TOTO Toilets & Bidets – Tips on Buying Them
This article is all about the Japanese bathroom brand. For the average American pop/rock group, read Toto (group). For whatever uses, read Toto (non-fiction book).
If you don’t know what a toto is, it’s short for “towel to waste.” It’s a toilet that attaches to your existing toilet seat and has a “to wash nozzle” attached to the top of it. They attach on the toilet bowl for easy cleaning and often have built in bidet features. And there are even models which come with built in water jets!
Most toto toilets have washlets attached to the side or back of the toilet seats. The washlet is attached to the toto by a plastic “washer” leg, but the actual toilet seat just sits on top of the washlet – there’s no separate seat attached. The washlets are typically color coordinated, but not always. And they can be very basic, like blue for the Japanese style toilets, or more decorated like a rain forest for Western style toilets.
Most toto washlets have a long spray arm and a nozzle on the top. Spray arms are typically rounded, but some models may have unique spray arms with curves or sharp corners. The spray arm is used to push the water up into the wash basin, where it’s absorbed by the washlet. There is usually either a button on the washlet itself, or a “select spray” button on the spray controller. The select spray button controls the spraying motion of the sprayer itself, rather than the position of the nozzle.
The “to” in toto means “outlet,” and the “w” stands for “water.” A Toto toilet paper holder has a hole in the center of the holder, and that hole is covered by the toilet paper. The hole in the toilet paper holder allows the Toto water supply to cover the entire washlet and channel the spray water around the toilet paper to keep the paper clean.
Toto’s heated seat is another feature that makes them different from their competitors. The heated seat has two heaters that can be individually controlled by the user. When the user wants to use the heated seat, the two heaters are pressed together and respond to body temperature to maintain the temperature. When the user releases the pressure, the heated seat automatically relocates itself to its original position. It’s a remarkable addition that makes Toto toilets and Toto bidets more comfortable to use.