Japanese baths

[brit-gob 9]

Not the onsen kind, but the kind that people have in their houses.

 

My bath is simple and has taps, so it's not the same as ones I have seen in other houses where there's no taps and they seem to control the bath from a panel of buttons in the kitchen.

 

Anyone got a bath like that. How does it work then?

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I used to have one like that. There was a control panel on the wall of the bathroom, u typed in the water temp and depth, switched it on and let the bath fill itself (it still had a tap tho), then when it was done it'd beep to let u know it was ready and the water would stop. There was also a heating gizmo that kept the water at the desired temp

[klingon 10]

I think the main control is usually outside of the bath itself, like in the kitchen or something. Well it's like that in my friends home anyway, with the bath being close to the kitchen.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

We have a system like that. There is a hot water controller in the kitchen, and another one in the bath/shower room, on the wall above the bath tub. Either one can be used to turn the water heater on or off. The one above the tub can also be used to program the bath (fill, reheat, set temp. and depth, as Tubby says), and the system will call out when the bath is ready (it talks: "Bath will be ready soon!" "Bath is ready!" "Reheating..." etc.), loud enough to be heard just about anywhere in the house.

[NoFakie 45]

You can fill our bath with a set amount of water at a set temp from the kitchen, but the main control for the bath is in the bathroom next to the bath.

Its got buttons for reheat and adding hot and cold water. We can also have it automatically reheat for a set time after filling.

I chose my boiler by selecting the one with the coolest looking remote control that would be visible in the house. Some of the cheap ones look a bit naff.

The bath is filled by an outlet near the bottom that acts as a tap but also recirculates water to the boiler for reheating.

Reheating is big in Japan for families because everyone bathes (i.e., relaxes but doesn't wash) in the same water. Overseas folks don't do that, so taps for filling are enough.

[DumbStick 13]

Been looking at baths today actually.

 

One thing I nocited, only when we got back, is that I did not see the remote panel to control the bath. They didn't have it on display in the showroom, not that I could see anyway.

 

And just looking at the catalogue, can't see it in there either.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

The remote comes from the water heater maker rather than the fixtures maker, which is not necessarily (or even usually?) the same.

For example, we have a Noritz heater and Inax bath, and the remotes say "Noritz" on them.

 

 

You can fill our bath with a set amount of water at a set temp from the kitchen, [...]

 

Actually, ours is that way too, though we never use the kitchen control for the bath.

[DumbStick 13]

That's very interesting, MO, thanks.

Yet another question to ask. Our building company are going to be somewhat overwhelmed with our requests from Tuesday!

 

We are keen to go with Yamaha for both our kitchen and bath, really like them.

[NoFakie 45]

We don't do it from the kitchen either Metabo. There's not much point in filling the bath from the kitchen if the plug isn't in (!) We normally give the bath a quick rinse before filling it too.

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

Same reasons here.

 

I seem to recall there was an extra-cost option that would have allowed the remote opening and closing of the bath drain plug, though that would still leave the rinsing-down issue unaddressed.

[snowdude 44]

Not the onsen kind, but the kind that people have in their houses.

 

My bath is simple and has taps, so it's not the same as ones I have seen in other houses where there's no taps and they seem to control the bath from a panel of buttons in the kitchen.

 

Anyone got a bath like that. How does it work then?

 

Yes ours is just like that.

We have a control panel in the bathroom and the kichena and can control the water temp shower temp amount of water, etc and also can set the timer to automatically fill the bath.

Ours also speaks to us and tells us the temperature how much water etc and when it is ready.

In our new house we will be able to control the bath remotely by our smart phone when we are out.

 

[r45 4]

I hope you aren't paying extra for that silly smartphone nonsense.

[snowdude 44]

I hope you aren't paying extra for that silly smartphone nonsense.

 

No it is included with the bath we want.

 

We seriously don't need that function and doubt will ever use it, but hey this is Japan and the manufacturers find it necessary to add such features.

 

We actually had to ask to have a manual flush toilet with a lid that does not lift up automatically and one that does not flush automatically as that was what everyone seems to be going for.

 

I don't like a toilet that flushes when I am doing my business and in case of a power cut, not being able to flush the toilet would really suck!

Also think it is too damm lazy to have a toilet seat that lifts up by itself and more things to go wrong in a few years time.

[pie-eater 207]

Yes some of the 'options' or should I say features are seriously mad.

[joshnii 2]

Didn't realise they were seperate.

 

Presumably then the basic "functionality" is the same with them all. And anything else means an extra control on the bath maker side?

[snowbender 3]

In our new house we will be able to control the bath remotely by our smart phone when we are out.

 

Made me laugh that.

Wonder how many people would actually use that.

[DumbStick 13]

I presumed the "sound system" in the Yamaha bathrooms was an option but our mitsumori just came through and after having a hearty laugh at the large numbers, I noticed that it's included as default.

Seems you can pin up your ipod or whatever and there's 2 speakers in the bathroom. Pretty cool I suppose.

[NoFakie 45]

Didn't realise they were seperate.

 

Presumably then the basic "functionality" is the same with them all. And anything else means an extra control on the bath maker side?

 

We haven't got a unit bath and didn't spend much time looking at them, but there seemed to be all kinds of upselling going on on the bath(room) maker side too. Things like water jets and mood lighting inside the bath. Music and tvs in the bathroom too.

 

If you've got a baby to bathe, or like to have cold beers brought to you , or have an oldie who could possibly have a turn, a call button on the bath remote control is actually useful. Ours gets a lot of use.

 

If you like onsens, I recommend putting in a big window at bath level (for a deep bath, you want the window to come down to the rim) and building a mini garden (tsubo-niwa) with spotlighting outside. Even in the built-up areas, it's not that difficult to fence in a mini garden for privacy. It doesn't have to cost all that much either.

[DumbStick 13]

Yeah loads of add-ons, some that seem they should be default.

 

But I'm just hoping that there's such a big profit margin on the listed price that we'll be able to come down closer to 50% than 100%.

 

Will be interesting to see where that lands.

[NoFakie 45]

Super high list prices and big discounts seems to be the way a lot of things are sold in the building trade. Kitchens in the UK are exactly the same. There is very little transparency.

 

If you want a hotel-style bathroom, use ceramic or stone tiles, not a unit. Some tiles are under 1000 yen a square meter.

[DumbStick 13]

Almost no transparency, it's extremely frustrating the silly numbers and the waiting for some proper realistic numbers etc.

 

You know what though, as much fun as all this is, we put together a lovely bathroom spec that we really like...if they can come in at a price we can accept we're going to go with it. The amount of decisions needed is becoming apparent - a lot!!

 

[NoFakie 45]

A little google for ユニットバス 割引率 came up with this. It might give you a rough idea.

 

http://www.seshu-shikyu.com/PriceList/1Bath-1.html

[DumbStick 13]

Thanks Mr Wiggles, I hadn't seen that one.

I'll show it to our building company.

While I feel the are very trustworthy etc, I'm guessing it'll be a case of 'ah yes, but.....'

 

I'll let you know how the discount thing goes when they come back to me, if indeed it is transparent enough to work out the details!

[Chriselle 158]

Nice baths some of you have by the sounds of it. Not that I could ever say anything bad about our onsen bath but if I were building new I'd definitely go modern.

[Karnidge 2]

Tell you what though, I'd love to have a jetbath thing going on in my own bath.

 

Don't want to pay for it though!