By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Where do I begin? Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. And sometimes a good idea can be just plain creepy when you start to dig a little deeper. Case in point: the toilet tank sink. I can almost hear the developer’s thoughts: “some people don’t wash their hands after using the toilet, but maybe if they had a handy sink on top of the toilet, they would take a moment to clean up. Why not route the ‘clean’ tank water up thought a tank-top faucet and then down through the bowl afterwards? ”
With each flush of your commode, clean water that would otherwise go straight down the toilet is first routed up through a chrome gooseneck spigot to dispense pure water for hand washing. The Toilet Lid Sink installs easily without tools, is attractive for any bathroom and is a great space saver. Shuts off automatically. Porcelain-like white plastic replaces your existing tank top and adjusts to fit standard toilets up to 8in wide and 18-22in long. $89. Source: Real Goods
We Say: ARGGHHHH….that’s called washing your hands with toilet water. I know that toilets are cleaner than keyboards and all that, but have you looked inside the average tank? Not pretty my friends and nothing I would consider washing up with. Would you?
i understand the concept of why it was developed, and that its sink water would be clean, but still just the idea of it is sickening. guess, if a person has grown up using such a device they would feel differently about it … anyway! someone mentioned about a toothbrush, i believe that i understand your meaning correctly, and if so, always close the toliet lid before flushing. if still feel uneasy about toothbrush not being sanitary, then could keep it in frig. but wonder how clean and sanitary the ?clean? hand towels, bathroom fixtures (faucet, etc) and so on would be, if someone flushed a toliet before closeing its lid? wonder when someone will invent “a safe,” but still a flusher toilet.
First of all, I guess I don’t need to re-hammer the point home that WHAT YOU SAID IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE TOILET. The water doesn’t “come up through the toilet” from the tank. It’s brand new clean water that hits the faucet BEFORE it enters the tank. But people already said that.
What I want to know is where can I get one of these? I’ve been looking for a long time. It’s really quite obvious and brilliant to use post-hand-washing water to go down the toilet rather than brand new potable water.
Anyone know?
O.k. folks. Gosh! For those of you who think this is gross,- switch on your brain! Just go look at you toilet and observe how it works. After installing this unit clean water goes down through the fawect over your hands then into the toilet tank. Your hands do not come into contact with turd water.
I wouldn’t wash my hands in the toilet tank either. But I would wash my hands in water BEFORE it goes into the tank, which is exactly how this unit works.
You guys are funny…. Yes sir!!!! I have been searching for that toilet. Where can I get it? Does anyone know where to buy it. Elseway I´ll make one myself. My toilet (room) is less than 1 square-meter. And I find it more dirty to clean my hands in the kitchen. If you do not need it, why bother having an opinion about it. The world is more than black and white. That is why special things are invented. It is not always what you find the best solution, that works in other places.
Besides that is a global responsibility not to over-consume the resources of the world. Sometimes people forget that this is not our world, we are just borrowing it in time and space.
Kindly regards Maria
I like it. I have found a place that sells the toilet lid, but I am not sure where to get the tank for it.
Currently there are a ton of different shapes and stuff for tanks. The place I found was:
http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/02-0334
I have not purchased it yet because I want to find a tank for it first and then buy the lid.
Oh, I also want to add that I have a closet that I want to convert to a 1/4 bath and I ONLY have room for a toilet there. This solves a HUGE problem for me.
I think it is great. I am in the process of ordering a lid (just need to find the proper tank it will fit on).
Also, I think that using “dirty soapy water” would be great in the toilet. The soap will keep it cleaner than you think.
And to the person worried about the soap messing up the pipes and drains: Would be be surprised to hear that pipes under your sink goes to the same drain.
I grew up with one of these in my house. One of the “bathrooms” in the house is no bigger than a closet or toilet stall. This allowed us to have a sink and a toilet in that small space.
is there a way to have the poop come out of the toilet and go onto a plate or maybe into the fridge for a snack for later?
interesting concept.. in regards to the person posting about looking for a tank before buying the lid.. you can put it on top of your existing toilet tank as it will fit and replace the existing lid..
i don’t know exactly how the lid hooks up, but from how it works it sounds like you would just open your tank and attach the small black tube that normally fills it with fresh water..(usually clipped to a large tube in the middle of the tank)
i like the idea and i don’t see why a little bit of soap would hurt anything with your plumbing.. i’ve never had to call the plumber over a hand soap bubble..
the added soap in the bowl water might keep the bowl cleaner.. which would save time..
on a more disturbing thought.. i wonder how much cooler it would look to put one of those blue led faucet lights on it?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/8122/?cpg=cj
I am interested in purchasing this. I saw it on the Home & Garden Television channel.
Not only is it eco-friendly, saving water, but it is also great for those of us who live in older houses in urban areas.
My house has only one bathroom, downstairs. The bedrooms are upstairs. We have a hall closet that would be great to convert to a bathroom. It is right above the current bathroom, and could be easily hooked up to the plumbing stack. We haven’t done it to our house yet, because we thought it was too small.
However, an innovation such as this will be perfect. We’ll have a powder room in a 3×3 room! No more fumbling down the staircase at night!
I think we could learn alot of lessons from the rest of the world on effieciency of design (especially Japan and Scandinavia).
Lots of comments, and there is a yuk factor, but it makes so much sense. AND we could keep our toilets really, really clean.
I have a tiny bathroom with no room for a sink and going to the kitchen to wash hands is yuckier.
I found a website for purchase called and intend to buy one now. I just wish they were made of true porcelian and not plastic.
I have a Cat and keep his litter Box in the bathroom across from the “throne.” Since I got one of these Toilet Lid Sinks and since I use a flushable Wheat-based litter (Which I scoop whenever I go) I haven’t had to clean the toilet in 6 months. The soapy Hand-washing water in the bowl, and the mild abrasive action of the litter keep everything sparlking clean. So I figure I’m using the same water for four things: 1-Hand-washing, 2-flushing my waste, 3- flushing the Cat’s waste (also, thus relieving the local land-fill) 4-cleaning the toilet bowl without any chemicals. A clear win all the way around!
I know I’ll take some bantering for this but, this thread is full of misinformaton!
Lets set a few things right.
First, the water supplied IS freshwater normally diected to the toilet bowl (not the tank) while the tank is refilling the water drains from the sink through the overflow tube, water that normally rinses the bowl while the tank fills (plumbing 101) there is an excelent video of the entire process @www.sinkpositive.com
Second, proper hand washing depends on the FRICTION! of your hands rubbing together not the temperature of water (pre-med 101).
Third, this device IS an American invention! it has been widely adopted in all parts of the world lacking the space and plentiful water that we take for granted. It has been availabe here for nearly thirty years but not widely marketed in the U.S. due to the Yuk (smug) factor., and high cost of marketing in the U.S.
In this country we install multiple water wasting devices in oversized bathrooms that could house entire families in other countries! bidet’s whirlpools, saunas, his and her sinks and showers with multiple deluge shower heads, a regular niagra falls in one room! I won’t even discuss our landscape watering.
Most of our “global warming” types have completely ignored the water crisis that is upon us NOW. We should listen closely to poster Soldierinthewaragainstturds and do what we can to conserve a neglected resource.
I work for a large west coast city that processes more than 330 million gallons of wastewater a DAY!, we supply our 3.5 million residents free low flush toilets and free cfl bulbs in our conservation efforts. Is this the next big idea?
Also I have two remote mountain cabins overlooking the mojave desert on 10 acres supplied by wells and I am keenly aware of the value of water and the waste loads on my septic systems, I use a biofuel generator to fill my potable and fire water reserviors.
I have installed these sinks on the six toilets there @ $100 ea. conserving my water, waste systems and biofuel. I’m sure this invesment will pay for itself many time over. I will install my next ones here at my weekday home and have suggested them at work for the next conservation program!
At the $100 price you definately will not pay for it in water savings but if you are pressed for space or truly concerned about conervation this is a winner!
For some years I have had a similar apparatus installed in a rental property. It always inspires shock/curiosity/fascination in those who see it for the first time, similar to all the reactions expressed by readers of this website. Later on, everyone loves it.
It does not have to be such a trauma. As soon as you understand that you are not using water from the toilet tank, but instead are saving water by letting sink basin water work twice by operating the toilet, the picture seems so much rosier.
For those who want to wash their hands in warm or hot water, why not do what I did: mount your hot and cold water on the wall above the toilet top wash basin, and flowing directly into that basin. Why, I even have a mirror on the wall for shaving and – can even wash my face and brush my teeth – just like a real sink! All that water then flows directly into the toilet tank and later is used again to flush the toilet – great, no?!
This mounted cold water faucet and automatic shut on/off, high price is unnecessary. All you need to make this work is a toilet tank top designed like a wash basin.
You save space, save water, and can have a toilet space separate from your bathing area – providing privacy and making more efficient use of your bathroom facilities, which I find a lot more civilized.
For what it is worth…this guy is a lifesaver for me, but I found a different version that I like better…
Why? Because I have a toilet in my basement and for some reason the previous owner did a reno that can’t be undone and the sink is across the hall. My walls and floor are concrete so I can’t add a sink without a MAJOR hassle. So this gives me a way to put a sink in the same room as my toilet.
http://www.tapsbath.com/taps1/Pages/DCatalog-St-spec-uniq3-Neo_Co.htm
ok i have an idea for all that likes dislikes this idea of the toilet sink combo you want to save water and not put the sink on the john bend over the john wash hands on john a lot of the homes in us have the sink on same wall as the john if you had toilet that had a hookup for a 1 1/4 sink drain in the tank you could have the sink water run out the sink in the toilet tank and when the toilet tank gets full the overflow pipe in tank would send extra water to bowl and down drain that would keep some happy : )
Ours is a little different problem. We have no room in our bathroom for a sink, nor anywhere closer than the kitchen or another bathroom. All that is in the bathroom is the toilet in an old house. This looks like it might be our solution.
I have one of these and it’s great! The water comes from the pipes same as the sink, clean, just as many of you have mentioned.
I have a really bad video of it in operation at my myspace page. I think it’s a great water saver. I’m going to have it installed on my other toilets too!
http://www.myspace.com/pool2pond
Where do you think the water that comes out of your kitchen faucet and that you then drink comes from? It started in your toilet bowl and then makes its way to a treatment plant and gets pumped back to you. You do not understand what you are talking about.
I thought it was such a good idea, I built one! You can too!
I just came back from Japan and used one of the great toilets. It is a very good idea and nothing yucky about it. I am looking for one tonight online.