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Comment by pixelready | Hacker News Reader

Agreed. I’ve got one at home too. Was cheap, easy to install and works pretty well. Admittedly things don’t get very cold where I am, so YMMV.

I do dream of installing a legit Toto with the warmed seat and self cleaning, but didn’t want to deal with the hassle of buying the unit and then having to hire both a plumber and an electrician.

The only real problem is my son has grown up spoiled with a bidet at home, and now hates using the bathroom at school or out in public. I mean, I get it, but when nature calls, she ain’t askin’.

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I started using bidets in my 30s and I'm the same now. Not using a bidet feels barbaric.

From a plumbing perspective, the Toto is no different from one of the basic units, you just attach the valve to the toilet’s water supply. For electricity, it depends on your situation but if you have an outlet nearby (eg. where you would plug your hair dryer or electric toothbrush) you can just plug into that. The plug doesn’t need to be directly behind the toilet, you run a cord to it.

Depending on the code, a separate outlet and/or a circuit might be required

Get an outdoor-rated, thick gauge extension cord and plug it into a GFCI outlet. There is a teeny-tiny chance of electric shock during thunderstorms, but GFCI will shut the circuit quickly, usually. Consult an electrician before doing this. Or just get a GFCI outlet installed near the toilet. That's safer!

We thought about getting a bidet installed and two electricians said that the (maybe freshly revised?) code explicitly demands a new circuit. It cannot branch off a "countertop" outlet that is meant to feed a hair dryer or something.

Spend more time talking to electricians and before you know it, you’ll have a new panel!

Really don’t need an electrician. Just plug in to an outlet on the wall or an extension power strip. Don’t need a plumber as well. It’s really easy to install.

Careful with this advice. There is a tiny risk of electric shock if you use an outdoor-rated extension cord, a bigger risk if you use an indoor-rated strip, and a pretty big risk if you use indoor without a GFCI outlet.

The safest thing to do is always to get that outlet installed.

Is it a risk or just if device fails in particular way you might get a shock because of lack of secondary protection?

Btw one I bought recently already has a gfci.

> There is a tiny risk of electric shock if you use an outdoor-rated extension cord, a bigger risk if you use an indoor-rated strip, and a pretty big risk if you use indoor without a GFCI outlet.

Citation needed. There is certainly not a “pretty big risk” of electric shock. Outdoor vs indoor rated cords should have no bearing on safety inside. Also, if the extension cord is wired to an outlet in the bathroom, the bathroom outlet is almost certainly GFCI unless it’s an extremely old house. If it isn’t, that can be fixed for less than $30 as well. The only thing you’d need to be worried about for an extension cord is the power rating, since bidets can consume a decent bit of power… but most don’t really pull a ton (maybe 600W on full tilt), so almost any extension cord should be able to handle that load.

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