A Commercial Plumbing Retailer Weighs in on Touchless Faucets

Each year, more and more businesses, institutions, and other facilities around the country make the decision to upgrade their existing faucets to touchless, sensor-operated fixtures.

They’re not just doing it because touchless is new-age - they’re doing it because touchless faucets bring with them a wide range of significant benefits, some of which can improve your environmental considerations and even save you money.

As a commercial plumbing retailer, here’s what we have to say on the matter.

Benefits of Implementing Touchless Faucets
First, it’s important to remember that there are a number of benefits associated with the implementation of touchless faucets. These are some of the greatest benefits.

●Water conservation: Touchless faucets can be pre-set, sometimes even remotely, to turn on only for a specific amount of time. Each year, countless gallons of water are wasted because users leave the faucet on for too long or forget to turn it off. By metering out water usage, you can help to keep this under control. Also, it’s impossible to accidentally leave a touchless faucet “on” since they will shut off after a set amount of time has elapsed, helping to prevent waste.

●Helping to improve hygiene, including helping to combat COVID-19: You don’t even want to know what sorts of bacteria and viruses can survive and thrive on the surfaces of metal plumbing fixtures. It’s bad enough without any help, but when you have hundreds to thousands of people per day touching faucets, it only gets worse. Plus, the wet environment is ideal for most bacteria to proliferate. It’s rife for cross-contamination. Luckily, sensor-activated faucets help keep cross-contamination to a minimum, so fewer people are coming in contact with the germs that live on them.

●User-friendliness and convenience: Not only is it obviously very convenient that touchless faucets can be activated simply by placing your hands under them, but they can be preset to deliver water at a given temperature and flow rate. That way, users won’t waste time and water by tinkering with the hot and cold knobs to get the temperature just right - and, they’ll never turn them on too high, spraying water all over the place.

●Energy efficiency: Because they can be set at a given flow rate and temperature, touchless faucets tend to be much more energy-efficient than their manual counterparts, not to mention they save water as well, which can save you money on two fronts.

●Ease of maintenance: Manual faucets have many more moving parts for grime, corrosion, and water to work their way into, whereas modern touchless faucets are much sleeker. They’re easier and less time-consuming to clean, have less surface area, and more importantly, they get touched much less frequently than manual faucets.

Facts and Figures*

●80% of state water managers - that’s 40 out of 50 states! - expect some degree of water shortages over the next decade.

●The average family wastes nearly 10,000 gallons of water per year, just from leaks. Imagine how much that would be when scaled to a commercial setting.

●Letting a faucet run for only ten minutes can waste up to 10 gallons of water. Leaving a faucet on for an hour can waste up to 60!

*Sourced from EPA.gov.

Considerations for Choosing Touchless Faucets
There are three main considerations you’ll want to make before you invest in new touchless sensor faucets for your home or business - method of activation, how the fixture is powered, and aesthetic considerations.

●Method of activation: Touchless faucets are activated by sensors that can take account of movement and proximity. You don’t want sensors to turn on the faucet every time someone goes by, but you also don’t want it to be frustrating for users to activate the faucets, either.

●How is it powered?: Many touchless faucets are hardwired into the building’s electrical lines, although a few are battery-powered. Battery-powered models will need to be serviced more regularly than those that are hard-wired. A few, which are virtually maintenance-free, are actually solar-powered!

●Finish and aesthetics: Finally, you’ll want to take some aesthetic considerations into account before you make the decision to invest or not to invest in touchless faucets. In the market, commercial plumbing retailers and wholesalers offer a wide range of plumbing supplies including countless different touchless faucets. They are available in a wide range of designs, colors, metals, finishes, and aesthetics, and there is enough variety in the industry to suit almost any setting.

Need Parts for Upgrade or Repair? A Commercial Plumbing Retailer Can Help!
Here at Quality Plumbing Supply, we carry a great range of touchless faucets and other sensor actuated plumbing fixtures, including Toto Sensor Faucets, and much more.

Take a look through our catalog and get in touch with us directly if you have any questions. One of our commercial plumbing retail professionals would be more than glad to help you.