Touchless Toilets In Your Home Bathroom: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Considering society's obsession with technology, it's not too surprising that smart plumbing is the next trend homeowners want. So get ready to see a wave of touchless toilets take over in once-ordinary home bathrooms. Like many other home updates featuring advanced technology, touchless toilets have excellent benefits. For instance, anyone who fears germs and dreads touching the flushing handle every time they use the bathroom will benefit from a touchless toilet. These toilets do the flushing for you, saving you from having to reach back or to the side and put your fingers on the handle.

Many smart toilets also come with features such as built-in bidets, self-cleaning mechanisms, and temperature controls. Plus, not only will the touchless toilet help prevent germs in the bathroom if guests frequently come over, but the high-tech item will likely impress visitors and be a conversation starter at your parties and other gatherings. Before you invest in a seemingly perfect touchless toilet, however, know that there are cons in addition to the pros.

While smart tech can make your home healthier, remember that these futuristic features come with a price, and that price typically isn't cheap. Getting a new toilet can be a relatively expensive investment even without any fancy features. Installing a new throne usually costs between $200 and $800, partially depending on whether you install it yourself or hire someone to do the job. Meanwhile, prepare to pay between $600 and $2,000 for a smart toilet, as that touchless technology is as expensive as it sounds.

Also, the installation might get complicated. "If you don't already have an electrical outlet behind the toilet, you'll need to pay an electrician a few hundred dollars to put one in," Dan DiClerico, the Good Housekeeping Institute's director of the Home Improvement and Outdoor Lab, told Good Housekeeping. Remember that if that electrical outlet is battery-powered, you'll need to keep up with replacing the batteries, which will cost you too. So before you get swept away by the convenient idea of a toilet that flushes with no touching required, keep in mind that the costs that come with it aren't so convenient.

Not only will you have to ask yourself whether smart toilets are worth it because of their high prices, but you should also consider that many high-tech home items, including touchless toilets, don't always work as perfectly as advertised. That can be frustrating, especially on touchless toilets with older sensors. Certain types of clothing, such as black or softer material, could be more difficult for the devices to detect. "If you got a flush valve that might be an electronic sensor from 20 years ago, it's likely you may have a bit of a challenge," Bill Strang, President of Operations for luxury toilet brand TOTO, told Business Insider.

Meanwhile, a Quora user also asked if anyone else hates touchless toilets, and other users agreed that these toilets tend to flush too often when unnecessary and are too noisy. Thus, before committing to a touchless toilet, try to find a public restroom with the feature so you can test it out. That will let you consider whether it would be the right fit for your bathroom, worth the money, and if you even like it.