Pedal Faucet Controller

April 6, 2005 5:21 PM

Has anyone used a pedal faucet controller to save water while washing dishes?

My wife and I are thinking of getting one of these. It seems like it would be a win, both for convenience and saving on water bills (which are very high where I live). I'd love some first hand accounts before spending $200, though.

posted by alms to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

Now I want one too! Maybe I'm paranoid, but I hate handling raw chicken and then washing my hands--I feel like I need to wash the whole faucet too. So I'm curious for responses as well.
posted by Pattie at 5:24 PM on April 6, 2005

Sounds like a pretty neat gizmo, if it works as advertised. But what's up with that abbreviated link click-through? The URL is hidden behind text anyway; running it through a shortener accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Here's the real link.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:44 PM on April 6, 2005

Response by poster: The short link is what I had around from sending an e-mail to a friend. Sorry for any inconvenience.
posted by alms at 5:50 PM on April 6, 2005

Yes. I've used one a lot, and they're awesome.

In fact, they're kind of addictive, and I find myself trying to push down on the pedal even when I'm at my kitchen sink, which doesn't have one.

You'll love it.
posted by bshort at 6:26 PM on April 6, 2005

My grandfather gutted out a VW Camper and redid the whole inside, and included one of those. I loved it, but then again I was eight and could stand up straight in it.
posted by furtive at 6:35 PM on April 6, 2005

Wow! I was thinking of just this sort of thing the other night - I'm not the neatest of people in the kitchen, but I'm very fussy about food hygiene, and I hate getting meat juice and other goo on the taps, cleaning my hands, then having to touch the tap again.
posted by tomble at 7:33 PM on April 6, 2005

does anyone know whether this is this installed as an add on to the current faucet, or does it require a dedicated faucet?
posted by subatomiczoo at 7:55 PM on April 6, 2005

I'm pretty sure it's an add on to the current faucet. It's not like there's one faucet for the pedal and one faucet for the hand lever.
posted by bshort at 9:23 PM on April 6, 2005

Wow, I've been thinking for years this is practical for the kitchen, for exactly the same reason as pattie and tomble. Its how they do it where surgeons scrub, you know.

The only difficulty I see is in how much water you must run to get it to come out hot.
posted by Goofyy at 9:57 PM on April 6, 2005

Get it for convenience, not for saving water. For a start, $200 will buy you a lot of water. Your toilet will provide a better place to make savings, or turning off the faucet when cleaning your teeth.

For washing dishes, just pre-fill bowls. One with hot soapy water, and one with (less) plain water. Rinseth and repeateth. You use less water than having it running, and save $200.
posted by wackybrit at 10:09 PM on April 6, 2005

I got one of these for $13. The lever turns the water on and off--I use the side of my hand if my fingers are soapy or chickeny. You can also change the flow to spray or stream by pushing the whole unit up or down.
posted by lobakgo at 11:28 AM on April 7, 2005