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Types of Water Heating Systems for Bidet Seats

The benefits an electronic bidet has over a non-electric model are many.  Having an air dry, a warmed toilet seat, and a wireless remote control are a few examples.  Being able to use warm water to wash yourself is another big benefit.  Many folks find cold showers to be unpleasant, and a toilet bidet seat with warm water can certainly be more relaxing.

Since they use electricity, electronic bidets can take a cold water connection and warm the water so that it's more suitable for washing.  You can even adjust the temperature settings up or down until you find a temperature that's right for you.

Two types of heating systems are prevalent in modern electronic bidet seats.  While they achieve the same goal, they work a bit different differently.  These two types are (1) on-demand heating systems and (2) water reservoir heating systems.  We'll walk you through both in this article.

On-demand systems work with a heat exchanger which takes cold water and makes it warm in a matter of seconds.  It's similar in concept to tankless water heaters that are used in some homes.  This type of home water heating system boasts that your family can keep taking hot showers and that the hot water won't run out.  This is achieved because as long as you have a constant flow of cold water, it can be continually warmed.  Likewise, one of the benefits of having these types of systems in your toilet bidet seat is that you have continuous warm water.  However, there is a drawback:  there's a slight delay (approx 5 seconds) between activating the warm water on your bidet seat, to the time when the water is actually warm.

A water reservoir heating system on the other hand, pre-heats the water and keeps it warm in a reservoir inside your bidet toilet seat.  There's normally a 45 – 60 second supply of warm water available on standby.  If you wash longer than 45 – 60 seconds, the water will begin to turn cold.  It takes about two to three minutes for the bidet seat to replenish its warm water supply, after you've finished washing.

An important note however, is that bidet studies have shown most people wash only for about 10 to 15 seconds.  So most people will be done washing, well in advance of the warm water running out.

From an energy use perspective, on-demand heating systems are slightly more energy efficient overall, by a couple dollars a year.  The difference really is how that energy is consumed.  Let's imagine a line graph representing the amount of energy used.  On-demand heating systems will tend to have more peaks and valleys in their line graph, as they tend to use big bursts of energy over shorter periods of time.  These spikes of energy could be hard on old circuit breakers, but most homes should be able to handle the wattage.  Water reservoir systems draw their energy in a more consistent and steady fashion.  As mentioned though, both systems use about the same amount of energy overall.

So are one of these heating systems better than the other for your bidet toilet seat?  Not really.  As mentioned, most people would never know their water reservoir holds a limited supply of warm water because they finish washing well ahead of the warm water running out.  Overall energy consumption is about the same.  And although on-demand systems are newer, water reservoir heating systems have been around longer and proven to be reliable, while on-demand systems are still showing they can stand the test of time.  The pros and cons really even out in this one.  In summary, the type of water heating system in your bidet toilet seat shouldn't be a big factor in your purchasing decision.  But it's still good to know what the differences are.

About the Author

Jensen Lee is the founder of bidetsPLUS.com, which provides educational content on the electronic bidet seat.  bidetsPLUS offers bidet seat articles, installation tips, and even has a video library focusing on the bidet toilet seat.

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