There are several types of kitchen sinks and faucets that you can choose from when you decide to upgrade the kitchen in your home.
Some people may be so engrossed in the whole renovation process that they may overlook some simple options like whether they should choose a touch or touchless faucet for the kitchen.
The touch and touchless faucets do more than just look neat and add some elegance to your kitchen.
A faucet can affect how convenient the usage of your sink will be. They can help you save water and also help you keep your kitchen free of germs.
All these will however depend on the type of faucet that you choose. So if you are looking to carry out some upgrades in your kitchen, the type of faucet that you will install in the kitchen is something that should be given proper consideration, you can read our article covering the cost of replacing kitchen faucets.
Before choosing a faucet, you should first take a look at both touch and touchless faucets.
After looking at the two types of faucets, you may conclude that one type is better suited to your kitchen than the other in terms of how you will be working in your kitchen.
In today’s article, we are going to help you look at the differences between a touch faucet and a touchless faucet.
By the time you are through with this article, you would know whether you need a touch faucet in your kitchen or a touchless one.
Differences Between A Touch Faucet And A Touchless Faucet
Although their names may make them look like they are opposite of each other, they are very similar with slight differences.
Both of them are innovative versions of the traditional faucets found in kitchens. However, unlike the traditional faucet that needed someone to pull or push a handle before water flowed, the touch and touchless faucets reduce this action.
The main difference between the touch and touchless faucets is that the touch faucet responds to touch while the touchless faucet can detect the presence of something that has been placed in front of it and then open it to allow water to flow out.
Let us start looking at each type of faucet individually. We will start with the touch faucet.
How The Touch Faucet Works
The touch kitchen faucet can turn on and off with a single touch. All this comes down to electricity.
Our bodies can store electricity since you can shock a person during the winter by just touching them.
This ability is known as capacitance. A touch faucet is equipped with a sensor and it also maintains an electrical charge.
The sensor of the faucet can detect an increase in that electrical charge when a person touches the faucet and then turns it on and off.
The sensor can detect whether the touch is a single one or a prolonged one which may be due to you moving the faucet.
The sensor inside the touch faucet has been designed to only turn on and off when there is a single touch, not a prolonged one. It will not react when the touch is a long one.
Pros And Cons Of Using A Touch Faucet
There are several benefits that you can get from using the touch faucet.
Some disadvantages come with it. However, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Here are some of the advantages of using the touch faucet.
Saving Water
There are reasons why a person would want to use less water in their kitchens. The first reason is that this can help the person save money.
Due to water becoming scarce in some metropolitan areas, it has also become expensive. There is not a soul on earth who would not want to decrease their water bill.
One way you can achieve this is by using a touch faucet.
Cleanliness
The faucets in your kitchen can normally become gross and dirty. This is because when people come over to wash their hands, they use their hands which are already dirty to pull the faucet to turn it on.
However, with a touch faucet in your kitchen, that will not be a problem since you will not have to be touching and pulling anything before the faucet will turn on.
This way, you will decrease the rate at which germs spread in your kitchen.
Convenience
This is probably the best thing about using a touch faucet in your kitchen. The touch faucet can be turned on and off easily and this helps in preventing any scalding temperatures that normally occurred when the traditional faucet was being used.
If you live with children or older people, the touch faucet prevents them from being able to manipulate it and play with it.
So these are just some of the advantages you get when you get a touch faucet installed in your kitchen.
Let us now look at the cons of this type of faucet. There are not many cons that you will find with the touch faucet.
Some homeowners do not consider this type of faucet because it is more costly than the traditional faucet.
So they stick to the traditional faucet. However, even though they may cost more than the traditional, they will help you save more money by preventing the waste of water.
The installation of a touch faucet is also more involved than the installation of a traditional faucet.
Due to this, you will need to call in the professionals to handle the installation of the faucet for you.
You may see an increase in your electricity bill if you decide to use electricity to run the faucet. However, you can also decide to use batteries instead of electricity.
How The Touchless Faucet Works
Just like touch faucets, touchless faucets are also known as touch-free faucets. They use sensors that have been designed to detect the presence of something in front of them instead of detecting touch.
The sensors can sense the presence of your hands or something else and then turn the faucet on.
Most touchless faucets carry out this function through the use of an infrared detector that has been paired with infrared light.
When you move your hand in front of the sensor, the infrared light will bounce off your hand into the detector.
The faucet will then turn on for you. There are several types of sensors and what you get will depend on the brand of touchless faucet that you buy.
You can get a touchless faucet with an ultrasonic field sensor which turns the faucet on after you move your hand in front of it to disturb the field.
Pros And Cons Of Touchless Faucets
Let us now look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a touchless faucet.
Saving water
Just like the touch faucet, we looked at above, the touchless faucet also helps you to save water by being able to turn itself off automatically when you are not using it. This helps you to save a considerable amount of water when compared to the traditional faucets that had to be turned on and off manually.
Hygiene
Touchless faucets also promote hygiene since they are hands-free. You do not need to touch the faucet anywhere to turn it on. All you have to do is to move your hand in front of it. This way, the spread of germs in the kitchen reduces dramatically. This is the main advantage that a touchless faucet has over a touch faucet.
Convenience
Just like the touch faucets, the touchless faucets can also be operated conveniently. This type of faucet is great for people who may not be able to reach where the faucet is to operate it.
Cons
When it comes to the disadvantages, the main one will concern the price of the faucet.
Touchless faucets can also be expensive just like the touch faucets. Touchless faucets also make use of electricity to operate and this can cause an increase in your electricity bills unless you deiced to operate them on batteries.
When you operate them on electricity, a power outage will render them useless. However, that will not be the case if you operate them on batteries.
Another disadvantage is that it could turn on if you accidentally move in front of it. Your pets such as cats could also turn it on by moving in front of it.
How To Choose The Right Faucet
The two types of faucets we just discussed above can be quite impressive to use. The right faucet in this case will depend on the kind of preferences that you have.
You may want a touchless faucet while another person may feel like not much dirt is made in his or her kitchen and so will opt for a touch faucet.
It does not make any difference. They are all great faucets to use and they deliver when they are called upon to do so.
Someone may decide to go with the touch faucet because it is less likely to turn on accidentally unlike the touchless faucet that can be turned on accidentally due to movements in front of it.
Conclusion
So, ladies and gentlemen, these are the two types of faucets and they can be seen as the advanced form of the traditional faucets found in most old homes.
With these faucets, you save more water and spread fewer germs while keeping the kitchen sink cleaner all at the same time.
The brands that produce these types of faucets are Danze parma Moen, Delta Trask, and Pfister.
