Enjoyment without Complications
More and more showers are made “barrier-free” not only in
hospitals, nursing homes and retirement residences but also in
private homes, where steps are increasingly being eliminated and
obstacles avoided. Floor-level showers that are easy to access are
becoming the norm in many places and offer greater user comfort.
The same applies to the shower taps. The simple and intuitive
operation of a shower is usually taken for granted when planning a
bathroom. Consequently the special needs of different user groups
are often not considered adequately. For elderly people, in
particular, it is important that they do not need to learn the
operation of their shower in a lengthy process but that it becomes
second nature to them.
In this context, important protective precautions need to be taken
into account, e.g. regarding non-slippery surfaces and the correct
handling of taps and showers. Health hazards resulting from
scalding as well as unintentional misoperations must be avoided to
the extent possible. A sudden change in the water temperature is
always unpleasant and can startle the user, no matter whether it is
caused by misoperation or by a pressure change in the water supply.
Especially elderly people, who usually need more time to react, may
get a shock and lose their balance – which is a major health
hazard. Smaller children who are unfamiliar with the water control
and very sensitive to extreme temperatures need to be protected
just as well.
This means that the needs and requirements of people from different
generations who live together in the same home must be reconciled
to ensure safety and comfort for all. GROHE has given much thought
to these issues and incorporated its findings into the design of
its products in order to ensure maximum pleasure for everybody in
the long term. In keeping with “Universal Design” or
“Transgenerational Design” standards, the shower thermostats, for
instance, have been equipped with easily readable scales for
temperature and water volume to ensure that poor vision, for
instance, does not become a handicap.
Allowing people to age in place while benefiting from the latest
technology that meets their needs and demands at any given time is
one of the main objectives of our product development process. This
ageing-in-place calls for the operation of a device to follow a
“natural logic”, e.g. with regard to the direction in which a
control is turned. This has been examined in comprehensive tests
and put into practice in our products.
Thermostat fittings from GROHE are especially recommended when it
comes to ensuring protection against scalding, as they offset
potential pressure fluctuations in the water supply automatically
and in fractions of a second.
The GROHE TurboStat® technology ensures that the
perceived water temperature remains constant at all
times.
If the cold water supply is interrupted, our thermostats
immediately stop the water flow. This largely protects users
against injuries from hot water flowing from the overhead, hand or
side showers.
The GROHE CoolTouch® technology is a special
benefit of our products. To protect users against scalding,
GROHE CoolTouch® shields the outer surfaces of
taps, exposed pipes and hand showers from the hot water channels
inside.
The Transgenerational Design approach is also reflected in the
GROHE SilkMove® technology, which facilitates the
precise operation of single-lever mixers. The long shower rails are
another illustration of this school of thought, as they allow the
hand shower to be fixed at exactly the right position, irrespective
of the height of the child or adult using it.
These are just some examples of ideas that help GROHE make its
product user-friendly for all user generations of users. We would
be pleased to explain all the benefits in detail – simply contact
us.