Pressure Products
DCL
How many of you have ever left the water running briefly while doing such odds and ends as rinsing a pork roast or even a few potatoes? We all do it. It seems harmless enough. But for every few seconds the faucet runs when not needed, several ounces are being flushed down the drain needlessly.
In the average household, only about 50 percent of the water that flows out the faucet is ever actually utilized for the purpose it was intended. Depending on what you are washing or rinsing, there are times when it would be unsanitary to handle the faucet handle repeatedly, such as when rinsing a raw chicken for cooking.
The Foot Faucet
The Foot Faucet attaches to the toe space under the lower portion of your sink and plugs into an outlet. When you need water, you just press one of the petals. When you're finished, you relieve pressure on the petal and it shuts off.
There are four petals to the system. The two center ones operate the hot and cold water, respectively. You can negotiate both petals to achieve a certain temperature, or use the petal located on the far left side which operates both the hot and cold (warm water) for convenience.
The petal on the right is reserved for the garbage disposal operation. Incidentally, the far right petal also operates the cold water, for proper operation of your disposal unit. For those times when you are in your bare foot, the Foot Faucet has a touch sensor, which allows the petals to function purely by touch. For safety, this feature is not extended to the disposal.
Water Conservation and Safety Features
The foot faucet is designed to conserve water by allowing the option to use short bursts of water to rinse dirty dishes, or clean fruits and vegetables. In addition, because you will no longer need to handle the faucet with your hands, it will greatly reduce the chance of spreading food borne illness.
By the looks of this system, there would definitely be a learning curve before the ultimate convenience of the system could be realized, but once you were used to it, it would become quite functional. The electric portion of this unit has been designed to regulate the AC power from your outlet down to a low voltage DC current for safe, low energy usage.
While the disposal petal may cause some concern, it should generally be safe as long as you never place your hands or any utensil within the disposals blades without first unplugging the unit. I can't say it would be worth the $300-plus price tag for everybody, but at the very least, it is an interesting concept worth looking into!
