concerning bum guns

Factual Questions
1

AKA “hand held bidet sprayers”.

During the great covid 19 TP crisis, I remembered I had one of these things lying around to try it out, and had never gotten around to installing it. Seemed like a good time. This is not a critique of the efficacy of squirting water up your nether regions rather than the traditional TP scrubbing, but a question about the mechanism.

I discovered something that is apparently common to them all. The T junction that is inserted into the water supply line to provide water to the sprayer hose has a valve on it shutting off water to the hose and sprayer. The directions tell you in big letters to shut off the T valve after using it, or it might leak and flood the bathroom. How likely is that, actually?

These things are essentially repurposed kitchen sink sprayers. I do note that your kitchen sink sprayer has no pressure on it unless the faucet is running. Is the sprayer control and the hose really that unreliable that you have to shut it off unless you are actually using the thing? The directions even tell you to release the last little bit of water in the hose after shutting off the T valve. I guess the same applies to a garden hose with a sprayer on the end of it. If I forget to shut off the faucet that my garden hose & sprayer is screwed onto, I wind up being alerted by “seal barking” noises from the plumbing. Will a similar thing happen if I forget to turn off the T valve?

A bit of advise - given the above, buy one with a lever control on the sprayer, rather than a button which can be in the open position when you turn on the water …

2

I’ve had my bidet sprayer for six years now on two different toilets in two different houses, and I’ve never shut off the water supply at that T-junction you’re talking about. I actually had to go check to see if my sprayer had one. Never had an issue with even dripping, much less flooding.

3

They say the same thing about the hoses that connect to your washing machine. They even make electrical shutoff valves that work with the washer now, so it happens automatically. Is it particularly likely that these hoses/fixtures will leak or break? Not really. Is it more likely than if the valve was shut off? Of course. Is the risk worth it? You have to decide. If this is a new install in the basement and you have low water pressure, it’s not as big a deal if you’re talking about an old fixture on the 2nd floor above your kitchen, and you have high water pressure too.

4

I’m sure it’s dependent on the type of sprayer and its quality. Some are probably built to handle the constant pressure without failure or leaks. If yours is telling you to turn off the pressure every time, I’d heed that advice.

5

The hose underneath one of our bathroom sinks burst and flooded that end of the house. I’m definitely in favor of floor drains, but I’d be more worried about the hoses you can’t see than the hose you can inspect.