More fun with sinks
By Dave. Wednesday, 5. April 2006, 17:12:44
The trend in plumbing seems to be making everything touchless. We have touchless toilets, faucets, hand dryers, and paper towel dispensers. In general, these all work very well. I remember the days when the automatic faucets were new and the only place I saw them was in airports. Inevitably they would kick the water on for just enough time to get your hands wet and would then stop, followed by a lot of swearing by the users and intense hatred aimed at the faucet. Which brings me to my new touchless nemesis, still in it's infancy. The touchless soap dispenser.
It seems like a decent idea, not only does it prevent people from pumping every last ounce of soap out of the dispenser, but it's also one less thing that needs to be touched and breed germs. Of course it's also one more thing to fix, and at a couple hundred dollars a piece that's definitely a consideration.
The usability problem stems from the need to mount the dispenser in such a way that the soap will land in the sink if there are no hands underneath. The unfortunate consequence of this is that when you are moving their hands around during the washing process the soap dispenser can pick up the motion and kick out more soap. If your wrist happens to be underneath the spout, Surprise! If not, the soap splats on the side of the sink bowl where it won't get washed by the flow from the faucet, thereby causing the mess it was designed to prevent.
It seems like a decent idea, not only does it prevent people from pumping every last ounce of soap out of the dispenser, but it's also one less thing that needs to be touched and breed germs. Of course it's also one more thing to fix, and at a couple hundred dollars a piece that's definitely a consideration.
The usability problem stems from the need to mount the dispenser in such a way that the soap will land in the sink if there are no hands underneath. The unfortunate consequence of this is that when you are moving their hands around during the washing process the soap dispenser can pick up the motion and kick out more soap. If your wrist happens to be underneath the spout, Surprise! If not, the soap splats on the side of the sink bowl where it won't get washed by the flow from the faucet, thereby causing the mess it was designed to prevent.
WIDGETIZE
Eddie # 5. April 2006, 23:53
We have one at work- when I push the lever to dispense, there's a slight delay (probably from dried soap or something clogged in there), but since I'm manually pushing the dispenser, I *EXPECT* the soap to come out right away and my hand is already moving away from the dispenser (empty of course) when the soap falls into the sink.
BTW- Welcome Stu! Thanks for jumping on board.
Eddie # 9. April 2006, 03:37
the airports have it right. In addition to all the touchless conveniences, I like how they have the winding entry way so you don't even have to touch the door. You can wash, soap and dry without having to really touch anything. Germ worries aside, it's just more efficient and flows better in the grand scheme of things- which is always nice when you're late for a flight.
Dave # 11. April 2006, 12:12