is more interactive than ever before. Home appliances are now online, allowing homeowners the luxury of logging into these devices remotely and controlling them. Form refrigerator and ovens, to washing machines and dryers the list of appliances that are available to connect to the internet are becoming more and more available. One thing that has been missing from the consumer market, however, is electronic innovations in the bathroom. The kitchen appliances were all quick to advance, but what about our showers? How about our toilets? Bathroom sinks? Plumbing? Drains? There are so many things in the bathroom that can be improved that the market seems wide open for innovation. Well, don’t blink! There are already amazing technological innovations for your bathroom on the market today. We emailed a modern plumber that specializes in unclogging drains in Toronto, and received some feedback about the 5 of the coolest innovations that could make the bathroom a tech hub in the tub!
1. The Shower
The shower and tub used to be a place to catch a quick rinse, get in, and get out. It seems the older I get and the more amenities available in the shower, the longer these showers get. Adding technology to my shower enclosure only makes this worse. How about flat screen TV’s built into the wall, wireless-waterproof Bluetooth speakers to play your favorite music, voice responsive lighting, and motion lighting. These seem like simple innovations that have existed for years, and they are until you add in the fact that everything can communicate and respond to the actions of another device. Crazy thought, but it’s reality. You can even start your shower from your smartphone, choose the temperature of the water you want to bathe in, and wait for it to heat up without leaving the comforts of your cozy bed. Check out these Smart Showers. That my friends is life in 2018!
2. Motion Activated Fixtures
We have all seen this technology in the bathrooms of the restaurants and movie theaters we frequent, and some homeowners with the budget to upgrade have already seen this technology in their homes. For the rest of us that haven’t been so quick to adopt the technology, the price for these technologies are coming down and are more readily available for the consumer market. Faucet handles are notorious for collecting germs, dirty hands reach for them to turn them on, clean hands turn them off. Those dirty germs that turned the faucet on still reside there. The same goes for light switches, toilet knobs, door handles, and anything else in the bathroom that you reach for with your hands. With motion activated technology, the sink faucets can turn on, lights can illuminate, the toilet can flush, and showers can turn on. Motion activated fixtures will limit the number of germs being spread around the house. The other thing to consider is the constant wear on the physical components themselves. This includes opening and closing the valves on the sink and showers. Having plumbing fixtures that are automated will decrease the wear and tear on the components. Check out these motion sensor bathroom faucets.
3. The Toilet
Older toilets waste too much water just to get a load down. In some states, water conservation is more of a serious matter than it is other states. There have been toilets designed to have a more powerful flush while using less water. This technological advancement has saved a ton of water but has also come with some headaches. The “low water use” toilets have improved over the years and the need to call a plumber to unclog your John is mostly a thing of the past. The modern tech toilet can have multiple improvements that I would like to see that include low water use, motion activated flush, and a seat warmer. For anyone that lives in extremely cold environments knows how uncomfortable it can be sitting down on an ice cold toilet seat. I welcome all of these innovations in the bathroom! Check out these innovative Smart Toilets.
$11 Thousand Dollar Smart Toilet? It Better Do More Than Flush!!
4. Smart Plumbing
This is something that new homes will have and most old home will not have. Water pipes are now available with built-in sensors to detect leaks. One of the biggest problems with plumbing is that 99% percent of the pipes live within the walls of the structure, or underground buried beneath the earth’s surface. So when you get a leak, often times you are not aware of it until you get a water bill that has doubled since the last one. Smart pipes can detect leaks and notify you. How crazy is that? The plumbing is now smarter than the walls! The day I get an SMS message that I have a plumbing leak 5 feet under my driveway I will freak out, and then call a plumber. The next technology I am waiting for is warm/cold pipes. Again, in cooler climates, it can take a long time for your shower water to heat up if the plumbing in the walls could heat or cool as the water passed through it could be a game changer. You can learn more about the cool technological advancements of smart plumbing here.
5. Trenchless Plumbing
So let’s say you don’t have smart plumbing and a leak springs underground in the yard and you find out you need a ton of pipe replaced. There are currently some newer technologies that allow plumbers to come in and replace the underground plumbing without actually digging up the ground and replacing it. There are a few techniques currently being used, one is brute force. They can literally take new pipes and shove them right down the center of the old pipes with brute force, literally bursting the old pipes into pieces, and provide a new path for drain water to travel. Another budget-friendly option to replace old plumbing pipes is to add an adhesive into the pipes where the leak has sprung. This adhesive can provide a solution for a fraction of the price of replacement.
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