Schools & Public Washrooms

Any fitting in a public washroom has to survive people who have no reason to look after it. That rules out a standard aerator, which comes out with a coin and a bit of patience, and it rules out anything with a battery worth removing.

The answer in this range is the hidden and vandal-resistant family. The shell sits flush inside the spout with no flats to grip, and it only comes out with the matching service key — M22x1 or regular female, M24x1 or regular male with side flats, and M28x1. The tamper-resistant body is offered on an F22*1 female thread with cores at 2L, 4L, 6L, 8L and 9L, so the same shell can be set to whatever the site's flow specification demands.

For hand hygiene, the one-touch aerators are worth looking at: one touch opens the water and a second closes it, or the unit closes itself in 2 to 20 seconds. The maker rates these at 84% and 87% water saving respectively, and the self-closing version's anti-virus function was tested by SGS. Nobody has to touch a shared tap handle.