AboutDana Bostick Expertise Pretty much any residential plumbing questions. Note: I live and work in Southern California. We do not as a rule use boilers, hot water or steam heating systems or wells so my knowledge in those areas is limited. There are others here that can probably answer those questions better.
"We all is city folk" out here! What is a "well" LOL
Experience Licensed General Contractor with Plumbing, HVAC and Electrical sub-licenses
I installed a handheld shower in the toilet, the plastic ones they sell at Home Depot, but before a month, it started having problems, the flow doesn't stop when the "trigger" is released, and it keeps leaking forever. It's due to low quality manufacturing, and this is the only model HD carries, so I'm not going to replace it with the same.
I wonder if a kitchen sink spray can be adapted for this use. Maybe the spray is too strong? Is there a way to reduce the pressure?
Thank you in advance,
Rick
ANSWER: Hi Rick,
Home Depot stuff is not the highest quality, I'm not surprised it started leaking.
Here's one that is a bit higher quality; http://www.bidetspray.com/
Technically, your installation is illegal because it does not have back flow protection to prevent cross contamination between the waste and the potable water system.
Kitchen faucet sprayers do have this but it is built into the actual faucet and would not be present if you just used the hand spray hose.
There are complying toilet seat assemblies that can be installed to provide this function that have the back flow protection included in the design. Just search for "toilet seat bidet". there are many available. http://www.biobidet.com/
Good Luck,
Dana
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for the links.
Would you please explain what is "back flow protection"
I just used the head of a sink sprayer instead of the douche head... is there something wrong that I'm missing?
Thank you very much!
Rick
Answer Hi Rick,
Okay, time for a little history lesson.
Back at the turn of the century, many illnesses were cause by poor sanitation and water born pathogens. The plumbing industry arose and developed ways to assure clean, potable water to eliminate the water born pathogens getting into the drinking water systems. One of these methods was to develop procedures and equipment that prevented "cross-contamination" between waste water systems and potable water systems. One term used is "back flow prevention", and as the words indicate, it is designed to prevent back flow of contaminated water into the drinking water system.
The codes have included requirements for many years to include these procedures and equipment. One of the requirements is that any device that has a hose capable of making contact with contaminated water (such as the toilet, a faucet on a laundry sink, the hose faucets in the yard etc.) must have a means of isolating them from back flowing and contaminating the potable water. By adding a simple hand spray attachment to the cold water line that is capable of coming in contact with the water in the toilet, you are violating this health and safety code. You could add a back flow device to the hose/spray hook-up but they will vent to atmosphere and dump water on the floor in your application. Not a desireable result.
The link for the better quality hand spray still violates this requirement. The seat systems are compliant since, by design, there is an "air gap" maintained at all times between the supply and the water in the bowl.
