# Why \_Exactly\_ do I need a hands free soap pump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874 "2012-02-15T01:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/1 "2012-02-15T01:21:13Z")
There are commercials for a hands free soap pump. The commercial cites how “germy” things are in the house. Why do I need to worry about touching the soap pump? Wouldn’t I get rid of the germs in two seconds flat after I touch the pump in the first place? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/2 "2012-02-15T01:28:32Z")
I’ve mananged nearly 40 years without one, and don’t have any terminal diseases that I’m aware of. IMO it’s just a selling tactic - creating a problem where one does not exist so that it needs to be solved (by the seller’s product, of course). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/3 "2012-02-15T02:19:38Z")
I was recently informed by my doctor that many hands free faucets have valves and o-rings that retain water that is known to be ideal for growing legionnaires bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/4 "2012-02-15T02:32:59Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > There are commercials for a hands free soap pump. The commercial cites how “germy” things are in the house. > > Why do I need to worry about touching the soap pump? Wouldn’t I get rid of the germs in two seconds flat after I touch the pump in the first place? > > :dubious: Yes, but then you would touch that germy hand towel, so you will also need to buy disposable hand towels! And then you will need to throw away the germy disposable hand towel but you don’t want to touch the trash can, so you’ll have to buy a foot-operated garbage can! And then–well, I don’t know what comes next. I guess you just have to live in a gigantic ZipLoc bag filled with hand sanitizer, because something’s going to get you some way, and the only way to save yourself is to spend, spend, spend. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/5 "2012-02-15T02:43:50Z")
My aunt got me one, so I’m using it until it runs out. I don’t particularly like it because it dispenses about 4x as much soap as I prefer to use and you can’t refill the bottle with large refill bottles of liquid soap. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/6 "2012-02-15T02:52:42Z")
Lysol in particular in recent years has decided that promoting unreasoning germophobia is the ideal marketing strategy. Irritates the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/7 "2012-02-15T02:53:50Z")
I don’t \*need \*it. But I like it. Especially with a teenaged boy and a small girl in the house - they’re not always that contentious about washing whatever filth they had on their hands off of the soap dispenser. I didn’t need one growing up because we only had bar soap! Bar soap is self cleaning! But it’s also drying, and I wash my hands way too much to use bar soap. (Plus I hate slimy slippery bar soap and have yet to find a truly functional and aesthetically pleasing bar soap holder.) The detergents in liquid hand “soap” are much gentler on the skin. Try to wash dried on chocolate pudding, or pasta sauce, or paint out from the little nooks and crannies that make up the underside of a modern soap dispenser, and that $6 (on sale) for the automatic dispenser looks like an affordable luxury. What I’d really like is a self-dispensing foaming soap dispenser, but I haven’t seen one yet. Also, I do want to find a way to refill the soap with my own liquid detergent/soap, rather than buying Lysol’s refills. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/8 "2012-02-15T02:57:04Z")
My aunt got me one for Christmas many years ago. My only warning is that one day I came home and there was soap all over my countertop and floor. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/9 "2012-02-15T02:57:31Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > …you can’t refill the bottle with large refill bottles of liquid soap. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Also, I do want to find a way to refill the soap with my own liquid detergent/soap, rather than buying Lysol’s refills. Oh, hey. It looks like [YouTube is our friend!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8fU7IYd8M) ---
**Author:** ![jbarro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jbarro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbarro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/10 "2012-02-15T03:20:31Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > (Plus I hate slimy slippery bar soap and have yet to find a truly functional and aesthetically pleasing bar soap holder.) . [http://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-Magnetic-Soap-Holder-Suction/product-reviews/B003M2X2JE/ref=dp\_top\_cm\_cr\_acr\_txt/184-5631288-5530147?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1](http://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-Magnetic-Soap-Holder-Suction/product-reviews/B003M2X2JE/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/184-5631288-5530147?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1) Not sure if you consider it aesthetically pleasing or not (I do!) but I have one of these and love it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/11 "2012-02-15T03:24:47Z")
if my hands are greasy or grimy then i use my hands free soap dispenser (pump with elbow). ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/12 "2012-02-15T03:30:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Oh, hey. It looks like [YouTube is our friend!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8fU7IYd8M) Thanks, but I don’t feel like dealing with that for a product I don’t enjoy using already. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/13 "2012-02-15T19:48:15Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > I don’t particularly like it because it dispenses about 4x as much soap as I prefer to use At work the dispensers have the opposite problem - they don’t dispense enough soap. However, a second dose is now a little too much. Same goes for the automatic paper towel machine - one hand wave’s worth isn’t enough, and two is too much. I have to say one thing though - this is the first office I’ve ever worked in where everything is on a sensor and they all work perfectly. No autoflush when you don’t want it, no waving your hand over and over to get it to sense you… the technology is actually pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/14 "2012-02-15T23:33:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I don’t \*need \*it. But I like it. > Especially with a teenaged boy and a small girl in the house - they’re not always that contentious about washing whatever filth they had on their hands off of the soap dispenser. > > I didn’t need one growing up because we only had bar soap! Bar soap is self cleaning! But it’s also drying, and I wash my hands way too much to use bar soap. (Plus I hate slimy slippery bar soap and have yet to find a truly functional and aesthetically pleasing bar soap holder.) The detergents in liquid hand “soap” are much gentler on the skin. > > Try to wash dried on chocolate pudding, or pasta sauce, or paint out from the little nooks and crannies that make up the underside of a modern soap dispenser, and that $6 (on sale) for the automatic dispenser looks like an affordable luxury. > > What I’d really like is a self-dispensing foaming soap dispenser, but I haven’t seen one yet. Also, I do want to find a way to refill the soap with my own liquid detergent/soap, rather than buying Lysol’s refills. You could have stopped after your first two sentences. As other posters in the thread indicate, marketing cleanliness to people the way they do is creating germophobes, which in turn causes people to think they want pump soap, etc. Rinse, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/15 "2012-02-16T04:03:32Z")
> [@CC](#): > > You could have stopped after your first two sentences. As other posters in the thread indicate, marketing cleanliness to people the way they do is creating germophobes, which in turn causes people to think they want pump soap, etc. Rinse, repeat. Where in my post does it sound like I’m a germaphobe? I’m the furthest thing from it. I could probably get on an episode of Hoarders, to be honest. I’m talking about washing off chunks of food products from a soap dispenser, and that’s a germaphobe? Hardly. No, I haven’t been sold on the germaphobe POV. I’ve been sold on the lazy POV. One less thing to clean, 'cause no one touches them. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/16 "2012-02-16T23:35:19Z")
I was going to post something snide about manufacturers needing our money, but found WhyNot’s explanations convincing. Dripping with grease is no way to use a mechanical device I share with Mrs. Napier. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/17 "2012-02-18T05:26:56Z")
I have **WhyNot** ’s problem in my house, too–the regular soap dispenser gets dirty. Visibly dirty with actual dirt (or whatever) that gets in the little cracks and crevices of the pump device. Not a huge deal if it’s a bottle you throw away, but rather annoying if you are trying to save the earth/a buck by refilling the dispenser. I usually pick the stubborn stuff out of the cracks with a toothpick. I wonder if dried-up soap residue eventually clogs the nozzle in the hands-free dispensers, though, like it will in the regular pumps. If I’m picking at it with a toothpick anyway, it’s not worth the upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-_exactly_-do-i-need-a-hands-free-soap-pump/612874/18 "2012-02-18T05:57:06Z")
Um, why don’t you just rinse the whole thing under the faucet? I’ve never had a bottle not come clean.