How do smart faucets work Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content
On This Page
Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images June 16, 2022 Sean Jackson is a creative copywriter living in Florida. He’s written articles for Realtor.com, CNET and ZDNet. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Remember the first time you encountered a touchless faucet in a public bathroom — the thrill of turning it on and off with a wave of your hand? Such smart sinks have existed in commercial restrooms and spaces for years, but they’re now becoming more widely available in and . Should you go with the flow? Let’s discuss everything you can do with hands-free and other sorts of smart sink faucets, the benefits and some cons to consider.
What are the types of smart faucets
The term smart faucet is actually a catchall term for a variety of devices that feature some sort of operational tech. Among the varieties: Touchless: Look, ma, no hands! These faucets use motion sensors to capture hand swipes that activate them. One-touch: The faucets activate with a single tap from your hand, elbow or in some cases your foot (often anywhere on the device). Voice-enabled: Vocal commands power on the water, adjust the temperature and power off. All-in-one: Some models feature voice commands and a one-touch water application. In addition, many smart faucets offer digital displays to show you the exact temperature of the water, allowing you to adjust it — something akin to an aquatic thermostat. However they work to turn water on or off — motion, one-touch or voice commands — the point is, smart faucets are powered, as opposed to regular faucets, which operate manually.
How do smart faucets work
You might feel like an H20 genie is running your smart faucet. But it’s not quite magic, it’s actually something more mundane. With motion-sensing devices, you’ll notice a box under the sink; it’s the mechanism that responds to your commands. It contains a magnetic valve that allows water to flow through your faucet. Once activated, the solenoid valve initiates the flow of water; and then, after a shutdown timer initiates, restricts water from going through your sink — not unlike a tiny dam. Of course, your needs a power source to fulfill your requests. Some draw power from a plugged-in source (the box under the sink). Others draw on batteries (AA and C being the most popular). These batteries last from The smartest of smart faucets operate with an app. Some manufacturers, such as Moen, make their smart sinks compatible with like Amazon’s Alexa; that’s often how the voice-activated ones work.
What else do smart faucets do
Turning water on and off is just the beginning of what some smart faucets can do, especially app-enabled ones. Once you download the faucet’s app, you can check the water usage from the sink, control temperatures and keep the water flowing enough to ensure the pipe doesn’t freeze when Mother Nature brings an icy chill. You can even set the device to discharge a certain amount of water. So, if you need to fill a pitcher or add a cup of water to a pot, your faucet can automatically do it. How cool is that? Many smart faucets feature a timed shut-off, reducing the water wasted during use. Others have an LED display with colors corresponding to temperature. Blue indicates cool, myriad colors denote lukewarm to warm, while red is hot to near-scalding. Some, such as the American Standard Saybrook filtered kitchen faucet, have filters that eliminate lead, chlorine and other impurities from your aqua. Or also allow you to toggle between fresh, clean water for drinking and tap water for cleaning. And some faucets have LED monitors, notifying you when it’s time to freshen your filter.
Pros of smart faucets
Smart faucets have several benefits. Increased water conservation: “You can save up to 700 gallons of water per year or even more with smart faucets,” says Gunner Thompson, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty in Tampa, Florida. “Other faucets have problems regarding leakage. But smart faucets are made of materials that are able to prevent any potential leakage of water.” Plus, their auto shut-offs prevent . Greater convenience: Having smart sinks can save you time if your hands are full or dirty for cleaning. They can also be a boon for the disabled, the or any one who struggles with gripping items or has trouble seeing. Improved hygiene: “The reduction of splashes and controlled water flow keeps the faucet area clean. Your hand doesn’t need to touch the faucet to be activated, so dirt or residue of food doesn’t touch the faucet,” says Donald Shurts, a realtor with Keller Williams Advisory Realty in Beavercreek, Ohio. No contact reduces the spread of germs and cross contamination. Cons of smart faucets
Alternatively, here are caveats to consider before buying a smart kitchen faucet: They’re expensive: “The average price of touchless faucets is around $300 to $400 while the smart faucets price is around $450 to $700 in any local store both online and offline,” Davis says. Plus, you probably will need a , and, “the installation cost is around $250 or even more,” depending on local labor costs. They’re prone to outages: If you have a model connected to your power supply, a blackout or Wi-Fi blip will disable the smart features and settings. If it’s battery-powered, the batteries will have to be replaced. Most faucets do have manual levers, so you can still get water when the power fails. They can be complicated: As with any gadget, the more features it has, the more that can go wrong. The sensors or solenoid valve can malfunction, preventing water from flowing — and so you’ll have to use until a specialist can address the issue. And there might be a learning curve in manipulating the faucet; until you master it, you could be stuck with too short a shutoff time or other things not to your liking. SHARE: Sean Jackson is a creative copywriter living in Florida. He’s written articles for Realtor.com, CNET and ZDNet. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles